#Woodvetia honors Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler with statue

#Woodvetia, the joint campaign of the Federal Office for the Environment and the Swiss forestry and timber industry, aims to inspire the population for the sustainable raw material and material Swiss wood. The reason for the campaign is the declining demand for Swiss wood. This is having a negative impact on the forest and the local timber industry.

The core of #Woodvetia is formed by lifelike and life-size statues of well-known personalities of Swiss history and present, which the Zurich artist Inigo Gheyselinck carves from Swiss wood. The wood he uses is always sourced from the regions from which the depicted personalities originate. Marc Chardonnens: "This is the first time that the Confederation has done a campaign without posters. But with #Woodvetia, it makes perfect sense because the entire wood chain is depicted in the figures."

Gottlieb Duttweiler in the Park in the Green in Rüschlikon

On Tuesday, Herbert Bolliger (President of the General Management of Migros) and Marc Chardonnens (Director FOEN) and Christoph Starck (President of Lignum) presented the statue of the entrepreneur and politician Gottlieb Duttweiler in Rüschlikon. There the statue stands in the park in the green. It is already the 16th sculpture that has been made accessible to the public as part of the campaign for more Swiss wood. The wooden figure of the Zurich native was made from a 100-year-old yew tree that comes from Zurich's local mountain, the Uetliberg. The president of Migros is delighted that Duttweiler is standing in wood and resin in the Green Park in Rüschlikon: "For me, today is a special day. Because I have never been asked to unveil a statue before. The fact that it is the figure of the historical personality with whom I have had the closest relationship throughout my professional life pleases me immensely."

The legendary entrepreneur and politician laid the foundation for his great successes in 1925, when he started five sales carts of his Migros with products for daily needs. In 1941, Gottlieb Duttweiler founded the Migros Genossenschaft (Migros Cooperative), which is still the largest retail trade company in Switzerland today. With his visionary foresight, but also his sense of social responsibility, "Dutti" had a decisive influence on the country's recent economic history.

The creation of Gottlieb Duttweiler's statue was documented in the following short film:

_{Photos studio: Bruno Augsburger. Photos unveiling: Dominik Hodel.}