INTERVIEW: "Form follows function" - HERA ARMS

HERA ARMS produces weapons in Germany that are just as high-quality as they are visually striking. We wanted to know from HERA how important design is, where their product names come from, and how they feel as competition to MAGPUL.

SPARTANAT: Weapons from HERA ARMS are characterized by a very distinctive appearance, they are instantly recognizable. How important is design for HERA?

Uniform design language at HERA ARMS

HERA ARMS: Design is not the company's goal to make products visually appealing solely through design features. However, we adhere to the philosophy that design is mainly derived from functionality and follows functionality. Here we follow the principle: "Design follows function". In addition, we try to design transitions, edges, fonts, and surfaces in a way that follows a uniform design language across products.

SPARTANAT: How is the typical HERA ARMS design created? Is it first the technical functional construction that is then optimized? Or is the design automatically influential in each part?

HERA ARMS: Foremost, the functionality of the component being developed is of course the focus in every development step. Even though various design studies are known early on, they play a subordinate role in the construction. The above-mentioned transitions, edges, fonts, or surface designs are usually the final development step before producing final prototypes or pre-production series.

SPARTANAT: Beauty also makes a weapon special. What is the relationship between form and function for HERA?

Function always takes precedence at HERA ARMS

HERA ARMS: That is relatively easy to answer. Here, function understandably always takes precedence. In addition to sporting and hunting use, our products are also used by professional firearms carriers in the operational area. Function, constant quality, and reliability enjoy the highest priority, but this does not exclude ergonomic design, which ultimately also represents a component of functionality.

SPARTANAT: The name is also part of the weapon - and somehow it is also design. Where do the names like 15ern and the other proprietary designations like HFGL and IRSL come from?

HERA ARMS: Actually quite pragmatic. The letter combinations often simply designate the product. For example, HFGL stands for "Hera Frontgrip Leather". However, when it comes to type or category designations, we are often more creative. After our pistol carbine "Triarii" was inspired by the Roman special unit "Triarii", our following The15th was based on the 15th Roman Legion Primigenia, which was stationed in Mainz.

Accessories are stand-alone products on the market

SPARTANAT: HERA ARMS is not only the weapon, but also very strong with attachments. Many always think of MAGPUL, but HERA has a large market here. What is important for HERA with these parts, which end up on weapons from many different AR15 manufacturers?

HERA ARMS: All accessories must prove themselves as standalone products in the market. This means that stocks, grips, handguards, or magazines should not only serve the cost reduction of firearms production, but also must always withstand direct comparison with the competition. In this respect, we set our internal benchmark relatively high, however, our steady growth rates in the US market and the sales figures of our accessories clearly seem to confirm this. A positive side effect is also that we have been able to make ourselves much more independent of purchased parts and manufacture our systems almost 100% at our production sites in Triefenstein, Altfeld, and Kreuzwertheim.

Everything looks very nice. And in its own, modern style. It's really fun to enjoy the new catalogue from HERA ARMS. HERE is the link to the current HERA ARMS Catalog 2020.

HERA ARMS on the internet: www.hera-arms.de

HERA – the 15th – sleek and functional as a weapon.