10.06.2014Project Reports

"We offer our employees the opportunity to go into the forest, during their working day"


Today we feature an interview - a rare situation - with the family behind the family-owend company mafi. It was published already in the H.O.M.E. Magazin in Austria on the occasion of the Vienna flagshipstore opening. 

THE BAREFOOT FACTOR
Walk on The Art. Mafi CEOS Heidrun Zerbs, Christiane Lindner and Florian Fillafer reveal what makes your wooden floors into works of art – and why your guests enjoy taking off their shoes. 

 

What have you experienced recently in the forest?

Florian Fillafer
I was collecting wild garlic.

Heidrun Zerbs
The forest is pure relaxation and as it were our playground - I'm regularly outside with our dog and the kids.

Christiane Lindner
I also have two children, with whom I am often in the woods. It’s there I can calm down and just let the Job be just that, a Job. We also offer our employees the opportunity to go into the forest for half an hour, during their working day, and do sport. The company which looks after us is called "Fresh Air" - the employees are accompanied by a trainer in the forest and almost all of them use the healthy environment for a little sport and stress reduction.

What makes wood so timeless and not old-fashioned?

Christiane Lindner
There are many products that mimic wood but never achieve the same aesthetic. Especially in the 70s and 80s, plastic was at a premium. But the trend is now back in a direction that emphasizes the naturalness of the material. One wants to bring nature, so to speak, back within their own four walls.

Heidrun Zerbs
Also in one’s diet people are focused on naturalness and originality. Even our ancestors highly valued the properties of wood. I have also never heard of anyone with an allergy to wood.

Florian Fillafer
Wood is one of our greatest resources in Central Europe. For me there is no other product that could displace wood in its natural form. Of course there is occasionally a trend towards stone or laminate. But basically the trend is as in fashion, where it is less and less on synthetic materials, and more on genuine, honest materials. Thus, wood will always be a pioneer. Take a look at the vintage trend. People today want something more robust. Although a design classic is never perfect, it has a certain patina and holds its value. Wood is basically like an old, worn leather bag. It may be worn and you have to care for it, but for that it has something authentic and tells a story.

Speaking of stories. What stories do your floors tell?

Florian Fillafer
I always have to remember how much of our parents’ house was made of wood. In our kids room we had a simple spruce floor which I remember as being very homely and warm.

Heidrun Zerbs
I love the smell of wood as it is unmistakable. It always reminds me of when I was a child and used to go out into our wood storage.

Christiane Lindner
A wooden floor is there for me to live on. One must never forget that, for example, children mostly play on the floor and there you should only use warm, healthy and high quality materials.

How does it feel to walk barefoot on a mafi floor?

Christiane Lindner
Amazing! I do not have underfloor heating, but everyone thinks I have. Even in the bathroom, wood is incredibly warm and soft. That’s because it doesn’t lose the body heat as quickly as stone or lacquered surfaces.

Heidrun Zerbs
Everyone who visits our home takes off their shoes because they want to feel the floor, not just because of the dirt.

Florian Fillafer
I know exactly how it feels when I walk on a cold, hard floor or on a carpeted floor. There I long for a wooden floor which is also the most hygienic.

Heidrun Zerbs
Wood even has an antiseptic effect. Our wooden floor soap acts against mould and mildew.

How does mafi fulfil ecological criteria?

Florian Fillafer
According to our philosophy, we use the whole tree. We utilise not only the trunk, and knot free filleted pieces, but also boards with knots. That is why we offer very many lengths and widths. Some planks are even available only in certain widths. Furthermore, we collect our waste, the sawdust, which is then used to heat the company and the drying chambers. The rest we make into pellets which we then sell as a by-product.

Christiane Lindner
Another important point is the product life cycle. When you consider how long you have a floor in comparison to other products. A laminate floor is extremely short-lived. In addition, this produces only hazardous waste.

Their slogan is "Walk on Art". What makes a wooden floor a work of art?

Florian Fillafer
A wooden floor is like an individual fingerprint. We remain very close to nature and try to give woods which have supposed failures an added value. To quote our father: “Nature is our best designer.”

Heidrun Zerbs
No two boards are ever the same. This is what distinguishes a work of art. We work very hard on individual requests.

How important is Austrian wood?

Christiane Lindner
If you look at carpentry work abroad, e.g. in the USA, then you can already see huge differences.

Florian Fillafer
We have here, along with Germany, the most manufacturers with the highest quality. An American wooden window can never compete with a domestic one.

Heidrun Zerbs
It’s absolutely awful when timber is delivered from Germany to China and there made to look old with ammonia acid. It is then sold cheaply in this country and you have a supposedly "antique" wooden floor, but one which springs from a completely wrong market system. We should not let our high European standards be swayed purely by greed for profits.

Christiane Lindner
The appeal to Europe is that one must not allow all production to go to low-wage countries. Both the consumer and the companies need to rethink.

Florian Fillafer
Check out the German automotive companies, which are innovative and deliver very good quality – where the production is happening locally in the country. Fortunately at the moment, more and more awareness of the long-lasting resistant is being created. I'm not talking about simply the most expensive, but about good quality at a reasonable price.

mafi flagshipstore Vienna


Gonzagagasse 19/1
1010 Wien
Austria

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