Sauter Pianomanufaktur - Design
The design
New Visions for Piano Making
The Design Edition marks a milestone in SAUTER’s philosophy of innovation in piano making. What is particularly new is the perspective from which this design initiative emerges: a view that extends beyond the instrument into today’s living spaces—and the ambition to blend the culture of sound with the culture of living.
The Design Edition from SAUTER represents piano avant-garde of the highest clarity. Visionary reinterpretations of the piano and variations on the soundscape of the future—created as timeless classics. Clear. Abstract. Minimalist.
„Just like in a musical composition, design is all about harmony, rhythm, and contrast.“
Peter Maly
The Timeline
Peter Maly Designs Through the Years
Since 1996, renowned designer Peter Maly has been reinterpreting grand and upright pianos exclusively for SAUTER—in his unmistakably minimalist style. Some of his designs have already become acclaimed design classics.
The Designer
Music Meets Elegance: Award-Winning Furniture Designer Peter Maly.
A conversation with Peter Maly about the parallels between design and music.
Are you a musical person?
As a child, I played the piano, and later the guitar. Over the course of my life, I’ve focused on visual expression. But classical music is very important to me. Especially Bach!
You said you found inspiration for your design work in Bach’s compositions. In what way?
In Bach’s music, I see a great perfection that I also strive to achieve in my work. I admire Bach, whose perfect, mathematically almost exact compositions are so astonishingly emotional in their effect. Geometric principles such as the Golden Ratio and balanced proportions also have an emotional impact in design—just as they do in music.
What guided you in the design of a piano?
Since I began designing upright and grand pianos for Sauter in 1996, my goal has been to streamline and simplify the existing basic form. In my design, I always strive for originality of form, a purism aimed at lasting value. The starting points are always elementary geometric forms
«My goal is to distill the piano down to its essence, its archetypal qualities.»
Peter Maly
You designed the RHAPSODY piano to mark the anniversary. What makes it special?
I wanted to make this piano more refined, elegant, and soft. It is not a perfect rectangular prism—that is, it is not classically cubic—but rather rounded at its vertical edges, as are all the edges of the keyboard table, the top panel, and the bottom panel. The veneer pattern runs horizontally and wraps around the piano on the three visible surfaces, interrupted only by two vertical visible joints that visually integrate the keyboard. It was important to me to emphasize its elegance through the choice of contrasting, high-quality materials. I named it RHAPSODY 2019, because just as Gershwin combined classical music with jazz into a captivating composition with RHAPSODY IN BLUE, so too has the RHAPSODY piano fused two hundred years of piano-making artistry with modern design into a new form.
Which Sauter piano is your personal favorite?
Of all the instruments, the AMBIENTE grand piano really stands out to me. I replaced the classic double-curve design of the grand piano with a clean parabolic curve, which becomes particularly evident when the lid is opened. This shape is fluid, uncluttered, and elegant.
