Once you scratch the surface (figuratively, of course) of Danish furniture design there’s just no turning back. Boris Liger, Manager of Geneva’s La Boutique Danoise — for whom Danish design is not just a job, but a passion — explains why it elicits such enthusiasm and the reasons for its enduring appeal.
To mark its 20th anniversary, the Château de Prangins has opened a major exhibit on the printed cotton material know as chintz. Originating in India, the 17th-century European craze for this fabric and its floral motifs dominated the global economy, society and fashion for 200 years. Celebrating its two decades of existence, the Swiss National Museum at the Château de Prangins has chosen a beauty of a topic, not only for the attractiveness of its main subject but because of its significance for Switzerland, a primary participant and beneficiary of the printed cotton trade that fluorished in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and latterly in America.
By the time spring comes around again I know it’s time for the “riot” of creativity that is the UNIcréa Arts & Crafts Salon, which twice annually brings together more than 100 artisans ‘handpicked’ for their originality, passion and talent by UNIcréa founder and director Céline Dreveton.
Again this Spring the artisans of the Lake Geneva region are throwing open their workshops to welcome the public during the Journées des Métiers d’Art 2018 (JEMA). Here in the Swiss Romandy we go about our daily business often oblivious to the talented craftspeople who keep some of our favorite boutiques, repair shops, opera houses, theatres, museums and so much more, open for business. Their painstaking workmanship is often the result of years of study and apprenticeships to hone skills that have been passed down through many generations.
It sometimes seems to me that Geneva has more artists per square inch than any other city of comparable size. An event this coming Saturday and Sunday, 14-15 October, only fuels that impression.
Switzerland — renowned for holding on to its traditions and supposedly being slow to change — breaks with that moldy generalization at the very least when it comes to its up-and-coming young fashion designers. Proof of this will be as crystal clear as a fresh Alpine stream at the 4th Swiss Fashion Point 2017, starting tomorrow the 28 September and continuing through the 1 October at the Pavillon Sicli in the Acacias suburb of Geneva.
Have you ever wished that you could sit down with a mentor and talk about the challenges of making your way in your profession? Or how to trailblaze your own unique path? Be true to your own sense of self and fulfil your own creative potential regardless of how others might react? Someone honest and direct but also supportive and gracious.
