ERCO is undoubtedly one of the leading German design brands with a global presence. This year, the company is celebrating its 90th anniversary. To mark this milestone, we spoke to CEO Tim Henrik Maack about technical and aesthetic trends, his admiration for Steve Jobs and the lasting impact of working with Otl Aicher.
Interview with Gerrit Terstiege
Mr Maack, when you look back on ERCO’s long history, how important has it been that the company has remained family-owned?
Mr Maack: The family has undoubtedly played a decisive role in ERCO’s success. This influence begins with the founding of the company, which typically starts as a personal venture, and continues to shape its development. In this context, my grandfather Arnold Reininghaus was undoubtedly a key figure. My father, Klaus Jürgen Maack, changed the company’s focus to architectural lighting. Until then, we had mainly offered individual products such as pendant and mirrored luminaires. The shift to architectural lighting was a fundamental change of direction that we have maintained to this day. During my tenure, we made the critical technological transition from analogue to digital, culminating in the introduction of LED technology. In an ever-changing world, it is essential for a company to evolve as well. Each generation at ERCO has faced new challenges.
In 2015, you made the full transition to LED technology.
Mr Maack: That’s right. It was a question of both speed and commitment.
Sometimes it’s helpful to talk to others in similar business situations. Are you in contact with other family-owned design companies such as FSB, Bulthaup, Siedle, Dornbracht or Lamy? Do you exchange ideas about designers or design trends?
Mr Maack: Yes, we are indeed in friendly contact with many of the companies you mention. We even have a “design circle” with some of them, where we meet once a year. However, our discussions go beyond design, as most companies are already confident in their design approaches. We also look at broader societal trends, technological developments and economic challenges. The composition of the group has evolved over the years, but currently the Design Circle includes Dornbracht, Cor, Bulthaup, Wilkhahn and ERCO.
Your father, Klaus Jürgen Maack, initiated the design change you mentioned in the 1970s: modular lighting systems with simple forms that fit seamlessly into modern architecture. During this period, Otl Aicher played an important role, not only as a designer but also as a consultant for ERCO. What fascinating stories did your father tell you about this collaboration?
Mr Maack: Aicher was the perfect sparring partner for us. Of course, he could be challenging at times. The visual identity was established fairly quickly – it was more about intellectual exchange and taking a perspective. My father put it succinctly: design should be culturally and socially neutral. It should be equally appropriate in Christian churches, Buddhist temples and mosques, and it should fit in schools as well as parliaments or museums. Aicher’s attitude was clear: function over decoration. He did not want to impress people on a superficial level.
Some company CEOs, such as Gerd Bulthaup or Jürgen W. Braun from FSB, were sent home by Aicher. Bulthaup was told to first learn how to cook, Braun to think about handles and knobs …
Mr Maack: You wouldn’t go to an Italian restaurant and order sushi. Some people needed time to warm up to Aicher, but once they did, the collaboration was always very constructive. Aicher was full of ideas, as his work with Bulthaup and FSB shows. My father, who came from a family of printers and was a trained printing engineer, had a basic understanding of typography and design. So he wasn’t starting from scratch and quickly found common ground with Aicher.
Would you be prepared to place that level of trust in a design consultant today, fully and for many years to come?
Mr Maack: In theory, yes. I would have loved to exchange ideas with Steve Jobs, for example. He wasn’t a designer or a consultant in the traditional sense, but he was a visionary. When he talked about design, it was often in a broader context, focusing on the relationship between the user and the product. The products themselves were of exceptional design quality, of course. But his focus was on interaction design – the invisible threads that held it all together. There’s a lot to learn from Jobs, and his insights can be applied even from a distance, without ever having met him. I once met Jonathan Ive, who remembered that ERCO’s Domotec spotlight was installed in his design school, and he was struck by its simplicity. He sketched it on a napkin and we later presented the drawing to the designer of the Domotec spotlight.
Your website mentions a commitment to environmental responsibility, summed up in the term “ERCO Greenology”. What exactly does this term mean?
Mr Maack: Our aim has always been to transform technology into culture. Culture can be expressed through design, but it also contributes to architecture. Greenology is our attempt to turn technology into culture, where ‘green’ stands for sustainability and the second part of the term stands for technology. In our product area, sustainability is achieved through technological progress. It also means treating materials as real resources and keeping them in a technical cycle. A coined term such as Greenology can be useful in embedding the concept within the company, encouraging us to ask: “How can we bring this idea to life? As the saying goes, culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s not enough to simply declare something to be our strategy; sustainability must become part of the culture. This is where some of Aicher’s influence can be felt. You can still feel Aicher sitting quietly at the table. (laughs)
The principle of Human Centric Lighting, which puts people at the centre, is also part of the Greenology concept. But if you look at some large buildings, you might wonder if people are really at the heart of the architectural design. Can intelligent lighting strategies compensate for architectural shortcomings?
Mr Maack: I’d say it’s a bit of both – yes and no. (laughs) There’s a lot of talk today about augmented reality, which is essentially about enhancing reality – an idea that has always been central to ERCO. Light can be used to interpret spaces, extending the built reality by creating an atmosphere or mood – a layer of light tailored to the occasion and use. It’s also about giving people a sense of security and orientation, even in complex spatial situations. But at the end of the day, bad architecture is still bad architecture, and ideally it shouldn’t be built at all!
That’s true. There is also an article on your website that calls for more research into where and how much lighting is really needed. It seems that the energy-saving benefits of LEDs have led to excessive lighting in some areas. Is this the case?
Mr Maack: I’d say that’s always been a relevant issue for ERCO – the difference between quantitative and qualitative lighting design. Unfortunately, most people don’t have a very nuanced relationship with light. It’s not enough to make a room uniformly bright. Qualitative lighting design is about creating hierarchies between light and dark, just as a piece of music shouldn’t have a constant volume. At ERCO, we also focus on the deliberate design and accentuation of dark zones. In this way, fewer luminaires – and therefore less energy – are needed to create an appealing atmosphere that draws attention to specific objects. We always distinguish between light for seeing, light for focusing and light for admiring. Light for seeing provides orientation in a room, light for focusing directs attention and light for admiring enhances the aesthetic dimension.
Who in the history of design has influenced this approach?
Mr Maack: If I remember correctly, Charles Eames always asked himself two questions when designing: What would Mies van der Rohe think? And: What would 100 of them look like in a row? These two questions are still relevant for ERCO because they reflect a culture of appropriateness.
Would you describe ERCO as distinctly German in its design ethos, or do you position yourself more internationally?
Mr Maack: That’s a good question. For us, quality is in the details, so short distances and close communication are very important. All ERCO products are developed and manufactured at our headquarters in Lüdenscheid. However, with an export rate of 80%, we are very internationally oriented. As the saying goes: think globally, act locally.
What challenges do you see for ERCO in the future?
Mr Maack: Today there are many buzzwords – big data, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and many more. Our task is to put these buzzwords, themes and trends into an ERCO-specific and lighting-specific context and to develop appropriate solutions for our customers. The focus is always on customer benefit and providing intelligent lighting solutions for specific projects.
What are the main trends in lighting design?
Mr Maack: Diversity is the essence of life, isn’t it? It’s up to us to create the right lighting atmosphere for every occasion. We often talk about “tune the light”, which means adapting the light to the situation. There is a growing trend towards customisable lighting solutions, with a focus on intuitive and interactive use. We always prioritise visual and operational comfort. How we achieve these goals depends on the technology we choose. We need to translate individual needs into our designs. We turn technology into culture – and this will continue to be our approach in the future.
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About the Autor
Gerrit Terstiege, born in 1968, lives and works in Freiburg and Mülheim/Ruhr. He studied at the Cologne International School of Design (KISD) under Michael Erlhoff and Gui Bonsiepe, among others. He then worked for the magazine form from 1997 to 2012, becoming editor-in-chief in 2006. He has published three books with Birkhäuser, including ‘The Making of Design’. He is currently editor-in-chief of the Rams Foundation. Find out more about Gerrit Terstiege on Instagram @gerritterstiege
