It is unusual, indeed: heavenly light. Mark Braun picks up the lantern made from the finest biscuit porcelain and runs his finger over the velvety surface. There is a golden line all around it with a dot on it. The hand-applied decoration symbolizes the orbit of the celestial bodies, with light, the sun, at the center. Eight planets orbit it, above all the earth, that very dot. The bottom of the lantern is marked "365 T" by hand - the number of days it takes the earth to orbit the sun once.

Mark Braun designed the lantern, or more precisely: the PLANETARIUM lantern series, for KPM. It now includes not only our home planet, but also Jupiter and Mars, for which the size of the dots and the number of orbital days vary. Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will follow.

"This circular movement is a metaphor that I liked," says the designer during a visit to his studio in Berlin-Alt-Treptow. "The focus is on light, the brand, everything revolves around the manufactory and its production cycles."

The casually dressed man in his mid-forties adjusts his cap. If you talk to the award-winning product designer about his designs, he always emphasizes the commercial side. Perhaps this is the secret of his success. "I see it as my job to convey the potential of a company to the outside world with my products," he explains. It is not enough just to be a good designer; entrepreneurial and intellectual knowledge are just as important. It is also not enough just to have craftsmanship and talent; you also have to have good partners. Braun tries to think about the feasibility and production constraints of his clients. The collaboration with KPM is a "perfect match" - and the lantern series is a "perfect brand ambassador" for the manufactory.

This is where high quality and precision in the handling of porcelain meet contemporary design. "KPM stands for a lot of skill and history. It is a company that was very progressive in the past, for example during the Bauhaus period with designs by Trude Petri and Marguerite Friedlaender," says Braun. "I wanted to dock onto that." With the PLANETARIUM lantern, form follows function; in the dark, it spreads a pleasant, bright, windproof light. By day, on the other hand, it is simply a beautiful design object.

Mark Braun knows his way around porcelain. During his industrial design studies at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, he experimented intensively with the "bitchy material". "Porcelain plus X" was the topic of his diploma thesis. In it, he dealt with the contextualization of the material in relation to bathroom and table culture. Braun reminisces: "In the workshops in Halle , I had the ideal conditions to try out new things."

KPM Berlin is a company that has already been very progressive in the past.

He also started his professional life with works in porcelain: He designed tableware for the manufacturer ASA Selection, his first major commercial success after graduating. Although he deliberately did not put his name to the mass-market service, the commission gave him the financial leeway he needed to push ahead with his own products. In 2006, he set up his own design studio and moved into a studio building in Alt-Treptow, where other artists and musicians had already taken up residence. An inspiring atmosphere for the young entrepreneur, who set up an office and workshop there. Today, new residential buildings have been built around the old building, which in GDR times housed the record workshop of the Amiga music label, so that his office and workshop are hidden away in the backyard. He employs three people there and works in a team to create different products from every conceivable material.

Mark Braun is in good business and has a broad base. His clients today include well-known companies such as Hartô, Conmoto, Lobmeyr, mono, e15, Otto Hutt and Thonet, to name but a few. He designs vases, glass decanters, razor sets, table trestles, cutlery, sofas, garden loungers, lamps, jewelry and clocks. He is particularly pleased with the design of the "Metro" watch for NOMOS Glashütte, which has been a bestseller for years and is now available in 13 versions. As different as his products are, all his designs bear his signature. They are well thought-out, minimalist and pleasantly unobtrusive. Many of his works have won prestigious awards such as the iF Design Award, the Red Dot Award and the German Design Award. But success has not gone to the 45-year-old's head - he appears modest, relaxed and without airs and graces.

He owes his aesthetic influence to his family. His grandfather was an architect, his grandmother an artist. They owned a summer house in Sweden: They attached great importance to its tasteful furnishings. The young Mark was surrounded by design classics, including many Scandinavian pieces, and learned early on to appreciate good products. Today, the father of two tries to pass on this sense of design to his two children. "It's an important experience for children to come into contact with high-quality products," says Braun. He sometimes hands his young daughter a nice drinking glass, even if it might break something. He lives with his wife, graphic designer Anna Sartorius, and their children in Kreuzberg. The Berliner-by-choice has arrived here. The city is always inspiring for him, because Berlin is in a state of flux. KPM Berlin is also a piece of Berlin that he appreciates. The manufactory has always had an "open door" for him in the past - the best conditions for a successful collaboration.

Text: Heike Gläser