USM makes some of the most quietly radical furniture of the last sixty years. In Germany it had drifted into something else: the furniture of law firms, clinics, the family home. Practical. Permanent. Not design. The Haller system was a modernist benchmark and the audience speccing it was aging, while a younger design crowd looked straight past it. There was almost no digital presence to argue otherwise.
Personalities by USM answered the perception, not the product. Real people, real homes, showing how they actually live with the system. The work moved USM from a catalogue object back into a design object, in the places where taste gets formed.
Personalities is a multi-channel editorial platform: a contemporary interview series profiling exceptional people from fashion, architecture, design, art and culture in cooperation with Freunde von Freunden. Published monthly, each instalment features a notable personality who has made USM the furniture of choice for their private or professional environment. The project spanned a dedicated website, a nationwide German event series, and a 192-page hardcover book published by Hatje Cantz.
The most compelling portraits and interviews were collated into a 192-page full-colour hardcover book published by Hatje Cantz: released October 2015 and launched at Frankfurter Buchmesse alongside a nationwide Germany tour. An exclusive Ape carrying a curated bookshop toured Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, with launch events at saasfee* pavillon, 25hours HafenCity and the FvF Apartment.
Friends of Friends managed all international social media accounts for USM across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest: developing strategy, producing content, and organising launch events. Over eight years the following grew from near zero, reached 1.9 million unique accounts, achieved 310% Instagram growth since 2019, and held a 5.24% average engagement rate.
224,000+ followers · 1.9M unique accounts reached · 310% Instagram growth · 5.24% avg. engagement rate
In 2020 a comprehensive pitch proposed a full relaunch of usm.com: UX strategy, complete UI redesign, new information architecture, integrated e-commerce, and SPOT as the central CMS and DAM. The audit named the core problems: too complex for users, poor SEO, an inconsistent system, costly maintenance. The proposal answered them with a modular, brand-aligned, editorially-driven platform. USM did not commission the project, but the ideas that carried into their later website rebuild were core to what the pitch laid out.
At the heart of the pitch was SPOT, our proprietary asset management system developed with ENGN, proposed as the single platform for all USM content, product data, translations and digital outputs across all markets.
In June 2018, USM transformed the historic “Wehrmühle Biesenthal” estate north of Berlin into The WorkHouse: a six-week live-work laboratory developed with Dutch architecture firm UNStudio. The full event concept, guest management, speaker programme, and media and influencer communications for the opening weekend and residency ran through the studio.
The opening weekend brought together international experts for talks, interactive installations, and workshops. During the residency period, guests could book one of six rooms in exchange for leaving behind their vision of the future of work. Concept, speakers, guests, press, and on-site production all ran through the studio.
A short documentary follows a single USM Haller shelf from purchase through manufacturing at USM's Swiss headquarters to delivery and assembly in a customer's home, offering a transparent look at the process behind the brand's modular system.
USM is a Swiss designer and manufacturer of high-end modular furniture. The Haller system has been a benchmark of modernist design since the 1960s. Personalities by USM is a multi-channel platform showing how individuals relate to and style their USM products.
Made with Friends of Friends, the editorial strategy and digital roll-out paired curated portraits of each Personality in their space with in-depth interviews on their aesthetic and their views on design. The strongest stories were gathered into a 192-page full-colour hardcover published with Hatje Cantz.
