swiss-mis-understanding
Swiss Design - More than just Watches and Army Knives
By James Culham - commissioned by the globe & mail newspaper
Switzerland's famous neutrality has long extended to its design and fashion scenes. While neighbouring France and Italy are known for theatricality and extravagance, the traditional Swiss aesthetic can be best described as functional, conservative, serious - and just a wee bit boring. Think Swiss Army knives and expensive but dull watches by Rolex and Pateke Phillipe.
Swiss architects have also been criticized for creating a never ending supply of "Swiss Boxes" - an even more boring variation on the German modernist Bauhaus style. But in recent years, the country's top designers have been breaking out of the Swiss box.
In areas such as fashion and accessories, furniture, car design and architecture, the Swiss are creating some of the most exciting work around. In a merging of engineering, design and entrepreneurship, perhaps only surpassed by the Japanese, design-driven Swiss companies have produced some of the most compelling work in recent years.
Swiss Peaks, a three month long celebration of Swiss culture and exports, currently underway in New York City, includes several design related exhibitions. Trend setting design store and gallery, Totem in New York's SoHo recent show on Swiss Design is one example of the role of design in Swiss life. If the importance of design in the country is in doubt, note this: one improptu visitor to the shop in recent weeks is the Swiss President Pascal Couchepin. Can anyone imagine Jean Chretien, latte in hand, checking out top Canadian designers' work in Gastown or King Street East?
When Swissair was heading into a bankruptcy tailspin last summer, did they go the North American route and turn on their unions or hike up the prices and limit routes? Nope, they hired a high-priced design firm to pull them out of the slump. Wink Media, headed by Canadian Tyler Brule, former editor-in-chief of Wallpaper* magazine, was brought on board to give the airline an upscale, uber-Swiss flavoured makeover.
Playing off of the aesthetics of the nation's strong graphic design history, Wink created a new identity for the failed airline, branding it SWISS International Airline - the bold design stands out on any airport runway - and installing a host of new high-end additions. From luxury moisturizers and eau de toilette in the bathrooms to stylish new uniforms and slick Wallpaper-ish aesthetics everywhere, the airline has turned into a luxury brand in its own right.
The high-gloss makeover has attracted the Louis Vuitton luggage toting, Prada wearing carraige trade, but some of the more conservative Swiss-Misses are not convinced. On a recent SWISS flight, my po-faced neighbour - whose idea of Swiss style apparently is a Swiss Army sweater and hiking boots, remains underwhelmed. According to her, SWISS stands for "So What It's Still Swiss Air".
Swatch watches have long been the most fun and inventive in the otherwise staid Swiss watch industry. But they've really hit their mark with the runaway success of the Smart Car - recently sold to Daimler-Chrysler. The 2.5 metre long city car is the brain child of Swatch founder Nicholas Hayek. A colourful, energy efficient, highly fashionable vehicle which is omnipresent on the streets of Milan, Paris and London - though not yet available in North America. Smart Cars are made with plastic, interchangeable body panels, which allow the owners to, in effect, design the car themselves.
Also in the plastic mold, the biggest event in architecture this year is London's Laban Dance Centre - fabricated solely out of coloured translucent polycarbonate panels, by Pritzker prize winning Swiss architects Herzog + de Meuron. The architects first used the material to great effect in the roof-top light box in London's famous Tate Modern Museum. Depending on the time of day, the walls of Laban allow a partially filtered view of the dance studios within - creating a visual perception of a building in motion - an architectural performance. The effect of this prestigious and press grabbing building being constructed solely out of inexpensive, plastic panels could be tremendous. Perhaps we will all be living in plastic houses some day - and we'll have the Swiss to thank for it.
Another challenge to the conservative image of the Swiss - Freitag bags, based in Zurich, fabricate one-of-a-kind shoulder bags out of truck tarpaulins. I first came across them in a Tokyo's style mecca Sputnik Pad store. In Japan these days, Freitag is the bag of choice among the fickle local DJ and club culture. From humble beginnings, working out of their apartment in the late 90s, the Freitag founders are now putting the Swiss Army company on notice. Swiss design is freeing itself from the limitations of nostalgia and kitsch.
And in the hotel industry, while the rest of Europe and North America trips over itself trying to come up with the newest take on the design and/or boutique hotel, the Swiss have come up with a particularly Swiss alternative. The Hotel Palafitte, on Lake Neuchatel has been built using a unique formula, combining high tech and precision design with raw nature, which is pure Switzerland.
On stilts, appearing to float on the lake, The Palafitte exhibits the dexterity with which Swiss architects negotiate the balance between technology and the environment. State of the art computer operated lighting, stereo and televisions require an initial educational process roughly equivalent to flight training school - but yield impressive results.
Maintaining a high degree of respect for landscape while pushing the boundaries of what is possible in terms of cutting edge technology and design. I have seen the future and it is Swiss.
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James Culham edits a travel and design magazine, www.usefulandagreeable.com
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