npk design has a team of six partners. Wolfram Peters, Jan Witte and Jos Oberdorf form the managing board in Leiden. Detlef Rhein and Wolfram Peters are the managing partners in the design agency in Hamburg. Besides being office managers, the partners regard themselves primarily as designers and prefer to be engaged in their true profession: all aspects of product development. npk’s flat organizational structure makes this possible. Bearing the final responsibility for the clusters, the partners maintain close contact with the various design teams. They have an important role as sparring partners for the design teams and as quality controllers for the project managers. Furthermore, as direct project managers, the npk design partners also maintain close contact with the clients.