back to the roots

True Colours by Gesa Hansen
Travel back to the roots, brush against nature, feel the elements: with True Colours, furniture and interior designer Gesa Hansen has created a unique edition for Bauwerk. Inspired by nature, by her flair for design and love of wood as a material, she worked together with Bauwerk to develop five fascinatingly nuanced colours. The colours Canneto, Terra and Lava, developed in the first edition, range from a bright beige to a rich brown. The new colours Nuvola and Roccia complement the current earthy palette with a contemporary grey in different shades: With every grey telling its own story. They are all available as large, 1-strip planks in Villapark format, and are made at Bauwerk’s main facility in St. Margrethen.

Next: Bauwerk’s innovation with depth effect
The colours of the True Colours Edition are applied using the innovative Next technology, specifically developed by Bauwerk. This multi-layered coating makes the pores, structures and grading of real wood even more distinctive. The dark, fine, smoked tone shimmers slightly, giving the floors a wonderful depth effect. 

The True Colours Edition is manufactured at Bauwerk’s main facility in St. Margrethen. This means precision, high-quality processing in every detail, gentle treatment of resources and strict quality control. In other words: True Colours is a perfect combination of Swiss quality and fascinatingly natural colour nuances.

Interview with Gesa Hansen

Designer Gesa Hansen loves wood as a material, its smell and texture, its natural character. She has created the unique True Colours edition in cooperation with Bauwerk, inspired by nature and its elements. Being an interior designer, Hansen also participated in the shooting of the True Colours Edition at her own house near Paris. 

As a prominent interior designer, you mostly work on furniture. How is your project with Bauwerk—designing parquet—different from your usual work?  
It was wood as a material that brought me to design in the first place. My furniture was discovered by clients who also asked me to design interiors for them. While my work in interior design was on the rise, involving other materials such as textiles, there was a growing longing in me to incorporate wood in what I create, to work with my own hands and to get out of my comfort zone. We live in a time when so many things have strayed far away from their true material nature, which makes the authenticity of materials ever more important. Wood helps us find solid ground under our feet. And so I created my own label, specifically to make some room for wood in my work. Then this special task, designing a parquet, found its way to me. A floor on which we walk barefoot, which we can feel with our feet. A floor tells a story; it says more than furniture. Designing parquet closes a circle for me personally. 

Please tell us more about your passion for wood as a material.
Working with wood is a real statement for me. There is always a close connection between this material and those who work with it. Wood actively participates in the process. Its structure often leads us in unexpected directions when we process it. Wood decides on its own what you should do with it. It is a living material. That is why, for me, wood reveals its beauty when it has been out there for some time already. This ageing process creates authenticity, which is one of the most important values of our time, in my opinion: to accept the incomplete, the imperfection that comes with this natural process. And when you don’t just accept it, but see it as a benefit, as an advantage, it attains very special meaning. This is why I like using wood in my work. It’s good for your soul. 

What served as a particular inspiration for you during the development of the True Colours Edition?
I am fascinated by how the manufacturing process highlights the raw spirit of the wood and the colours that underscore its true character. This is why we called it the ‘True Colours’ edition. Seeing how much we can develop that grain and texture in the wood was the most striking moment for me during the entire project. I’ve found myself very interested in the colours too. In furniture, I always associate the topic of colour with a ‘brutal’ aspect, because colour is often used rigorously so that it matches the character of the wood. In turn, the wood ages beautifully, and thanks to its ever-changing patina, gradually reveals its charm. With a surface as huge as a floor, however, you cannot ignore colour. Colour also has a lot of influence on how happy we feel. With the True Colours Edition, I was able to join these magnificent forces of wood and colour together, and open up a completely new multi-layered space for experimenting with colour. 

What connects you to Bauwerk?
Our shared and profound love for this material. During our first meeting to discuss the project at the St. Margrethen plant, I immediately felt at home. We share the same fondness for this project and our connection to wood. And the same concept of sustainability, which is particularly important for me. Wood is sustainably not just a raw material — if used in parquet or furniture, it can endure forever. As a manufacturer, Bauwerk embodies the longevity of its products and other things, something that I also do in my work. At the same time, there is extreme openness towards creativity. That makes it very easy to work with the people from Bauwerk.