Story of Swiss Design
March 4th 2024
Voices on page 12, Oli Stratford
When Disegno was invited by Pro Helvetia to reflect on contemporary Swiss design, the authors were attracted by the term Complications, which is used in watchmaking and goes beyond mere timekeeping. This term aptly describes their approach to examining Swiss design itself. Although Switzerland's design heritage has long been understood through Max Bill's concept of «Die gute Form» – a philosophy that emphasises the synthesis of form, function, ethics and beauty - the dangers of defining a nation's design culture so narrowly must be recognised. Swiss design is often celebrated as serious, functional and precise, but what about H.R. Giger's nightmarish biomechanical creations for «Alien» or Kueng Caputo's provocative explorations of plagiarism? Rather than making authoritative statements about what is and isn't Swiss design, the publication presents a more nuanced approach. Disegno interviewed 33 people actively involved in the Swiss design scene - designers, academics, curators, educators and manufacturers. Some were born here and still work here, others were born in Switzerland but based abroad, and some have moved here to build their careers. The selection was both deliberate and arbitrary; 33 other voices could have been chosen and still captured an equal perspective on the contemporary Swiss design landscape.