In little under a week the Doors of Hell will once again open to release Milan Design Week on our unsympathetic, unapologetic world.

The normally pleasant, quiet and reasonably priced Lombardian metropolis will be overrun by molten rivers of corporate greed and naive student hope, transforming the canals, parks and former industrial sites into burning pits of contradiction, imitation and pure gold.

Survival is a question of ignoring reality and convincing yourself that everything is brilliant and that you are having a really, really good time.

Technically, the same procedure as every year…..

….. only this year one of the saner heads in the madness will sadly be missing: Moormann ain’t going.

Milan Design Week 2013: Moormann non è presente

Essentially the reason is dissatisfaction with the stand they were offered at the furniture fair and a general unhappiness with the way the whole process was/is organised and communicated.

When we spoke to Nils Holger Moormann in 2011 he commented on the problems of the stand distribution in Milan.

And in recent conversations with senior managers from other contemporary furniture producers we know how infuriating and drawn out the stand distribution system in Milan is.

The majority however see no alternative and so endure what they must endure to ensure their presence.

Presumably with 2013 the Moormann camel has finally had one straw too many placed, roughly, on its back.

For us the bitter irony is that the vast majority of Hall 20 – which is where the contemporary manufacturers are housed – will be Italian producers who not only are presenting nothing even vaguely innovative, but whose “new” objects are not even destined to see production and are only on display to catch attention.

Wasting space for show rather than using the opportunity to allow the industry to grow and develop.

While we’ll obviously miss Moormann, we do find the resistance good. Milan’s monopoly needs to be broken, and while that will be a long process the more people who make the conscious decision not to go, and publicly justify it, the quicker we will have the alternatives the contemporary designer furniture industry so badly needs.

The one, very, positive fact in Moormann’s decision is of course that when faced with a challenge, Moormann tend to respond in the most glorious, creative, off-beat fashion.

The Bookinist Cup being one of the better examples.

We know that Morrmann have new products. We know Moormann want to show them.

We can’t wait to find out where and how that is.

Naturally, what with Moormann being Moormann, they didn’t announce their Milan absence with a simple press release.

No. Moormann developed a board game.

And we, having as ever far too much time on our hands, managed to play a quick round….

On Friday last week we were at a discussion in Potsdam where Nils Holger Moormann spoke as eloquently and convincingly as ever about the advantages of long lifecyles for furniture and the continual development that is possible when one understands furniture as an evolving entity and not as a quick, profit generating, commodity.

Referring, for example, to the FNP shelving system he commented, something along the lines of: even after 25 years one always finds new ways of extending and developing the system.

And it’s not just the company’s own products that are continually reworked and developed.

Inspired by the (smow)graphic department’s sensitive yet unsentimental reworking of Moormann’s former, as one now must correctly say, square logo, the good folks in Aschau put aside the pre-Christmas workload stress to help (smow) achieve a more fitting, modern corporate identity.

One of the new logos they created can be found at the top left of this page.

And indeed so happy are the (smow)bosses with the work delivered thus far, they are currently considering if they shouldn’t ask Moormann to create a logo for the new (smow)room Stuttgart. The question is, if that isn’t asking too much of the Chiemgau creative forge…..

An early attempt by (smow)blog to elongate the Nils Holger Moormann logo.

Those of you who actually read what we write rather than simply enjoying our genre redefining photography ^* will know that we regularly bemoan the lack of design coverage in the serious print media.

All too often it seems “design” is something to be entrusted to blogs featuring sugar sweet hymns to our cuddly, snuggy-wuggy world and all backed-up by Gaussian heavy, focus soft photos. Or worse, instagram photos.

And so we raise our hats and our flagons to the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazine for their “Der frühe Vogel” feature at the weekend.

The early bird – Der frühe Vogel – may not necessarily catch the worm, but can have its Christmas shopping done by mid November, being the motto.

And to this end the colleagues in Munich asked eight design studios to submit an object that readers can make themselves.

The result isn’t a call to arms nor the the begin of an Open Design, Maker revolution.

But is a collection of idiosyncratic objects that can not only be gifted at Christmas, but used all year round as stylish reminders that design is a way of thinking. Not a job.

Dave Hakkens - Notice Block

Inspired by the soullessness of the inter-changeable ornaments to be found at trade fairs, Hella Jongerius developed a family of paper creatures to use on stands featuring her works: ornaments with a poetry, a life.

Equally as interchangeable are of course the mass produced decorations that promise to fill us and our homes with Christmas cheer through their soul-wrenching uniformity.

And so, thankfully, Hella Jongerius shows us how to build her “Penguin Prop”. A charming little fella who can be coloured and personalised as you wish.

Just as “Penguin Prop” arose from personal thoughts over furnishings, so too did Astleuchter from Nils Holger Moormann.

Nils needed a lamp for the meeting room in his Aschau HQ, and one night inspiration blew in from the forest. Literally.

As one would expect from a Nils Holger Moormann product Astleuchter is a delicate, dactylic blend of simplicity and ingenuity.

Or put another way, Astleuchter is a chandelier made from… well a tree branch.

Elsewhere in the collection Werner Aisslinger presents bike crossbar panniers made from a heavy duty PVC shopping bag: Sam Hecht offers up a plant pot stand that hides its technical complexity behind a facade of domestic banality; Dave Hakkens introduces us to his his environmentally responsible answer to the Post-it note; Sebastian Herkner shows us how to create a shelving system based around broom handles; Stockholm’s Note Design Studio have created a newspaper/magazine rack that owes as much to the clarity of Bauhaus as the forests of Scandinavia; and last but not least Alfredo Häberli has dreamed up a delightful Candelabra for those long winter evenings.

Werner Aisslinger's sketch for his crossbar pannier

Aside from the items themselves, the real joy with the collection is that not only are the majority of the objects things the designers had already designed for their own use, and are now sharing with us. But all eight items come with construction plans sketched or otherwise composed by the designers.

Plans that offer a brief insight into the personality of the designer involved, and the way they work, think, develop ideas.

As such the article is not just a practical design article. But a genuinely interesting and entertaining piece of design journalism.

Well done to all involved.

All designs and their construction plans can be found at sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de

Most of the construction plans are in English, a couple however are in German. But all are excellently illustrated and so should be self-explanatory. And perhaps best of all, most of the objects could be made by children……

* The Harry Portman PR Bible. Chapter 5 Rule 2. “If you can’t do it well. Call it “genre redefining”. Most people, and certainly all Guardian readers, will believe you.

At Milan 2011 Moormann presented the prototype of Pressed Chair by Harry Thaler. At Milan 2012 the market ready version was/is being officially unveiled.

Last year Nils Holger Moormann enthused at great length about Pressed Chair. And so to complete the story, ahead of Milan 2012 we caught up with Harry Thaler in his London studio to learn more about both him and the background to Pressed Chair.

Harry Thaler on his Pressed Chair in front of his London Atelier

(smow)blog: To begin with maybe a little to your background. If we’re correctly informed you were initially a goldsmith?

Harry Thaler: Yes, I spent 10 years working as goldsmith in my home town of Merano and then I moved briefly to Vienna before doing a jewellery course at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Pforzheim. And it was my time in Pforzheim which was then the motivation to move into design – so stoked the desire to work at larger scales.

(smow)blog: And so how did you then end up at the Royal College of Art in London?

Harry Thaler: After Pforzheim I initially studied design in Bolzano, until I gave that up for lets’ say “an English reason”. There was one course that I had to complete in English, and after I had failed eight times I thought “OK, you’ll have to go to London to learn English!” So I applied to the RCA, was accepted, studied there for two years, and established my studio here in London in 2010.

(smow)blog: Given your background in jewellery. As a designer do you work more with models and “hands-on” construction or are the first design steps on the computer?

Harry Thaler: It depends a lot on the project. I am currently working on a house, and that is naturally a lot of computer based work, but then there are projects such as Pressed Chair which never involved the computer and is the result of pure experimentation.

(smow)blog: Which brings us nicely to the next question! When we look at your earlier work, we can’t see any obvious path to Pressed Chair. Was it a completely new project for you, or is there a connection to your previous work?

Harry Thaler: I would say it is rooted in my earlier work, in that if I hadn’t worked as a goldsmith I would probably never have had the idea. Obviously the scale is completely different but, for example, forming pieces of sheet metal is a typical goldsmith process.

(smow)blog: And can you remember what the initial idea was? Was there a moment of inspiration, or….

Harry Thaler: While there are projects where you wake up and the idea is there, Pressed Chair was more a  process. It started with a small fork made from one piece of wood, that was then developed further into a table, chair, stool made from one piece of wood and then came a sort of wooden wafer that was then bent to form a chair…..

(smow)blog:…… and then you thought, OK if it works with wood lets try with metal?

Harry Thaler: No, not exactly. The original plan was to make something out of just one material, which was ultimately metal. And once we had the basic form the next step was to develop it further so that the sheet was as thin as possible. If we were to take a 1cm thick piece of metal it would be much easier, so just bend it and that would be that with no need for the groove. But it is the groove that makes the chair what it is.

(smow)blog: And then the first meeting with Nils Holger Moormann?

Harry Thaler: That was in January 2011 in Cologne. I had won an Interior Innovation Award and Nils approached me at IMM.

(smow)blog: Did he already know the work or did he encounter it for the first time in Cologne?

Harry Thaler: He said that he’d been following it for some time, and I’ll never forget how he approached in Cologne, he came direct to me, no looking left or right. Just straight, focussed, to me!

(smow)blog: And how is it for you as a designer, you develop a chair, win prizes, then a company such as Moormann come and say “Great, we want to produce it. But we’ll have to make changes.” Is that something that makes you nervous, or uneasy?

Harry Thaler: No not at all! The cooperation with Moormann was excellent. They sent me pictures and I could see that it was in essence the same chair. They had made minor changes but the spirit was the same. And I was kept informed as to what was happening, it wasn’t the case that they just took it and did what they wanted without consulting me. They did a lot, but as I was kept informed and so could in effect accompany the process.

(smow)blog: And now, finally, it is on the market. Is the project for you now closed and your just waiting for the cheques to roll in, or is it still something that you think about, something that you still follow closely ?

Harry Thaler: The great thing about design is that maybe I’ll see the chair in a cafe here in London or in someone’s house, so somewhere where it has its own life. And when people take pleasure from the chair and really use it then that is something that makes me happy. But obviously I am also looking to develop the concept further into other objects such as a table or a stool.

Pressed Chair by Harry Thaler for Nils Holger Moormann

The Moormann stand in Milan was devoted to the new star in the Moormann stable. And done with a wonderful mix of biblical allegory and Hollywood glitz. In our humble opinion.

Back at Qubique Berlin we spoke to Nils Holger Moormann, and in addition to discussing the number of days spent in bed with fever following the Bookinist Cup – three appeared average amongst all participants – he also mentioned that he was busy redesigning a car.

At that point he couldn’t say more; but in December the results of the project were displayed in Bilbao during the launch of the new Renault Twingo.

Inspired by Wagon-Lit, the French for sleeping car and a term that conjures up the romance of the golden age of luxury steam train travel, Nils Holger Moormann created Wagon-lire.

A reading car.

And a design that transports the romance of the golden age of luxury steam train travel to the exigent world of car travel.
And underlines that the future is analogue.

Kitting the rear space of the Twingo out with a lightly modified FNP shelving system, a folding table and even a small fire, Nils Holger Moormann has created a car that, as he says, almost makes you hope to get stuck in a traffic jam.

A desire that is increased by the knowledge that the boot space has been fitted out with all the basic requirements for a nice roadside cuppa!

In addition to all the playful elements, Wagon-lire also employs a simple yet ingenious mechanism to allow the seat to be used from both sides. A mechanism that is an unmistakable indication that a designer created Wagon-lire, and that they did so with a very professional attention to detail.

Renault sadly couldn’t confirm when the Twingo Wagon-lire will be released onto the market. But we’ll keep you updated.

And for all who can’t quite work out what we’re on about…. a short promotional video.

Nils Holger Moormann: Wagon-lire

A couple of years ago we were sat, late one Friday evening, in the kitchen in the Moormann Berge in Aschau, when Nils Holger Moormann came in.

Beaming.

He’d just returned from collecting a “German Design Prize” in Gold for Berge and enthused how, in comparison to other design prizes, winning the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland was like winning Olympic gold.

He may not have compared it to the Olympics, our memories may be fuzzy on that point. But it was certainly high praise.

And he was definitely beaming.

Established in 1969 the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland is Germany’s official national Design Prize and until now was administered and run by the German Design Council on behalf of the German Economics Ministry.

From 2012 it will be administered and run by DMY Berlin. Apparently a controversial decision.

At the launch press conference Secretary of State Hans-Joachim Otto from the Economics Ministry repeatedly stated that the decision to entrust DMY with the competition was definitely not a snub to the German Design Council.

And did so with a frequency and unmistakable “read my lips” clarity that indicated that someone’s nose had been put mightily out of joint.

Just how insulted the German Design Council feel can be perhaps be best seen in their decision to start their own competition, the German Design Award.

Or as we used to understand such decisions “If we can’t be striker, we’re taking our ball home and are going to play by ourselves”

There is, as far as we can see, absolutely no justification on the part of the German Design Council for starting their own competition; not least because it clouds the waters and hinders a clear and precise global presentation of the current quality in German design.
Which theoretically is something the German Design Council should be interested in.

German Design Award 2012: Not to be confused with the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 2012

And not only the German Design Council seem put out by the decision.
One colleague at the press conference appeared very, very cross that the German Design Council were no longer running it; as far as we could make out because he was afraid it would now become too commercial. Would somehow lose the purity it has enjoyed until now.

Without wanting to openly challenge our colleagues competence on German design matters – something we suspect would end with us vanishing into the woods whimpering with our tales between our legs – he should probably have a look at the entry rules of the competition as organised by the German Design Council. And ask why the German Design Council felt obliged to start their own contest? Sour grapes and hurt pride aside.
And also look a little more critically at how the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland has performed of late under the German Design Council’s stewardship.

Something the Economics Ministry clearly have done.

While attempting to realign the GDCs proboscis, Secretary of State Otto also let it be known that the Ministry were the opinion that holding the prize ceremony during Ambiente had failed to provide the necessary resonance.

Yup

No disrespect to Frankfurt Messe. But Ambiente isn’t a design fair. It’s a home accessories and gift fair. The closest it gets to graphic design is probably wallpaper.

But the German Design Council are based in Frankfurt and often seem unable to think beyond the banks of the Main. For example, the “Foundation Board”  for the new German Design Museum planned, admittedly, for Berlin is composed entirely of individuals from Frankfurt.
Presumably because the German Design Council aren’t aware of any competent individuals based in Berlin.

Had they been aware of a design festival based in Berlin, say Germany’s largest, we suspect they could have organised a co-operation with them earlier and held their awards ceremony and exhibition at least parallel to if not directly integrated into the DMY festival. A decision that would have a created a much larger media echo than that generated amongst the plates, towel racks and manicure products of Ambiente.

Watch this space for our report from inaugural “German Design Award” ceremony.
And then check google to see who else reports……

The Messeturm at Frankfurt Messe. Since January 2012 it houses the HQ of .... you've probably guessed (Photo: Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH / Helmut Stettin )

We suspect the German Design Council’s devotion to all things Hessen may have been part of the reason for the decision to award the contract to DMY. If so they only have themselves to blame.

For our part we welcome the decision to give the competition to DMY Berlin.

At the press conference we heard the phrase “generation change” and that fits very well.

A lot of people are very scared of generation changes; but they are important if an organisation, event or relationship is to develop and master future challenges.

Speaking as we do to an awful lot of German designers, young and old, established and less so one often hears a criticism that the existing German design institutions focus too much on the “gute Form”, still operate in a world where Dieter Rams defines what German design is and for all that they spend to much time telling designers what they should be doing rather than helping them promote what they are actually doing.

Largely because the organisation is dominated by a generation who came through the ranks when that was the case. Which is fine. But today it isn’t the case. Which is also fine.

With DMY running the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland we expect that the competition will not only be a more contemporary affair; but will also be more democratic and open.

For all through the flat rate Euro 350,00 entry fee. A fee that in comparison to the thousands of euros winning design prizes usually costs should see a lot more smaller companies and design studios applying.

(Note to all who don’t know. Winning a design competition is very expensive. There is one, for example, where the winners are obliged to pay a Euro 2,800 “Winners fee” in addition to compulsory costs for catalogue entries. And of course the initial entrance fee. Which is obviously a barrier for anyone on a tight budget)

It is of course possible that DMY Berlin make a complete pigs breakfast of the competition and the whole thing is a disaster. That is always the risk when changing partner.

We’ll know by mid-May when details are announced of how many applications have been submitted, from whom and from which disciplines.

However looking at the concept as developed by DMY and comparing it to both what has gone before and all other design prizes in Germany we see a real chance to reinvigorate the Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland and so help German design and German designers better promote themselves in the global market.

As we say, if the German Design Council leave the ball where it is and accept their position on the wing….

Although officially a company fete at which Moormann wanted to thank their partners, dealers, designers et al for the good cooperation over the previous year; Die Hölle von Aschau was much more a family fest at which one could really feel the warmth that exists between the company and all they work with.

And that despite the sleet and wind.

This warmth was particularly evident as Nils Holger Moormann himself took to the track and was immediately surrounded by the sort of camera scrum more normally associated with George Clooney or Brad Pitt.

It was, genuinely, most touching.

In a week or so we’ll be in Cologne at IMM, in a world where hard deals are done on the purchase of leather sofas of questionable quality by over-confident reps in suits of an equally perfidious pedigree. Invariably this year using a tablet.

The Bookinist Cup was a reminder that it needn’t be so.

And we don’t just mean the fact that Vitra were a “sponsor”.

Guessing at what the whole exercise must have cost, we’re pretty certain that the money Moormann invested in Die Hölle von Aschau could easily have paid for a stand at a trade fair.

But knowing what we do about Nils Holger and his merry band of Moormänner we suspect that if it came to a direct choice between a trade fair or racing pieces of their furniture round a car park. The car park would win every time.

Something that is only possible in a world where it is understood that although profit is an unavoidable necessity; quality is the most important measure of success or failure. And that quality comes from having a real passion for what you do, about not seeing your occupation as mere work and from the fact that doing what you do makes you happy.

And so because it so eloquently reminded us that the designer furniture industry is something to be enjoyed, Die Hölle von Aschau wins a place in our highlights of 2011.

And for all who weren’t there. The official race film.

Away from the race track a real highlight of “Die Hölle von Aschau” was the Concours d’Élégance.

Ahead of the event Moormann sent out miniature Bookinist kits to their clients, partners and chums with the request that they be “pimped” and returned.

If we’re honest we don’t think that they expected to get that many back.

And so they were genuinely all the more impressed with not only the response but the very high quality of the responses.

From a Gingerbread Bookinist over Popemobiles and onto something unspeakably coarse if equally cool from Jehs + Laub, the fantasy and artistic talent of Moormann’s extended family is clearly limitless.

It was truly a delight to behold. The full gallery can be viewed here

Die Hölle von Aschau 2011: Concours d'Élégance

A kit also arrived in the (smow)HQ.

(smow) of course wouldn’t be (smow) if they simply followed rules as laid down by others. Even when the “other” is Nils Holger Moormann.

And so, yes, (smow) customised a Bookinist kit. But (smow) customised a 1:1 scale Bookinist.

Constructed in the valley’s of south Sachsen by local craftsmen using traditional production methods and employing an environmentally friendly electric motor in contrast to Moormann’s ozone challenging, and quite frankly last century, diesel motors the (smow) Bookinist was ….

…. immediately disqualified from the race!

And that despite being filled with real books, rather than stickers on other race Bookinists we could mention!

However after several appeals the race jury graciously decided to create an extra category for exceptional examples of East German engineering and the (smow) team were finally allowed into the pit lane to prepare for battle.

When the time came, the hours of training proved invaluable on the tight Aschau track and under the jubilation of the gathered thousands the (smow)pilot brought his chariot home in a very respectable time of 1:17.65

Which in a fair and just world would have been 8th place.

And then as the rest of the participants partied the night away, (smow)racing were still out and about, improving their skills on the rain soaked cobblestones of Aschau.

Much as you’d expect…..

Die Hölle von Aschau 2011: The (smow) Bookinist takes shape.....

... a test round in the Moormann car park ....

.....before blitzing round the Bookinist Cup 2011 course.

Then while others dined on and with the other competitors ...

......(smow) kept on racing through the night.

Back in the 80s there was nothing Hannibal Smith liked more than when a plan came together.

Obviously we don’t know such a feeling, but nothing gets us reaching for a hand-rolled Havana and grinning somewhat malevolently as much as when Lady Luck binds the various strands of our Blog together to give the impression of a coherent plan.

Back at Norm=Form, Timo de Rijk argued that all modern design is simply a recreation of older standards – because the public expect a product to have a specific form. And designers give them that. Albeit with their own signature and interpretation.

Ettore Sottsass and his Memphis Group may have tried to rectify this with objects such as the Carlton Cabinet; but ultimately it remains true.

The exhibition Global Village at the WAGNER:WERK Museum in Vienna explores the theme a little further by placing modern design in the context of “traditional” objects from non-European civilizations.

Some of the comparisons are just uncanny.

And so we see that the Eames Stools are simply an extrapolation of handcrafted stools from Burkina Faso or that Karim Rashid’s lounger Surf is actually from East Java.

Obviously no-one is accusing anyone of copying. What Global Village however does is to wonderfully underline just how dependent designers are on established and well practiced forms.

The spade has existed since time immemorial. All we can do is change the materials and ergonomics.

We do feel they have over-extended themselves by comparing Nils Holger Moormann‘s Easy Reader to a children’s wheelbarrow from Indonesia.  But the visual comparison is very good.

Almost as impressive as the exhibition is the exhibition space: Otto Wagner’s Postsparkasse. If our bank looked like that we might make a few more deposits.

Global Village at WAGNER:WERK Museum runs until November 4th. Full details can be found at www.ottowagner.com

Twenty four hours before Sebastian Vettel sealed his second F1 drivers title in Japan, Markus Jehs and Jürgen Laub were securing victory in an event that stands a vertical cliff face higher than F1 on Mount Motor Sport and to which Vettel himself hopes to ascend, once he gets a bit better at driving: The Bookinist Cup.

For many the Bookinist was developed as an armchair in which one could sit and read; surrounded by your favourite literature. This however is one of the crueler droplets in the marketing mist of deception that shrouds the global designer furniture industry.

Alone the style in which Nils Holger Moormann first presented his chariot at Milan in 2008 betrayed his real intentions.

However, as with so much of Moormann’s oeuvre, the glossy magazines and intern-heavy, content-light design blogs struggled to comprehend the true majesty of the creation; and so the company were forced to tone down the marketing and position the Bookinist as a family friendly product.
As something your granny could use.

Industry insiders and adrenaline junkies know better. And the more intractable of those answered Nils Holger Moormann’s challenge to combat.

The Challenger: Nils Holger Moormann

For the 2011 Bookinist Cup, twenty international teams gathered under the clock tower in front of the Festhalle in Aschau to do battle – with each other and with one of the most devious and unforgiving forms of transportation developed since someone foolishly thought the donkey “might be useful”.

With the first snow of winter taunting from the peaks of the Chiemgauer Alpen and dark clouds foreboding worse, a key factor was always going to be the weather. Fortunately Saint Medard meant well with the competitors – and it remained friendly for the majority of the race.

The dry track however not helping all, and the competition got off to a dramatic start when Team 1 “Tuktuk-Racing”, broke the Bookinist – poor skippering leading to a disagreement with the straw bales and ending with a separation of chassis and front wheel.

Fortunately, not only had the Mormann Design Team prepared two race Bookinists for the event. They can also weld. Quickly. And so after a short Safety Car period the competition could continue unhindered.

Following good times from Robert Widmann & David Fechner, Bibs Hosak-Robb & David Robb and Garbriele & Matthias von Schweinitz, Nils Holger Moormann himself entered the arena.

If euphoria ever knew limits; it made new acquaintances on a cold afternoon in south Bavaria.

Driving his personal Bookinist, a vehicle that he genuinely uses to travel to work every day, Nils’ challenge was unfortunately less triumphant than his reception on the start line, and he appeared hampered by a less than optimal performance from his engine. Although potentially it was more a problem that the wrong sort of fuel had been tanked. From track-side it was hard to tell.

With the challenger beaten, it was left to the last of the challengees to fight for the crown.

Erika and André Küchler did Switzerland proud, while Saskia Kaptein & Just Haasnoot successfully disproved many of the crowds unfavourable stereotypes concerning Dutch drivers.

But ultimately no one could master either the course nor the Bookinist with the skill, grace and steely nerve to match Stuttgart design studio Jehs and Laub.

The Bookinist was never a beast that took kindly to taming. There is no book “The Bookinist Whisperer” Nor do we imagine their ever will be.

And so respect to all who took on the Hell of Aschau and left the to tell their tale.

We salute you!

And yes Team(smow) were also present … but that’s a story for another day.

For the sake of completion, a list of all teams and times can be found at: www.die-hoelle-von-aschau.de

And the four prize winners were:

Fastest Racing-Team: Stuttgarter Höllenhunde (Markus Jehs & Jürgen Laub)

Best Stunt: Die Molitomähns (Frank Leukers  &Jürgen Kupfer)

Sleekest Performance: Vatikan Racing – Der eilige Stuhl (Klaus Wolter & Mark Bruckmann)

Most Contact with the Straw Bales: Ratz-Fatz-Team (Alex Seifried & Stephan Scholl)