Peter Maly

Background

Peter Maly was born in 1936 in Trautenau, Sudetenland, and lives in Aumühle near Hamburg. His training began in a small carpentry workshop in Hesse and continued with interior architecture at the Fachhochschule Detmold, where he graduated in 1960. From 1960 to 1970 he worked as a journalist and interior designer on the editorial staff of the German interiors magazine Schöner Wohnen, and in 1970 he opened his own studio for design and interior architecture.

Signature Style

Maly builds furniture from elementary geometry: the curved wooden back of the Tosai easy chair follows an exact circular arc, the Zyklus armchair is made of circular parts, and the Pando frame is developed from circles. He sees function and design as partners, with good products arising from joining the two, and his steel-tube designs take form from their function, including seats that turn, roll, swing out or change seat depth. Mies van der Rohe and the Bauhaus masters were an early inspiration, and the same love of simple forms runs through his rugs, which combine geometric compositions with differences in pile height and inlays of metal, leather or silk.

Notable Works

• Zyklus armchair and the steel-tube series for COR (1984-2005), which continued with Cirrus, Pando, Circum and Circo
• Tosai collection of solid walnut and oak furniture made with the Japanese manufacturer Conde House
• Maly Bed 2 and the Lumeo bed and wardrobe programme, and the Bendchair for Ligne Roset
• Alea piano line for the Sauter piano manufacturer in Spaichingen, including the Vivace grand piano
• Peter-Maly-Edition rugs for JAB Anstoetz (1993)

Legacy

Maly's work has received many design awards and has been shown in solo exhibitions in several museums, among them Hamburg's Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (2001), the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin and the red dot design museum in Essen (both 2002). Several of his pieces have become modern classics, and the Vivace grand piano entered the permanent instrument collection of the Hamburg museum in 2002.