USM

USM is a Swiss family company founded in 1885 as a metalworking and locksmith business in Münsingen, and it is still run by the fourth generation. For sixty years it has produced modular furniture systems rather than static pieces, assembled from steel tubes and ball joints into shelving, sideboards, tables and room dividers that can be extended, reduced or rebuilt as needs change.

The best-known result is USM Haller, a system that has become a fixture of offices, museums and private interiors and is sold through the company’s own showrooms and more than 400 authorised dealers worldwide. Production and assembly stay at the factory in Münsingen, and the argument the company makes for its furniture is longevity: pieces kept in use across generations, repaired rather than replaced.