MAYA RAMHARTER
In my opinion, everything does not have to be expensive to radiate charm, elegance and well-being, but things must be tasteful and selected with care and an individual signature must be recognizable. I want to avoid a work made of name-dropping design. A combination of restored pieces and high-class design products, customisations and findings appeals hopefully those who enjoy.
When Michael Ramharter and I established an office for design in 1998, I was still studying humanities in Berlin. Both of us had already completed training in craftmanship, in my case as a shoemaker with Scheer & Sons in Vienna. Through contacts with Michael I received first jobs in set design for films and design in general, initially to finance my studies. Instead, I fell in love with this visual profession and gave up my studies. However, the knowledge and esthetic theories aquired there remained an important influence on my creative work and served as a theoretical backbone and source of inspiration.
When Michael Ramharter and I established an office for design in 1998, I was still studying humanities in Berlin. Both of us had already completed training in craftmanship, in my case as a shoemaker with Scheer & Sons in Vienna. Through contacts with Michael I received first jobs in set design for films and design in general, initially to finance my studies. Instead, I fell in love with this visual profession and gave up my studies. However, the knowledge and esthetic theories aquired there remained an important influence on my creative work and served as a theoretical backbone and source of inspiration.
MICHAEL RAMHARTER
Although I became a production designer by chance, it was by no means accidental for me to become a designer. I finished my studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna 1993 after giving up a promising career as a goldsmith and jeweller. At that time the New Sentimental Film in Frankfurt opened a subsidiary in Vienna and the manager of that company asked me to create a set for their first tv commercial. This turned out extremely well and confirmed me that product design is completely in line with my understanding of design and interior design services. Services which have to take into account the client s individual lifestyle, having to live in the ambience created.
