Rooms that tell stories

BEST OF | Issue 04 | AUTUMN/WINTER 2025/26

It starts, invariably, with a personal chat. Not about furniture or colours, but rather about people and their habits, their desires, wishes, and their designs and hopes for life. At Bernd Gruber, design is about much, much more than the aesthetic draft of a room – it is the translation of personal identity into the language of spatial impact. This philosophy leaves its indelible stamp on every single object, whether in the Alps, a pulsating metropolis, or an international coastline destination.

At the beginning of every design process, lies the “empathy workshop” – an intensive day on which the designers and builders engage in a deep and ponderous dialogue. The question at hand is to discover, to grasp, to comprehend the lifestyle, routines, values and finely grained nuances which are intended to later leave their imprint on the atmosphere of a room. Visualizations, mood-boards and renderings are all tiny support measures to help them find their way towards shared pictures and categories such as “modern” or “highly re-strained” and then fill them with life. Precisely this all-embracing understanding between two parties is what forms the foundations of rooms which are thought-through down to the most minute detail and, in the end, represent a highly individual stance and mindset.

Bespoke work – local origin, International potency

From Kitzbühel to Munich, from Berlin to Los Angeles – the projects of Bernd Gruber reflect a dazzling multiplicity of international spheres of life and living. Each and every project is unique. It bears the stamp of the cultural identity of a given place as well as the deeply personal feeling-for-life of its inhabitants. No matter whether it is an alpine chalet, with corresponding architecture, an urban city home or a minimalistic villa on the Pacific – the signature is distinctive, is unmistakable: clear lines, high-end materials, timeless compositions. The company’s own manufacturing facilities in Stuhlfelden near Salzburg bring together traditional carpentry and hand-workmanship with the most daringly modern manufacturing facilities. Here, custom-made furniture and built-in components and installations are generated whose quality makes the ultimate difference. And…whose essentialness tells its own story. Sustainability is not a trend for them, it is the living, breathing daily practice of their work: regional resources, long-lived workmanship, logistics which are thought through to the final end point.

The strength of Bernd Gruber lies not merely in the quality of the designs and the high degree of expertise in their functionality, but in their ability to grasp cultural distinctions and translate them into a universal design feeling. International projects demand an extraordinary degree of sensitivity – for styles which meld with the typical countryside as well as for the expectations of a public which thinks globally. The end result: curated rooms which function anywhere and everywhere in the world without losing one iota of their uniqueness.

Timeless elegance interconnecting far-reaching stars

The draft designs are invariably launched with a stable, timeless skeletal structure. Atop that, flexible elements full of character are added, absorbing trends as they go along without ever submitting to them. Thus, interiors are generated which have a capacity to stand the test of time, yet can at the same time transform themselves. Bernd Gruber doesn’t just create rooms, Bernd Gruber generates worlds of living in which people feel they are perceived, taken seriously, understood and also feel right at home, regardless on which continent of the earth.

From tradition into the future

Today, Bernd Gruber Interior is operating in its third generation. Under the direction of Philipp Gruber, son of Bernd, Michael Gruber (brother) and Philipp Hoflehner, the internationally active family enterprise in the branch of exclusive interior architecture is renowned for its work far beyond our local borders. The traditions of hand-workmanship are its uppermost imperative, alongside the latest developments of contemporary interior design. Under the aegis of these guiding lights, Bernd Gruber pursues its outstanding feel for the innermost wishes of its clients and a far-reaching degree of competence in planning. Beginning with the selection of architects and the concept of coordinating individual works, all the way to accompanying the actual construction until realization is complete, their striving towards high value and high quality is without compromise. It is visible in all the projects of Bernd Gruber through the interweaving of local operations and international designs.

Philipp Hoflehner, Managing Director

As one of the three managing directors, Philipp Hoflehner orchestrates the strategic orientation as well as the creative signature of the business, without ever losing sight of the fundamental values of the company’s founder. With a truly sensitive feel for the needs and desires of highly demanding clients and a sure-footed understanding of clear and timeless designs, he leads the company by means of a crystal-clear vision and high competence in achieving value. The consequential realization of outstanding detailed work based on empathy-driven understanding of and agreement with the client, quality without compromise and a strict adherence to the value-based principles of their brand together underline their claim to all-encompassing resonance which accompanies each idea until it reaches its ultimate implementation and, at the same time, ushers the company sustainably another step into the future.