Glockenhof

Café in the Glockenhof, Lüneburg

The Glockenhof building in the centre of Lüneburg has a long tradition as one of the city’s most popular meeting places. After standing empty for many years, the former customs house built in the 15th century can now fulfil this function again, having been completely renovated and modernised in 2019. Interior design office FORMWÆNDE breathed new life into the Glockenhof turning it back into a place that brings together art, culture and cuisine. Throughout the building’s two storeys as well as its outdoor spaces, the design team created modern dining areas for the in-house cafe and the ideal space for regularly rotating exhibits as well as a diverse cultural programme. And so, this building steeped in history became a place for young and old to come together.

To furnish the café, the interior designers from FORMWÆNDE chose seating from Thonet, a company whose furniture naturally embodies the building’s inherent contrast of traditional and modern. “We wanted to revive the spirit of the place, which had been left empty for so long, but we also wanted to prepare it for the present day. Of course, the new details, materials and furniture needed to fit with their traditional surroundings, but they also needed to appear contemporary and modern up close. This creates a bridge between the past and the present – an approach ingrained in the chairs by Thonet,” says interior designer Marco Smith.

The seating area of the café features the modern 118 wooden chair and the matching 118 H barstool, both designed for Thonet by Sebastian Herkner, creating a welcoming space where people are tempted to linger. The black-stained beech chairs with canework seats were the perfect choice for an interior that takes its inspiration from the Viennese coffee house. The designs of the chairs in the 118 collection, with their seat frame bent from a single piece of wood and hand-crafted canework seats, are based on Thonet’s iconic coffee house chair: the 214.

This contemporary seating ensemble is complemented by eight 210 R classic bentwood chairs from the high-end Thonet Pure Materials collection. The design of the black varnished ash chairs with canework seat and backrest dates from 1900 and fits perfectly with the modern designs of the 118 family. An elegant classic, the 210 R perfectly complements the room’s design with a shape that appears organic yet minimalist, like a sculpture in the middle of the room. The choice of furniture in the Glockenhof café again combines the traditional with the modern, thus ideally expressing the design approach of this renovation project.