By chance Christian took me to the opening of the new NOMOS Glashütte store in Zurich. What a wonderful surprise for a Friday night – dropping in and discovering such a fantastic product. NOMOS is a manufacturer of beautifully designed and very fine watches.
As I learnt…
A mechanical watch is powered by its movement, also known as the ‘calibre’. This is what determines the skill of the watchmaker. Generic movements can be sourced from specialist manufacturers or designed and made in-house, which is what the brands with the highest reputations do – including NOMOS Glashütte. NOMOS is responsible for generating between 75 and 95 per cent of the value of the calibre in its own workshops in Glashütte, birthplace of the German watchmaking industry.
NOMOS now has a good-looking store at Spiegelgasse 13 in the old part of Zurich. I’ll definitely have to go back for a closer look at all their timepieces – I must admit that I was rather distracted by the yummy wine they were serving… I recommend the Schieferterassen Riesling from www.heymann-loewenstein.com!
The Zurich/CreativeMornings November speaker was Michel Bachmann, co-founder of www.hubzurich.org. Michel talked about collaborative innovation: taking the ‘social’ in social entrepreneurship seriously.
HUB is present in over 20 cities and is what they call a global ecosystem of people, places and ideas dedicated to sustainable change.
HUB Zurich provides its members with a wonderful space at www.im-viadukt.ch for working and networking with other entrepreneurs and social innovators. A host makes sure that the right members meet and connect between the different projects. If you have a great idea for tackling our biggest environmental challenges, such as climate change and sustainability, then submit your project and you could join the fellowship programme and win a membership!
Creative Mornings are an initiative of www.swiss-miss.com, which started these monthly gatherings of creatives in 2008 in NY. Each event includes a 20-minute lecture, followed by a 20-minute group discussion. The gathering begins at 8:30 a.m. with coffee + croissants and everyone goes off to work at 10. There are currently three chapters: Zurich, Los Angeles and New York. I like these brief insights into different topics and the opportunities for meeting interesting people. It’s a good way to start your day.
http://creativemornings.com
This morning’s coffee was sponsored by www.cafe-noir.ch
Check out when the next Creative Mornings take place and sign up early because they fill up quickly!
www.facebook.com/Zurich.CreativeMornings
www.twitter.com/zurich_CM
There are so many nice places in paris – here are just some I came across…I stayed at www.mamashelter.com. In the hotel shop I bought my first espadrilles in at least 10 years, they are made in france and I like the bleu-blanc-rouge style… Next time I’ll give www.hidden-hotel.com a go. Paris is a wonderful place for strolling around and popping into nice restaurants, like the Petit Pontoise, or relaxing over a coffee, such as at www.merceandthemuse.com (many thanks to Nina who found this lovely place). I also stumbled across this great shop: http://shop.kitsune.fr. I hope next time the www.musee-picasso.fr has reopened…
I visited Paris this June for the OFFF event www.offf.ws/2011. OFFF is “born as a post-digital culture festival; a meeting place to host contemporary creation through an in-depth programme of conferences, workshops and performances by the most relevant artists of our time”. Under the theme “Nostalgia for a past future” we spent 3 days packed with interesting speeches in the wonderful location of la Grande halle de la Villette. I would recommend OFFF for any kind of visual inspiration, and I’m looking forward to next year’s edition in Barcelona.
Here are some of the designers and artists I liked most:
www.wordsarepictures.co.uk
www.christopherhewitt.com
www.joachimsauter.com
www.dixonbaxi.com
www.woostercollective.com
They extended the Deadline for early Price Tickets…so see you in Barcelona!
www.offf.ws/2011
Holundria is a blend of white wine and lemonade flavoured with elderflower. It was created in Switzerland’s Solothurn by Jörg Baumgartner and Ueli Wüthrich. It’s really flavoursome and refreshing, and the guys are so right when they say that Holundria is easy-drinking… We took some samples on our trip to Leipzig and it virtually became the drink of the Designers’ Open… at least around booth 1.04!
www.holundria.ch
mail@holundria.ch
where to drink:
www.restaurant-salzhaus.ch
www.solheure.ch
Amazing location. Perfect organisation. Fascinating talks. A few drinks. Wonderful people. Designers’ Open 2011.
In blog #7 I forgot to mention my morning coffee, which I get from www.stumptowncoffee.com right next to the Ace Hotel, where I’m served by four superb baristas. It’s worth queuing – the views are great… The Ace lobby offers wireless internet and comfy sofas so you start your day as you mean to carry on, and there’s a great atmosphere here in the evenings as you wind down and sip your drink. My budget didn’t stretch to a room here, so I bought some souvenirs instead… a laundry bag and a poetic shawl.
Discovered at the 99% conference and profiled by Cool Hunting videos www.coolhunting.com/food-drink/the-mast-brothe.php.
I’m captivated by their concept, their attitude, by the way they design their product, by how they hand-pack the chocolate bars, by the smell in their store – and of course by their chocs!