Fusion by Apolline Morel-Lab
This project provided the perfect opportunity for French designer Apolline Morel-Lab to reunite with craftsmen she’d collaborated with on previous design briefs. Her colourful piece, titled Fusion, represents the fusion of different elements used in its creation, along with the shaping of glass before it is frozen in time forever.
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The deep cobalt blue glass plate was created using a 3D-printed water effect that the Apolline molded by hand using a traditional glass-sculpting technique. And what about its bright hue? Apolline says the high-saturation shade “is inspired not only by La Prairie’s iconic cobalt blue, but also by the purity of Lake Geneva”.
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Six students of ECAL’s Master of Advanced Studies in Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship programme were invited by the house to design an object that embodies the purity, precision and timelessness intrinsic to the La Prairie brand.
Scroll to discover the final works, which are also available to view as part of a week-long exhibition hosted on La Prairie’s Instagram feed, and which ends on January 24. The winner will be decided by a jury of design experts from ECAL, along with public votes cast on Instagram.
The expected of the unexpected by Gal Burka
Designer Gal Burka says his work showcases La Prairie’s Swissness by capturing the connection between man and nature. “This installation is an invitation for an intimate moment with nature, in which the spectator is encouraged to interact and influence it,” Gal says.
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He collaborated with Studio SigmaSix, an experimental studio based out of Geneva that specialises in lighting design, scenography and installations. The result is a piece that digitally illustrates nature and its behaviour.
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Everlasting by Paula Chacartegui
Spanish designer Paula Chacartegui sought to capture both the perfectionism and prestige of La Prairie through her project, Everlasting. An artful interpretation of Switzerland’s ever-changing landscape, Paula summarises her work in three words: unexpected, fluid and precise.
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Due to the specificity of her vision, Paula found only one Swiss craftsman to help her execute it. “The precision needed for the pieces I have designed made it easy to find the right craftsman because I could not find many options,” she says of her search for a collaborator.
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Drop by Chia-Ling Chang
There’s a certain soothing quality about Chia-Ling Chang’s Drop, which was designed to evoke the precious natural resources surrounding Switzerland. Its aesthetic is a visual representation of how the melting snow trickles down the mountainside into the valleys, rivers and lakes below.
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“Natural materials cannot be tamed. They transform, morph, and that is also the reason why they are so charming. In this project, it was not me leading the direction, but rather the water that shaped it. I observed and followed its flow. At a certain point, I realised that I needed to embrace the uncertainty and be open-minded about what is coming,” she says.
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Eternal Glance by Fernando Rivero
Equal parts pure and impactful, Fernando Rivero’s Eternal Glance represents the duality of Switzerland (and therefore La Prairie). “Switzerland is deeply associated with the majestic mountains, blue skies and infinite countryside. But it also means precision, technology, vanguard, culture and contemporary living. It is the moment where these two worlds collide that I am very interested in capturing,” he explains.
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This aluminium sculpture was created using a sand-casting process that struck a balance between the handmade and the ultra-precise.
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Glimmer by Charlotte Therre
Charlotte Therre's kinetic sculpture demonstrates how a ray of light hits a reflective surface to capture your eye and attention – all with a distinctly Bauhaus twist.
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The glimmering kinetic sculpture was created using two mediums – highly precise machinery techniques twinned with detailed handmade finishing. “I tried to replicate a hint of nature’s mysterious beauty with some invisible mechanisms which are here to create some unexpected glimmers,” Charlotte says.
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