88 Keys To New Design

Pianos Step Into The Contemporary Décor With Style

Everybody is familiar with the black fluegel or wing silhouette of a classic grand piano, an iconic shape of concert stages, hotel lobbies and cultured homescapes for generations. And up until now, using a piano in interior design has been as simple as “insert six-foot grand here.” But in the past few years, collaborations between leading designers and piano manufacturers are resulting in instruments that are musically top of the line and aesthetically pleasing, important works of furniture art. Leading designers like Peter Maly are creating cutting edge pianos with top makers like the 198-year-old German firm Sauter Piano, located in Spaichingen. Special designs and hundreds of custom woods and finishes are available, appealing to interior designers, decorators, home owners and musicians.

“Historically, Beeethoven, Liszt, Mendelssohn and the other star composer/pianists of their time had an active hand in designing the sound and look of the instruments they played,” says Russell Kassman, owner of R. Kassman Piano in Berkeley, home of the largest collection of hand-crafted European pianos in North America. “In fact, up until the 20th century, pianos were largely what we would consider a custom-order business with instruments hand-made to order one at a time. It's only within the last hundred years or so that we have seen design and standards go out the window, replaced by cookie-cutter sameness of look and sound.”

But traditions of hand-made pianos survive, mostly in Germany, where Kassman travels several times a year to secure instruments from a limited supply for discerning Bay Area customers. Because of these long-standing traditional workshops, its possible for designers and pianists to have a direct bearing on the look and sound of the instruments they buy.

With this nearly forgotten tradition in mind, Ulrich Sauter—ninth generation of piano builders—partnered with furniture, industrial, interior and product designer Peter Maly to rediscover the genesis of piano design. Maly is known for his love of geometric forms, playful and classic use of materials and an innate timelessness that have resulted in international acclaim for his work. About designing pianos, Maly says, “This new grand should be all-over elegant and softly rounded, of flowing design and without any twirls whatsoever.” His nine designs—both grands and uprights--for Sauter are pared-down elegance that showcase fine materials, finishes and understated details.

Sauter's renowned acoustical design is the perfect match for Maly's aesthetic: centuries of perfection in creating instruments with full projecting bass tones and bright singing upper registers represent piano sound reduced and elevated to pure sound, actuely responsive to the player's touch and interpretation.

Peter Maly's designs for Sauter Piano are best seen and played in person at R. Kassman Piano in Berkeley, CA, but images may be viewed at: http://www.sauter-pianos.de/english/instruments.html (select Series “Design”) or at www.peter.maly.com (select design, then “pianos”).

Centuries Of Old-World Craftsmanship And Modern Technology
Sauter has built pianos by hand since 1819 in Germany's Black Forest, a region known historically for the finest woodworking and clock-making in Europe and for exacting Schlage locks. The Sauter workshops are still located deep in the heart of the Black Forest, where Germany, France and Switzerland meet and the Lake of Constance flows down to the valley floor and form the Danube River. In modern times, the area is also known for high tech engineering--particularly precision surgical tools--sought after the world over by doctors and hospitals. Today's Sauter Piano workshops combine the best of both old world craftsmanship, top materials and design with technical innovation, making their instruments the choice of top artists and musical organizations internationally. Because if its commitment to high standards, hand-craftsmanship and the finest materials, Sauter limits its production to a small number of instruments each year and there are waiting lists for the large concert grands from the four corners of the globe.

Unique features of Sauter Pianos are hand-selected and slow kiln-dried hardwoods throughout, individually sand-cast metal frames to support the ideal tension of strings, and a titanium duplex on the back side of the bridge of each instrument that gives Sauter's an acclaimed brilliant, rich tone with lots of color and an extremely long sustainability of sound.