Thomas Merkel designs furniture and a lot around it, cooks, travels and photographs
For more than 25 years, Thomas Merkel has stood for clear design. His wealth of experience comes from working with renowned designers and turning ideas into market-ready products.
His furniture for sdr+ and S+ are systems that can be individually fitted. They do not want to determine, but to fit.
His work is quiet, modest and always seems self-evident without raising questions. His idea of design is reflected in all his designs: the M04 table programme, for example, is a work of high aesthetic appeal in terms of design and technology because it is limited to one detail.
For him, design is more than just the idea. For him, the detail and the implementation are the decisive differences in the quality of the final product and the demands he makes on himself every day. His work is thought through, the details worked out, changed again, discarded again and won anew. Not different at any price, but to always be better in the details.
To this day, his work is accompanied by numerous awards: Nomination for the Design Award of the FRG, Design Germany selected, red dot award product design, iF product design award, design award for three-dimensionality etc.
School education
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff Grammar School, Münster
Graduation: Abitur
Vocational training
Münster University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design
Course of study: Product Design, specialisation: Object Design
Graduation: Diploma
Professional career
Artifex, Münster
Design group High StandArt, Münster / Osnabrück
Kaiser and Höh - Office for Design, Münster
sdr+ GmbH & Co. KG, Cologne
S+ Systemmöbel GmbH, Cologne
Other activities
Design of a garden furniture collection for a Vietnamese producer
Kitchen planning for private clients
Language skills
German, English, French
Software knowledge
AutoCAD
Rhinoceros - Flamingo - Penguin - Bongo
Affinity Photo - Affinity Designer - Affinity Publisher
InDesign - Photoshop - Illustrator - Fireworks - Dreamweaver - Flash - Acrobat Pro
Contribute - Typo 3 - Aperture
Freeway Pro - Exhibeo - RapidWeaver - Sitely
Word - Excel - Powerpoint - Access
Pages - Numbers - Keynote - Bento
SAP Buisiness One