Profile
PHILIPPI
In search of the perfect form Passion, style, personality, precision, functionality, purism, zeitgeist, beauty, uniqueness, craftsmanship. Jan Philippi sees the beauty in things and transforms them into artistic pieces. No-nonsense items bearing a unique mark and style. He rises to life's challenges and offers durable products for an ever-changing world. Products that capture your heart, for yourself or as gifts for others. A Hanseat Who Loves Design The Hamburg export merchant, Jan Philippi, sensed his preference for unambiguous forms very early on. Nonetheless, he was required to engage himself with the sales of a hanseatic retailer's HiFi-equipment. PHILIPPI quickly realized that some of those products downright infuriated him: they were just plain ugly. As a man of action, here and there he attempted to improve and beautify, as he believed even HiFi cabinets and furnishings should look good. The consumer goods demand tremendously increased in Germany at the end of the 1980's and although Jan Philippi had to travel to many countries on his behalf of his company, this allowed him to make contact to several competent companies. Unfortunately, quantity and not quality was in demand back then; as a friend of quality products, this was a trend that PHILIPPI was not willing to accept. Disappointed by the prevailing taste, he decisively went about creating his own personal solution; striking the entrepreneurial path to opening his own business. Two Businesses and One Ideal In 1992, Jan Philippi opened two retail stores in Hamburg, stocking them both with design pieces that he felt correlated to his ideal of being unostentatious, clear and modern. With fresh ideas, suggestions collected during many journeys and an unmistakable sense of good design, he discovered companies capable of transposing his visions of design into the tangible. Winged by this headway, he soon ventured the step from retail to wholesale. As the company's creative mind, Jan Philippi has been inspiring his designers since then. With extreme precision and great attention to detail, he works closely with his team, from the drafting stage right up to the moment that the product is market-ready. Even today, that collaboration hasn't changed: The boss still supports young talents and attaches great importance to good cooperation with creative professionals as well as manufacturers. Jan Philippi still personally and intensively follows through the entire designing process; he still personally attends to each and every customer and believes philanthropy is a fundamental company principle. Once Around The World In the meantime, the small, northern German start-up company has evolved to an internationally renowned brand with approximately 500 products, employing twenty-five staff members at their headquarters and with many representives abroad.