In what is widely considered his signature piece—the iconic USM Haller Storage Module—designer Fritz Haller took a cue from the Bauhaus in employing a “quadratic” paradigm. The term is Haller’s but the notion, arguably, belongs to Van der Rohe, especially as manifest in the Barcelona Pavilion. In Haller’s incarnation, the idea of discrete geometric structural blocks is very much evident.

USM Haller Storage. Designed by Fritz Haller. Manufactured by USM Modular Furniture.

Luminaire Brings USM Haller Storage to a New Generation of Aficionados

Haller pulled no punches in regard to his theories. Originally trained as an architect, Haller successfully made the leap from designing buildings to designing furniture, largely through a cohesive work philosophy that recognized no distinction between the two.

Just so, his buildings and his furniture made use of a steel frame construction principle revolving around three different sizes of building units—mini, midi, and max. With USM Haller Storage, he employed the same steel tubes and steel panels as in his architectural projects.

The result was a light, clean, and elegant design that has stood the test of time. Haller’s USM Storage is quintessentially modern, yet every bit as functional today as when it debuted in 1963. The basic building block of the collection is a rectangular, horizontally oriented storage module, which, in form, rather resembles a steamer trunk.

Options for USM Haller Storage include front panels or open storage, glass fronts, and drawer fronts. The units are stackable and can be joined from side to side, thus facilitating a great variety of possible arrangements. And the color palette remains unchanged from that of the original—bright reds, blues, yellows, and greens jockey with Haller’s iconic black.

About the Distributor: More than a design store, beyond a simple showroom, the modern repository known as Luminaire is a showpiece of superlative A&D, an open salon for industry thought, a veritable museum of great collections for great collectors. The company has been around for 37 years, during which time they’ve formed indelible relationships with the key manufacturers in contemporary A&D: Agape, B&B Italia, Established & Sons, and Flos, to name but a few. The associations have enabled Luminaire to bring clients some of the best work by the world’s best designers, but, more than that, they have made Luminaire a salient force in design education: “Luminaire exists as a laboratory for curated exhibitions, thought-provoking lectures and other types of educational endeavors. The company consistently pushes to challenge convention and these initiatives are purposefully aimed at an inclusive audience including casual design enthusiasts, designers and architects in the trade, as well as scholars and collectors.”