While there are the usual obvious arguments such as the ability to read the shapes and proportions, one could also argue that it would be equally possible to make prototypes using appropriate materials. Many things can be 3D printed, milled and painted. We certainly do not avoid these production options; in fact, we embrace them. But I find that those kinds of stand-ins for the final product often become interesting only at a later stage in the process. The real reason for the models in simple cardboard is that they create objects that are somewhere between the initial idea and the final product. They are like halfway marks. They do not yet imitate the final product and yet they are more than just a thought or a sketch. They mark a moment in the process that lies between different worlds. The abstraction of the gray or white cardboard makes it possible to assess many facets that are subsequently lost in the materialized object. I am interested in this state of “not yet being properly in the world”, in this presence that is also an absence. It is not easy to grasp what this really means, but in addition to size and proportion, it is also about something like grace and appearance. It is about evaluating an idea rather than a final product. It is about assessing an intention.

The product can be used either as a tool on the work wall or as an accessory on the desk. The cup is eventually meant to hold wipeable marker pens at large conferences and seminars as well as in ordinary offices. Like any design, this one begins with assertions. What you need is a feel for the object. An understanding of the conditions. An inkling of what it ultimately might become. The concrete goal emerges in the process. In an ideal case, the process clarifies the goal. Full of ambiguities, full of anticipations, full of aspirations. The crucial developments take place here. In that moment when the idea tips over into the material world. In that moment when the idea can finally be tested. In that moment when the idea begins to take shape. The challenge is to stay with it and to lead it in the right direction. The objects in grey carton illustrate that stage. They are a reflection of that process. Somewhere between sketch and product. These can be some of the best moments in the studio.

The pen cup is both a tool and an accessory. As a tool it has its function in collaborative processes. Here it serves as a penholder on the work wall of the Moving Walls. That is what it was developed for. The pen cup has two main customers. On the one hand the Swiss company Moving Walls, on the other hand the American company Idea Paint. Moving Walls is the producer of the work wall, while Idea Paint develops paint for whiteboards. This situation led to the idea of a dual use for the cups. In its second function the pen cup becomes a desk accessory. In that case the cup attaches to its counterpart with magnets. Thus the cups form containers for writing utensils and other items that are typically found on a desk. In terms of typology, they combine the cylindrical aspect of a quiver with a flat surface. Each cup attaches either to another cup or to the work wall.

They are characterised by a clear attitude towards the economy of materials and production as well as a high standard of beauty. About a year ago we were asked by Atelierpfister to design a new Swiss wooden chair. The greatest challenge in the development of this chair was responding to the economic conditions. The task was to achieve the best possible balance between the targeted sales price and the design requirements. The question was how we could develop a chair that was not only beautiful, intelligent, and extremely well constructed, but which also had a sensational sales price. This is the ‚royal discipline‘ of design! At stake is the democratisation of well designed objects, made available to the largest possible number of people. That is why this project has been an important challenge for me. We spent the last few months working on this new wooden chair. In doing so we tried to learn from the qualities of the Swiss designers mentioned above, whom I hold in high esteem, and on that basis we tried to develop a language of our own.

That is the question which has been driving us for more than a year. We engaged with it intensely because we felt that the time was right to tackle these issues. The architects Meier Leder from Baden are building a house in which this project is being implemented. It is primarily about holes and gaps. Even the simple question of the shape and quality of the hole already stimulates an interest beyond purely formal considerations. The project will soon be cast. It will be our most radical contribution to the world of objects so far.

In late 2014 the collection of Schätti Lamps was shown on the occasion of the Designers’ Saturday. This event takes place every other year in the production halls of companies in and around Langenthal, Switzerland. Any appearance in the context of the Designers’ Saturday is designed to highlight not only the collection but also the venue of the host. Schätti Lamps was presented in the workshops of the textile company Création Baumann. The lamps returned to the production halls, the place of origin of things. Production halls represent something like the space between idealisation and realisation, between problem and solution. They are the space where technology and expression are united. In an ideal case, they are condition and possibility for each other.

Product design is an applied design task. That is exactly what stimulates my interest in this profession: to achieve the best possible result from the existing conditions. Of course I also question functions that initially seem to be a given. It was like that with the lamp GO. When I looked at a lamp from below I noticed that for ewo the interior of the lamps is actually quite important. Because the great quality of the company lies in its engineering, in its highly developed technology. In a sense, the optical lenses are the heart of ewo. That is what we wanted to show. And that is why we tried to avoid simply screwing the lenses in from below. Instead, we wanted to treat them like a gem, to present them on a velvet cushion, so to speak. That is the core of this new lamp design. The external shape follows this idea in all its implications.

But when it came to motivating the City of Lausanne to provide a field of flowers for its citizens, my interest was stimulated. On the other hand, it is not a city’s main task to get people to pick flowers and give them to someone. But still. The gesture did have its effects.