I am completely in love with Laura Pregger’s work.
(thank you Momo)
Schwiizer Chuchi
Oh, I so have to getBetty Bossi’s “Schwiizer Chuchi” a collection of over 130 swiss traditional recipies! Whee! (Chuchi = Kitchen in swiss german)
(thank you Hugi)
Biggest Swiss Flag Ever
Saturday, august 1st, was swiss national day and that was reason enough to mount the biggest swiss flag ever on mountain Saentis, 20minutes from where I grew up. Impressive. Wish I could have seen it in person.
(images by reuters)
Tube iPhone Case
«tube» makes products that are almost completely produced from old bicycle tubes or remaining stocks.
«tube» was founded by swiss Steve Henseler and Marc Lounis and the founders of a Cubegrafik, a design- and communication agency in Biel.
Coat Hanger Mamouk
This Coat Hanger Mamouk by swiss wallstreet had me look. What an eyecatcher! And what a tremendous sculptural quality it has. (I wish they’d show a video of how the wires turn into a hanger.)
luckyou
Luckyou is a label from swiss designer Stefanie Luginbühl. She creates jewellery and bowls completely out of recycled paper, i.e. fashion magazines, and sells them to boutiques and directly over the internet. It’s biological, it’s social responsible, and – most of all – it just looks great.
Luckyou also comprises a charity component: the necklaces are produced in the townships of capetown, south africa, mainly by women. One third of the earnings goes into production. The more necklaces are sold, the more people (mainly women) in the townships can get a job and income for their families.
(thank you othmar)
Neue Werkstatt
Neue Werkstatt is a Switzerland based lighting design company with a very distinct, minimal style. Made me look. (I feel like their product shots are not doing their designs justice. Too bad.)
Variable Heart Cake Form
The variable heart cake form, designed by Swiss Zimmerli Design, is a folded sheet steel band. Adjust the size of desired heart as needed. Lovely. (Kurt Zimmerli also designed the famous SIGG Bottle)
Impressions of Today’s CreativeMornings with Daniel Freitag
Today’s first Switzerland based CreativeMornings was a huge success. When I first approached FREITAG for hosting, I flat-out told them that I had no idea if people would actually show up. I know by now that the NYC events fill up quickly, but would I be able to gather a crowd in Zurich? The answer is: YES! We had over a 160 r.s.v.p’s and I’d say a good 150 showed up despite nasty rain. (Oh, swiss summer, where are you?)
Daniel Freitag, one of the co-founders of Freitag was our speaker and he was simply fantastic. He was flexible enough to spontaneously hold the presentation in English as it turned out that we had about 8 english-speaking only guests. (To all of you that didn’t come because we thought the event would be in swiss-german, I am very sorry!)
Daniel is a great presenter and was an overall gracious, humble host. He even gave a small group of us a tour of the Container Store nearby, as well their graphic design and prototyping atelier. All day I kept saying to G how impressed I was by Daniel’s warmth and generosity.
Below are a few visual impressions of the event. My fab cousin Thilo Hoffmann was so kind to tape the presentation and I will try to get it up asap.
The set up at the Freitag Factory could not have been any better. These guys are thorough. A *big* thank you to the Freitag team and Sascha Koeglmeier in particular who was simply a delight to organize this with. Everything was meticulously thought out and prepared – oh, so, swiss!
In his presentation Daniel was talking about their take on recontextualization. Take their bags made out of truck tarp and seat belts, their store built out of Containers as well their Truck Tarp Presentation Room.
Daniel Freitag presenting under the Truck Tarp ‘Tent’. Fantastic!
Daniel Freitag answering Oliver Reichenstein’s questions. Oliver, of Information Architects was our virtual guest dialing in from Tokyo. Oliver, it was a pleasure to have you!
Jens of Jung von Beck was our delightful breakfast-man! He showed up with two Lavazza espresso makers and lots of yummee bakery stuff – wheee! A big thank you to MailChimp and ROD Communications for sponsoring breakfast! I was particularly happy about the mountains of Gipfeli! :)
I was standing behind this shirt wearing CreativeMorning guest and was tempted to dial the number a few times.
How fantastic are these Freitag Benches? (not available for sale yet, unfortunately) I would love a few of these in our studio!
Here are all the photos of today’s event. Did you take pictures? If so, please consider adding them to our creativemornings group.
Did you attend today’s CreativeMornings? Did you write a post about it? Or do you have some thoughts/feedback? Write it in a comment below. Did you take some pictures?
Follow @creativemorning on twitter and be the first to know when the next event with Allegra Burnette of MoMA NYC is accepting r.s.v.p’s.
today: swissmiss in tagesanzeiger
I am excited and feel honored by today’s article about me in the Tagesanzeiger, one of Switzerland’s biggest newspapers. (Even our little Ella Joy made it in the picture. Yay!) A big thank you to Katrin Hafner, the lovely journalist and the photographer Thomas Burla who both came out to the Appenzeller hills for the interview/photo shoot.
Article (pdf), in german only. (English translation below)
UPDATE:
My wonderful friend and talented writer Martina Kink was so generous to translate the article. Voila, here it is:
You can’t miss with swissmiss, by Katrin Hafner
(translated by Martina Kink)Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka swissmiss, is a Swiss designer living in New York. Her blog, swiss-miss.com, is not just hugely popular among young creatives, but also exactly the kind of break young unknown designers need to make it. Whatever Tina posts becomes an instant hit.
“You see that white house over there? That’s where I grew up.” Tina Roth Eisenberg is at the wheel as Appenzell, one of Switzerland’s most picturesque landscapes, flies by. She’s driving fast, she’s talking fast, she’s thinking even faster. Her laugh – HA! – is like a little explosion. Tina, a communications designer, moved to New York 10 years ago and has slowly but steadily made her way to the top of the design scene. She has worked as a consultant for MOMA, is repeatedly asked to be on the jury of design competitions and headhunters are constantly at her heels. Today, Tina owns her own design studio in Brooklyn, where she also lives with her husband and 3 year old daughter. The girl from Switzerland has come a long way.
Internet agent to the young, willing and able.
4 years ago, Tina started to feature design objects on her blog, mostly furniture, accessoires and books. She presents them with little text and amazing photos, and always makes sure to give credit to the artist or producer by linking to the respective websites. She definitely has a knack for finding good style on the web and whatever sparks her interest and curiosity or just plain makes her laugh appears on her blog. Whether it’s a drain stopper, a commercial for organic eggs from Swiss supermarket Migros or an interview with industrial designer Dieter Rams, it’s on there, and it’s neatly archived. This way, she manages about 30 new posts each day.
Her blog is not about selling things. Tina believes in creativity and networking and made it her quest to feature other designers and creatives, for free. This is exactly what made her insanly popular, and rightly so: Her website swiss-miss.com is the single most linked Swiss blog ever. Her readership grows day by day, and by now, she has more than half a million clicks per month. This enables her to almost live off the network she created.A little R&R with Röschti
Tina is sitting on the terrace of her rental vacation home in Appenzell, Switzerland, surrounded by green hills and the sound of cowbells that make a nice change from NYPD sirens. She’s dressed in all black, with very little make-up and jewellery. Her iPhone and Macbook are nowhere to be seen, and inside her husband and daughter are having pasta.
“My blog is huge” she says, and there’s not a trace of arrogance in that statement. The fact that Khoi Vinh, head of design at New York Times online, reads her blog leaves her both proud and incredulous: “Can you believe that?!”
If swissmiss posts a product on her blog, it might very well be sold out within hours. She has that kind of influence and power, and she has changed at least one young designer’s life: He pitched his idea to her via email: a tray with cut-out letters that you can use to make letter-shaped cookies or ice. “Pure simple design with humor – it made my typographic heart beat faster”. Tina presented the idea on her blog, where Urban Outfitters discovered it and immediately placed a big order. This is what makes swissmiss happy: “There’s nothing better than to help a designer who’s just starting out and give him a chance. Everybody wins: The artist gets public knowledge, I get a kick out of it, and to my readers, I’m kind of a taste-maker, somebody who shows them the good stuff. It’s like being an advocat for young undiscovered talent.”Curbing consumption with style
What exactly is good design, Ms. Roth Eisenberg? Pause. It’s totally subjective, she answers. Is she afraid of being considered an expert? “A lot of people expect way too much of me. I just point out what I love and think is amazing, that’s all”. But she does it in a totally consequent manner. Swissmiss constantly finds rare design gems on the web that nobody knows about and that you don’t see on any other blog. She boosts the economy by showing her very own style. People love that. There are readers who gladly and proudly announce they furnished their whole appartment swissmiss style.
In times of globalisation we all long for individuality, but we need help. The internet is a good way to go, but it is also enormous and you can easily get lost. Tina is sort of a gate keeper: She knows her way around the jungle and she is happy to help you out. Especially when it comes to furniture, her love for smart design is obvious: intelligent, functional, minimalist – classic Swiss design à la USM Haller and Corbusier.Calling herself “Swiss designer gone New York” also proved to be a very smart move, as she readily admits: “Americans love everything that even remotely sounds Swiss.” Lately, the Swiss Tourism Board noticed her influence and approached her about travel tips for Switzerland on her blog. “Why not?” Tina says. “I love Switzerland. I just can’t picture myself living here again – it’s just way too slow for me.”
Back to Brooklyn
Pure luck is what brought Tina to New York, and she also refers to good luck when it comes to her amazing career. “I got lucky” she says, “after my Masters at Munich’s University of Art, I was looking for a 2 month internship in New York. I got a working contract and a visa out of it.” She also lucked out when it comes to her upcoming lectures at the New York School of Visual Arts, or when she totally hit the hipster nerve with her Creative Mornings. Every month, Tina invites designers and everybody interested to a creative breakfast meeting, with presentations, Q&As, disussions, and the possibility to network. By now, these mornings in New York are booked solid within minutes after she announces them on her blog. Apparently the creatives of New York just long for personal contacts beyond their screens after all. And it seems we all just lucked out a little for knowing about swissmiss and her blog.And Tina? After all these years in New York, she still longs for her daily Swiss products. Before she gets on the plane back to Brooklyn, she always makes sure to stock up on deodorants, spices from Schmid-Metzg, and her favorite socks. HA!
Zurich | Every Thing Design
Every Thing Design. The Collections of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich | April 3- July 19, 2009
How is a design object perceived? How does this perception change over time? Why does a museum put it in its collection, and how are meaning and value established? Is everything design today? The museum poses these questions in the presentation of its collections, which have never been previously exhibited to this extent. The overriding theme is the observation of processes of social and cultural change. Such a view reveals signs of quality and developments in the production and reception of design objects that recur over decades. The exhibition, in a mise-en-scène by the renowned Swiss design studio Atelier Oï, and the catalog, designed by the well-known Dutch book designer Irma Boom, make it possible to experience the diverse connections among the museum’s internationally significant Poster, Design, Applied Art and Graphics Collection.
For more information, please visit : http://www.museum-gestaltung.ch
(thank you Nate)
Zurich | Townhouse Design Store
On our second day in Zurich I made sure to stop by the only 8 week old store called Townhouse in the charming Weite Gasse 4. Not only is the store itself a beauty, the owners Mia Zeltner & Sebastiaan Vadasz are a delight as well. They offered us yummee coffee in stylish cups and were happy to answer all my curious questions while little Ella explored their store. With the exception of two prints I have not seen any of their products anywhere else. Mia and Sebastiaan really manage to have an exclusive, suprising collection of designy things.
I was excited to see polaroids of my friend Grant Hamilton on their walls. Check out some of the items they carry in the e-shop.
Ardvanderlinden and the swiss flag
During our second day in Zurich we stumbled upon a team of three painting 1200 swiss flags. I couldn’t help but ask what it was all about (and buy one of the flags) .
Ardvanderlinden makes fields of painted flags to spread the message “unity through identity”. Hereby the environment changes and the idea of identity and the meaning of the flag are questioned. Ardvanderlinden paints in public space to be in direct contact with people and to invite them into the working process.
broadcasting from switzerland
This little family is vacationing in the swiss alps. We had three fantastic warm days in Zurich and are now in the rainy Appenzell region. We realize how spoiled we are with rainy weather in NYC. When it rains it’s still warm, not here, it’s freezing. We are crossing our fingers for pool weather. Below are a few impressions of our trip so far. More to Come!
Right off the plane we went to FREITAG to check out their factory where the upcoming CreativeMorning will take place on July 17th. Sascha gave us a full blown tour of their production hall. Truly fascinating what the FREITAG brothers have created. Hat tip!
G and I are enjoying our daily Rivella. Rivella is a healthy and natural soft drink from Switzerland. What’s unique about Rivella is the wholesome lactoserum it contains (called milk serum in Switzerland). Sounds crazy, right?
These signs in the Zurich Tram had G and me laugh out loud. The swiss do have a sense of humor, after all. We especially love the guy with the saw, trying to cut apart one of the seats. No, you really shouldn’t do that.
Now if this isn’t ueber-swiss I don’t know what is: Typical condiments arrangement you see at restaurants.
A slice of my childhood: Sausages (wienerli), two slices of bread (Ruchbrot) and Moustard (Thomy Senf). This makes me happy.
I have introduced our little three year old Ella to the 40 year old Rakete Icecream and she fully approves.
Today’s an exciting day: I am being interviewed and photographed for a story that will be in next thursday’s Tagesanzeiger, one of Switzerland’s biggest newspapers. Yay!
Switzerland Bound.
With this Swiss Cross Flight Bag I am saying au revoir for a few days. This little family is boarding a plane today to the swiss alps. I shall be occasionally broadcasting from the land of fresh air! Sit tight! Happy July 09 everyone!
Swiss Graphic Design: Precision and Presence
This year marks the 20th annual Modernism exhibition presented at Wells Fargo Center in downtown Minneapolis. To commemorate the anniversary, Wells Fargo Minnesota has donated a series of 20 Swiss posters — emblematic of the Swiss International Style dating from 1950 to 1985 — to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Swiss Graphic Design: Precision and Presence, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
(thank you Nate)
CreativeMornings with Daniel Freitag in Zurich
Swiss readers, listen up: Our July CreativeMornings is going to take place in Zurich at the FREITAG Factory on July 17, 2009. Daniel Freitag, one of the two masterminds behind the FREITAG messenger bag empire, will be our speaker.
This will be our first international CreativeMornings! YAY!
Interested in attending? Make sure to r.s.v.p via email. Please tell us your name and what industry you’re in. (We will later on send you a confirmation email with all the necessary details for the event.) CreativeMornings are free. They start at 8.30am and end at 10am.
NEW: Follow CreativeMornings on twitter!
Breakfast will be generously sponsored by two companies:
MailChimp, a fantastic service that makes it easy to send email newsletters to your customers, manage your subscriber lists, and track campaign performance.
And Rod Communication AG, a Zurich based communication and strategy agency. A big thank you to our sponsors!
CreativeMornings? ‘CreativeMornings’ is a monthly morning gathering of creative types. Each event includes a 10 minute lecture, followed by a 20 minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30am with the topic presentation starting at 9:00am. The whole thing closes down at 10am. The events are hosted at studios/gallery spaces in NYC. (We are always looking for potential hosts that are willing to accomodate 50+ people. Please email us if you’re interested in hosting or sponsoring one of our events!)
Art Basel | Jeppe Hein
Jeppe Hein’s Loop Bench is part art piece, part bench, part slide. I had an fantastic time watching people (young and old) interact with it.
Art Basel | Jorinde Voigt
Jorinde Voigt’s pieces at Galerie Klueser caught my attention. In her work the young Berlin artist describes her environment by transforming everyday phenomena such as eagle flight paths, kisses, Top Ten song etc into an abstract system or representation, using her own visual language.
Basel | Made me look
Here are a few photographic impressions of my first day in Basel. Enjoy!
Beautiful Old Houses/Architecture everywhere. And so nicely kept! Go swiss!
Awww… those romantic swiss!
How smart and beautifully minimalistic is this ‘bike rack’?
Yay for vintage typography!
Want to really show off your swissness? Put red Geranium on your window sill. G, I think we should try this in Brooklyn!
Basel | Seven Sisters
During a wonderful guided tour of beautiful Basel, we came upon this little gem of a design store called Seven Sisters. While I do have to simply accept that every design store now seems to be carrying the same items (new york, paris, tokyo, all the same?) I must say I really liked the vibe of Seven Sisters. Small, Personal and Modern. Make sure to stop by if you happen to be in Basel or check out their site!