Zesar marks 100 years as school furniture mirrors social change

Swiss school furniture manufacturer Zesar is celebrating its 100th anniversary as changing desks, chairs and classroom layouts reflect broader shifts in society, SRF reports. The company, based in Tavannes in the Bernese Jura, still carries out much of its production by hand.

Workers at the factory drill holes in steel tubes, operate a welding robot and cut long tubes into sections. Zesar handles every stage of production itself, from cutting and welding to surface treatment and assembly. Co-CEO Marc Liechti said the company wants to keep its dependence on foreign suppliers as low as possible. “If we do everything ourselves, we know that it works,” he said.

Zesar was founded in 1926 and now employs around 60 people in Tavannes. It initially produced steel frames and spare parts for bicycles before turning to furniture. As wooden benches and chairs gradually gave way to design-oriented steel furniture, the company focused on this market.

The demands placed on school furniture have changed significantly over the past century. Modern desks and chairs must be flexible and ergonomic, with adjustable heights, rounded edges and no pressure points on the body. Chairs are designed to remain comfortable whether pupils sit facing forwards, sideways or backwards.

In the 1930s and 1940s, desks and chairs were heavy and fixed to the floor. They could not be moved or adjusted in height, meaning children had to adapt to the furniture. From the 1950s onwards, concerns grew that such desks could harm pupils’ health and hinder learning, Liechti said.

Changes in teaching have also influenced classroom design. Instead of producing rigid rows of desks for front-facing lessons, Zesar now makes furniture for learning environments with different areas. One section may contain desks, while another has stools or benches for quiet reading.

The factory has a showroom where teachers can examine the furniture, test different layouts and try out their own ideas. The aim is to find the right solution for each situation, Liechti said, adding that teachers ultimately have to work with the furniture.

About one in ten pieces of school furniture in Swiss classrooms comes from the Tavannes factory. Like many Swiss companies, however, Zesar faces growing competition from foreign manufacturers selling school furniture at much lower prices.

“We deliver Swiss quality with local products, and that costs money,” Liechti said. The company currently has no plans to move parts of its production abroad. To survive, he said, Zesar’s only recipe was to continue doing good work over the next 100 years.