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Just what we need for the dog days of summer: Rock, by Swiss designer Adrien Rovero, brings a breath of cool, crisp mountain air to our steamy urban heat traps (aka our apartments). Rovero is just one of 40 Swiss artists, architects and designers who were asked to reinterpret the 40-year-old aluminum cable car for “Mountain Climbers: revisiting a Swiss icon.”
Rock is currently on view at Mudac in Lausanne at Rovero’s solo show “Landscale,” which runs through October 28, 2012. Rovero’s take on the vintage gondola is the first of the 40 to be seen by the public, with the remaining 39 cable car interpretations to follow. All of them will be exhibited around Switzerland after debuting at Design Miama in Basel in June, 2013. After another year of exhibitions, the pieces will be sold at auction by Christie’s and all the profits will be donated to the Make-A-Wish foundation.
about perrin drumm
This design classic in chess sets is manufactured by Naef Spiele AG of Switzerland under license from the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin and represents the ultimate in the Bauhaus form follows function principle of design. Stripped of symbolism, the pieces are shaped to reflect their movement on the chess board; a cross for the bishop, an L-shape for the knight, etc. The set comes complete with a box (44 x 7.5 x 4.5 cm) to hold the pieces and the playing board (36 x 36 x 1.2 cm). $600 usd.
designer: josef hartwig
producer: >naef spiele
period: 1923
great narrative on swiss graphic designer and photographer, herbert matter. via designobserver [RK]
The bad news: $77,000 USD and Peraves will only make 100 units a year. The good news: This unusual vehicle is manufactured by the Swiss company Peraves. The Ecomobile is essentially an enclosed motorcycle. The power for the Ecomobile originates from a rear mounted liquid cooled 4 cylinder BMW K series motorcycle engine.
When in turbocharged form it has a claimed, and rather disturbing, top speed of 202 miles per hour. Inside are two leather covered car style seats, and all the equipment expected in a luxury car. (more…)