Patrick Mueller - From cabinetmaker’s apprentice to agency founder

His LEAN ON DESK is already known to many. This two-legged table that simply and elegantly leans against the wall is Mueller’s masterpiece to date. The jury of the ICONIC AWARDS by the German Design Council, agrees. The desk is not only appealing and compact, it also features everything that sets the designer Patrick Mueller apart: On the one hand, his roots in craftsmanship and “material-inspired” thinking. And on the other, the adventurousness, lightness and frankness of his design vocabulary. 

Mueller has a very clear guideline: Everything is allowed – as long as it’s honest. And by “honest”, he means: treating materials honestly (using them in line with their characteristics), honesty towards users (the product should only promise what it can fulfil), honest aesthetics (playful forms are only permitted if they don’t contradict function) and an honest commitment to the environment (longevity instead of planned obsolescence).

Patrick Mueller quickly realised that this would only be feasible if he were his own boss. To found his own agency, PAMU, he signed up for our coaching programme Creative Link. The programme started in Autumn 2014 and helped Mueller with entrepreneurial questions, corporate identity, acquiring clients, assembling a press kit, and creating his first table study: KULM. By the middle of 2015, Patrick Mueller was ready: He registered as a self-employed designer. Next, he began developing LEAN ON DESK, which was officially launched in Autumn 2016. Since then, the desk has been available via Mueller’s own online shop, magma.ch and Bauarena Volketswil. In March 2017, the “Swiss Design Market” pop-up store in Bern will follow suit.

The evolution of LEAN ON DESK was, first and foremost, a path of self-discovery: “I did a lot of self-examination,” Mueller recalls, “Asking myself: What is my goal, what do I want to stand for?” In this area, Creative Link provided some surprising support: “Of course, the year-long coaching helped me found my company. But I would never have expected to find such good sparring for product development, as well.” Patrick Mueller found that his encounters with non-designers, such as business administrators and marketing professionals, were particularly helpful. Here he also learned to “sell” his design, justifying it with solid arguments – or optimising it. 

His key take-home message from the coaching programme? “Be active, get out there, nobody’s waiting around for you!” And it looks like he’s taken that to heart: Just returned from the imm interiors show in Cologne, Patrick Mueller shares his excitement about promising new contacts. This could be his year. Honestly.