You will not escape
A book about the pace of life was published in Spain: «Andando»
A book about the walking pace of life was written in Spain: "Andando "By Ernst Weber Many people forget to consciously walk through life, caught up in the mobility craze and the pace of time. Not so the Lucerne advertisers Jürg Schaffhuser and Armin Furrer. Their book "Andando", published by Velvet-Edition, is an image and text document from the counter-world of hectic life, created on a 1200-kilometre hike in Spain.
The Lucerne-based creative office Velvet tries to walk the tightrope of being an advertising, design, CI, art and culture agency all in one. "We want to do this balancing act. That's why we've never called ourselves a graphics or advertising agency," says co-owner Stefan Sägesser.
In order not to get lost, the individual areas of activity were differentiated from one another using appropriate containers. For example, the advertising agency area is defined by the term Creative Office. In-house advertising projects are recorded under the name Grafik Hotel, while projects in the art sector are assigned to Velvet Edition or Edition Hubi Hofmann.
According to Sägesser, both editions are not primarily business areas in which the agency has to make a profit. Rather, the facilities serve to support books and art. "We have always looked to connect with people outside of the graphics, design and advertising scene, such as photographers, musicians, actors, dressmakers, writers and video performers who are working on exciting projects. However, we have found that the clients of the Creative Office are at least as progressive as the artists," says Sägesser.
From San Sebastián to Gibraltar in eight stages
The most recent example of a successful balancing act is the picture and text book "Andando", published by Velvet-Edition. The book is a joint project by Jürg Schaffhuser, co-founder of Velvet, and Armin Furrer, a graphic designer who also works in the city of lights. They both share a passion for hiking (see also the interview with Jürg Schaffhuser opposite). The two "migratory birds", who know each other from the time they spent together at the School of Arts and Crafts, go hiking together from time to time.
Over the past three years, Schaffhuser and Furrer have spent a total of eight weeks in Spain. With cameras at the ready, they crossed the Iberian Peninsula on foot in eight stages along the 1200-kilometre north-south axis from San Sebastián to Gibraltar. Different authors accompanied the two hikers on each section, taking turns. These were Alex Campus, Leopold Davi, Fanni Fetzer, Ursula Fricker, Marco Meier, Nicole Müller, Beat Schaffhuser and Jean Willy.
"Andando" is not a book whose images and texts allow themselves to be distracted, dazzled and numbed by the glitter and noise of the world. Rather, it seems to be a document created by the photographers and authors as if by chance, in which the passing of time is measured in vain against imperishability, the unceasing presence of existence, which must always be present as the conditio sine qua non of everything that exists.
Marco Meier, for example, editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine du, who hiked from Toledo to Ciudad Real, considers walking in his report: "... who would still know that the world is walkable when it is incessantly overrun and driven over and flown over ...?" And it continues: "... walking. Is there anything more beautiful? You are reconciled so quickly ..."
The book launch will take place on March 28, 2002 at the Kulturpanorama Lucerne in the presence of the authors.
"Andando" by Jürg Schaffhuser and Armin Furrer. Published by Velvet-Edition, ISBN 3-9522411-0-5.
The Lucerne-based creative office Velvet tries to walk the tightrope of being an advertising, design, CI, art and culture agency all in one. "We want to do this balancing act. That's why we've never called ourselves a graphics or advertising agency," says co-owner Stefan Sägesser.
In order not to get lost, the individual areas of activity were differentiated from one another using appropriate containers. For example, the advertising agency area is defined by the term Creative Office. In-house advertising projects are recorded under the name Grafik Hotel, while projects in the art sector are assigned to Velvet Edition or Edition Hubi Hofmann.
According to Sägesser, both editions are not primarily business areas in which the agency has to make a profit. Rather, the facilities serve to support books and art. "We have always looked to connect with people outside of the graphics, design and advertising scene, such as photographers, musicians, actors, dressmakers, writers and video performers who are working on exciting projects. However, we have found that the clients of the Creative Office are at least as progressive as the artists," says Sägesser.
From San Sebastián to Gibraltar in eight stages
The most recent example of a successful balancing act is the picture and text book "Andando", published by Velvet-Edition. The book is a joint project by Jürg Schaffhuser, co-founder of Velvet, and Armin Furrer, a graphic designer who also works in the city of lights. They both share a passion for hiking (see also the interview with Jürg Schaffhuser opposite). The two "migratory birds", who know each other from the time they spent together at the School of Arts and Crafts, go hiking together from time to time.
Over the past three years, Schaffhuser and Furrer have spent a total of eight weeks in Spain. With cameras at the ready, they crossed the Iberian Peninsula on foot in eight stages along the 1200-kilometre north-south axis from San Sebastián to Gibraltar. Different authors accompanied the two hikers on each section, taking turns. These were Alex Campus, Leopold Davi, Fanni Fetzer, Ursula Fricker, Marco Meier, Nicole Müller, Beat Schaffhuser and Jean Willy.
"Andando" is not a book whose images and texts allow themselves to be distracted, dazzled and numbed by the glitter and noise of the world. Rather, it seems to be a document created by the photographers and authors as if by chance, in which the passing of time is measured in vain against imperishability, the unceasing presence of existence, which must always be present as the conditio sine qua non of everything that exists.
Marco Meier, for example, editor-in-chief of the cultural magazine du, who hiked from Toledo to Ciudad Real, considers walking in his report: "... who would still know that the world is walkable when it is incessantly overrun and driven over and flown over ...?" And it continues: "... walking. Is there anything more beautiful? You are reconciled so quickly ..."
The book launch will take place on March 28, 2002 at the Kulturpanorama Lucerne in the presence of the authors.
"Andando" by Jürg Schaffhuser and Armin Furrer. Published by Velvet-Edition, ISBN 3-9522411-0-5.
