Susanne Philippson: In the right place at the right time

No great attitude, no important designer, no arrogance: Susanne Philippson is girlish and unadorned. And seems to have booked a season ticket in case you are in the right place at the right time.

After graduating from high school in the town of Seifhennersdorf near Zittau, which has a population of 5000, the 29-year-old went to England as an au pair. Her host father was a product designer, and Susanne thought, "I'll do a course like that." She liked this so much that she completed a two-year degree at London's Ravensbourne College, including an exchange program in Finland.

But that was not enough for Susanne. She applied to study at the prestigious Design Academy in Eindhoven - and was accepted. Hella Jongerius, Hollands number one designer, and Jurgen Bey, who made a name for themselves with amazing designs for the acclaimed Dutch design collective Droog Design, became their tutors.



And the lucky line continued: In a magazine, the design of Droog and Muji, a kind of design-oriented Japanese Ikea, was compared. The article featured a design by Susanne: The "Cherrystone Shirt", now sold by Droog Design, a t-shirt with cherry pits in the front, which can be heated to provide pain relief. The publication led to an internship at Muji in Tokyo. "Time, place and people have always somehow matched with me, so one thing has resulted in the other," says Susanne Philippson, who graduated in 2005 and moved to Berlin.

Habitat today sells 1,500 copies per year from the "Compact" desk, which Susanne designed in her second year of study. The "Guardian Light" lamp, first presented to the public at the Cologne Furniture Fair in January 2006, was already half a year later the bestseller of Pallucco. And Susanne Philippson is suddenly a fixture in the international design business.

Scene: Archibald's Library / A Bit of Earth (March 2024).



England, Finland, Design, Furniture, Designer, Susanne Philippson