The Federal Office of Culture (FOC) announced the winners of the Swiss Art and Design Awards in Basel on 12 June in the presence of the President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset. To mark the awarding of the prizes, the Swiss Art Awards and Swiss Design Awards 2023 exhibitions were held last week, from 13 to 18 June, in Hall 1.1 of the Basel Messe, which were given a high profile in Basel because they were exhibited at Art Basel.
Since 1899, in fact, the Confederation has supported Swiss artists through the prize dedicated to them and, since 1917, when Parliament instructed the Confederation to promote the applied arts (today: design), a similar prize has been established that identifies and recognises the most current trends in the world of design, graphics and fashion. In the area of design, among the projects on display, some stood out for their interest and originality.
‘Pimp, My Chair‘ is a collaboration between Tobias Brunner and VitraHaus. The Swiss designer has created a range of accessories to customise some of Vitra‘s most iconic chairs. The idea behind the project is the belief that, by exploring new ways to interact with objects, we can make classics even more relevant and functional to our daily lives. The project aims to promote a more creative and participatory approach to design, emphasising the role of the user as co-creator.
The collection of accessories includes a clip table (Cliptray), a magnetic USB extension (Magneto), a cotton ghost that children can interact with (Ghost) and a metal extension for hanging clothes (Fin). Each accessory was created to enhance the functionality of each chair, while allowing users to to explore and modify the design in their own way.
Sébastien El Idrissi, on the other hand, distinguished himself with the Stack project: a system of stackable planters designed for the outdoor furniture line produced by Swisspearl. Its Eternit (fibre cement) pots and extension frames make it possible to create containers for plants of different heights. Indeed, many plants require a considerable amount of soil and a certain depth to grow best. Flowerbeds can be completed with substructures such as wheels or plinths. Whether in urban spaces or gardens, the system offers versatile possibilities for growing trees, vegetables or other plants.
Newo is a kit for newborns made of Swiss wool. it contains seven elements, which can be used in three different functions: a cradle, a play mattress and a rolled up for transport. The goal of this project is to give a new value to Swiss wool, a material that has suffered from a demand crisis in recent years. During one year of research, Emma Casella visited various companies involved in the collection and processing wool in Switzerland and learned about the difficulties that the material has had to overcome since losing its main client, the Swiss Armed Forces. Newo is inspired by a similar kit that the Finnish government has provided to families through parental subsidies for the past 75 years.
Leon Felix, on the other hand, has proposed Terra, a sustainable passive cooling system, as a solution to adapt and improve the resilience of our environment in the face of rising global temperatures. Inspired by the ‘mashrabiya’, an architectural element of Islamic tradition, which consists of a sliding terracotta shutter that helps keep the surroundings cool.
Intended for use in hot regions, Terra is made of durable, inexpensive and easily accessible materials. A series of extruded terracotta elements are stacked on top of each other and held together by a steel frame to form the shutter. Once in use, the operating principle is simple: the user fills the elements with water, the clay gradually absorbs the water, which evaporates through its pores, thereby cooling the room. Accentuated by the geometry of the shutter, the natural flow of air creates convection that allows new cold air to circulate.
