Swiss By Design
Exploring Switzerland’s contemporary culture and creative scenes. Jennifer Davies looks at the art, architecture, products and people shaping our everyday lives.
Thursdays at 6.30pm, repeats Saturdays 7pm.
Swiss By Design podcast feed
Swiss By Design: Sigg, Destroy Design and theatreThursday, 18 March, 2010Jennifer Davies looks at another Swiss Design Classic: the Sigg water bottle. She finds out why design and art rarely communicate, from the curator of the Destroy Design exhibition at the MUDAC in Lausanne and she learns about a Samuel Beckett production in Basel. And grab your regular fix of cultural events from around the country for the week ahead.
Swiss By Design: Breaking new groundThursday, 11 March, 2010Monday was International Women’s Day so Jennifer Davies look’s at one the first female Swiss architects, Lux Guyer. And as the number of women architectural students exceeds 50 percent in Swiss universities, she discovers whether they’re really any closer to achieving equal status here. And, of course, there’s the weekly round-up of events from all over Switzerland:
Swiss By Design: Basel's home grown architectsThursday, 4 March, 2010This week, Jennifer Davies joins the WRS team in Basel to look at why the city is considered a hothouse for architecture. She hears from international architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron whose offices are based there and is joined live by the Linda Cassens Stoian, an expert from the Swiss Architecture Museum. Plus there’s a preview of cultural events from around the country for the week ahead.
Swiss By Design: Vitra in da houseThursday, 25 February, 2010Jennifer Davies spends a day at the brand new Vitrahaus at Weil am Rhein near Basel. It’s the latest in the series of buildings created by star architects—this time, Basel’s own Herzog and de Meuron (best known for the Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing) have designed a stacked house to display Vitra’s new home collection. And there’s a preview of the week’s arty events all over the land.
Swiss By Design: Architecture from Occident to OrientThursday, 18 February, 2010Jennifer Davies looks at the Kollegikirche St. Martin, in the centre of Switzerland and talks to Pascal Greco, a Lausanne-based photographer whose book contrasts old and new buildings in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. And grab your weekly fix of cultural events from around the country for the week ahead:
Swiss By Design: Breuer, bandanas and big businessThursday, 11 February, 2010The Marcel Breuer chair, which today sits on display in MoMa in New York, was so unpopular in the ’30s it was melted down for scrap. Sit back as Jennifer Davies brings us that as well fabric design from Glarus and a new exhibition in Fribourg where artists examine corporate culture. Plus a preview of the week’s arty events all over the land.
Swiss By Design: Ikea’s Lars Engman and visions of AfricaThursday, 4 February, 2010Jennifer Davies talks to designer Lars Engman, whose 30-year career at Ikea took it from Scandinavia-specific to more than 300 stores across the world. She also learns of two Swiss artists who’ve reflected the views of the art community in South Africa in their exhibition, African Visual Dub in Lausanne. And, as always, she previews the best cultural attractions across the country this week.
Swiss By Design: Homes, highways and holiday havensThursday, 28 January, 2010Jennifer Davies talks to Inge Beckel about the social significance of the Halen housing estate in Bern—then she hits the road to learn about the fonts and graphic design of Switzerland’s highway signs and takes a look beneath the “booze and boarding” image of Verbier with the author of a book about the resort town. And, as always, there’s a look at the week’s top cultural events across the country.
Swiss By Design: Lausanne designers up for Wallpaper awardThursday, 14 January, 2010Jennifer Davies talks to Augustin Scott de Martinville from Lausanne-based design group Big Game following the studio’s nomination for the Best International Furniture Designer at Wallpaper Magazine’s Design Awards. Then she joins Renate Menzi for the monthly series, Swiss Design Classics, where they look at the Toblerone chocolate bar, as well as checking out the best cultural events across the country for the next week.
Swiss By Design: Absolute Alessi and Swiss art Made in ChinaThursday, 7 January, 2010Alberto Alessi, the head of the famous Italian design company, talks about the history of the business and the family’s affinity with the Swiss. And Jennifer Davies takes us to Bern to learn about Made in China, an ambitious art project for seven Swiss artists who took-up residence in Beijing.