The Deseiler
Through his company SLS Illusion & Construction, Christoph Seiler brings ideas to life and builds sets for film, advertising, the restaurant industry, and retail design.
In the beginning there was a book: "Industrial Light & Magic". This thick illustrated book described how a motley group of independent creatives worked together to make illusions come true. They worked for George Lucas. Their craft was called "The Art of Special Effects." And the studio was in Hollywood. "It was my dream back then to fly there one day and just say hello to the director of 'Star Wars,'" Christoph Seiler begins his account of how he found his profession. It never came to an encounter of the third kind with George Lucas. Nevertheless, the dream of film decor and such a craft collective, where different self-employed people work together in one creative place, has become reality. "Actually, I'm now doing exactly what I used to dream about. Simply in Schwerzenbach instead of Hollywood," Seiler can proudly show himself today on a tour of his workshop.
A set builder for the film, a freelance theater painter, a photographer, a boat builder and Christoph Seiler's company SLS Illusion & Construktion share a spacious hall complex behind the train station. "We are organized as an arts and crafts pool, where you can also work together if you feel like it and need to," explains Seiler. However, the largest share in the crafts paradise is unmistakably rented to SLS. Christoph Seiler has also set up his own carpentry, painting and metalworking shops for his constructions.
Theme worlds for the shopping center
Although massively scaled down, a cutely recreated row of houses in the hall immediately catches the eye. "This is the decor for a photo shoot. We may already show it to the advertising week. But the client for the advertising campaign still wants to remain secret," explains Seiler. At the same time, he proudly draws attention to the many playful details that can be discovered in the model construction on the little houses. In a hall next door, Jesus is currently being rasped. The replica of the Rio landmark is to be a full eight meters high. The figure is made of incombustible foam and a supporting plastic jacket. It will be cut into eight pieces like a sausage so that the figure will fit into a truck during transport. The imposing statue will become the new landmark of an exhibition with the theme "Brazil" next spring in the Glatt shopping center instead of Rio. "The Glatt shopping center has been one of our biggest customers for a long time. Every spring, a new themed exhibition is launched there in cooperation with Atelier Stenz. We also regularly supply the Christmas decorations," Christoph Seiler later shows samples of his Illusion & Construktion work in a book that could well rival the volume "The Art of Special Effects".
For example, the decorative structures for a Japanese garden in the Glatt appear very artistic. An illusion for the "Holland" theme exhibition was particularly elaborate. Not only did a windmill with a turning wheel have to look like the real thing, SLS also recreated a 25-meter-long "real" canal with three usable ships. The Glatt has three large malls of 200 square meters each. "A lot of material has to be used in each case, even if the decorations may seem small to visitors at first glance, " Seiler says. A ship's bow on the theme of "Cruises" reached up to the ceiling at 13 meters. A lighthouse on the theme of the North Sea was the same height.
In all these ideas, the safety aspect plays a very important role. It would be a disaster if the water in the canal suddenly spilled out and flooded the stores in the shopping center. "That's when you're jittery after the set-up, wondering if everything will actually go smoothly." When it came to decorating for "Brazil," static and fire-police specifications were a challenge. "Which materials should be used? How do you protect the structures? How to comply with the strict regulations of the fire police? Each time, creative ideas have to be reconciled with official specifications. An important part of Christoph Seiler's work is therefore searching for, developing and testing a wide variety of materials for his illusions. "Every order also brings a new invention ", Seiler can chat from his toolbox.
The model and the career counselor
The current managing director of Illusion & Construktion started with an apprenticeship as a machine mechanic. "But as soon as I graduated, I knew there were even more exciting professions." Even during his apprenticeship, the young man occasionally worked as a model. It was on these occasions that Christoph met stylist Uschi Stähli. And when Seiler wanted to earn some money "quickly and as casually as possible" before recruit school, he naturally first asked for a photo job. Such a job was not immediately forthcoming. But the stylist tipped him off that Condor Films was looking for a lighting technician. Seiler got an appointment with Martin Fueter and was then immediately hired as a lighting technician for two years. "Before the interview, I quickly went to a career counselor. I had to find out what a lighting technician actually does and should be able to do." In 1980, Christoph Seiler found working in film such an exciting world that he "wanted to work every weekend. So the agreed upon two eventually turned into four years. During this time, Seiler has lit at least 200 TV commercials. And outfitted more and more as well. "At that time, there were no companies that made decor buildings. This work was always done by the lighting technicians. If a film for Maggi soup needed a kitchen, for example, we went to Ikea. We also constantly freshly wallpapered the studio. And my favorite thing was making props. Especially with the animated films with single-frame switching that were still common at the time, it fascinated me to invent and build possible ingenious little aids."
Because word of Seiler's special skills soon got around among cameramen and directors, he was able to start his own business after four years at Condor. After another nine years as a freelancer for lighting and special effects, Seiler founded a company together with a flatmate. The third member of the team was a set designer from the Neumarkt Theater. Together they became a growing competitor for the then dominant "Glanz & Gloria ". Soon the company employed six people. With the size, however, the interests also became different. Part of the team preferred to work for the theater and was able to furnish customers such as the "Opera Factory" with decorations. "My world remained more the film", Seiler makes it short, why the collective finally broke up. Those who remained continued to make theater. The more "decorative" Seiler, Lang and Stern called themselves SLS Illusion and Construktion from 1996 on.
The start-up was able to set up its first workshop as a subtenant with a boat builder. In keeping with the style, he ran a shipyard in Zurich's shipbuilding district. When Christoph Marthaler set up his theater there, SLS found a new interim solution in Puls 5. "We need very large, but still affordable halls for our assemblies," says Seiler, describing the odyssey of how his company, including the boat builder, has now found shelter again in a former Implenia workshop in Schwerzenbach, even after the conversion of Puls 5. Since then, the company structure has also changed once again. Christoph Seiler is now the sole owner and managing director. There are currently six permanent employees. Silvan Kuhl is responsible for design. Markus Eberhard and Philipp Angst are responsible for planning. Vinzenz Vetter and Dimitri Dürr are in charge of the carpentry and workshop. In addition, there are about 20 freelancers per year, each for special jobs.
Important mainstay in gastronomy
An important role in the SLS portfolio is the design and development of restaurants. Here, too, the aim is to create the most atmospheric world possible for guests. Theme-based décor is often in demand, such as an Italian, Japanese or Mexican interior. Christoph Seiler is even more grateful for orders where the designers are given as free a hand as possible to "tell a story". An ambience where guests are amazed and think, "Wow, I've never seen anything like this before!" In this regard, Seiler loves it when the idea behind the design is not seen through at first glance. In the Coco Grill & Bar on Bleicherweg in Zurich, he has been able to hide elements faithfully copied around the theme of the "third-class section of the Titanic " in the conversion of the former sewing studio of Saint Phil in this sense. As a reference to the nearby Paradeplatz, a few "handmade " gold bars were also built into the walls of the wine cellar. "It just had to be awesome," was the brief of the restaurateur, for whom SLS has also designed the streetcar station, Fischers Fritz or the new Schober in Zurich.
A whole series of attractive reference objects can also be found in Lucerne. Among the most unusual recent works is the "Schmiedstube " in Bülach. Seiler is particularly proud of a bar in Singapore that SLS had the pleasure of creating last year. Whether this is the beginning of an expansion of the company from Schwerzenbach into the wide world, Seiler only wants to comment with a smile for the time being. Background work and design In advertising, the illusionists at SLS are repeatedly asked by photographers to design special surfaces as backgrounds for pack shots. Especially Silvan Kuhl as originally trained stage painter leads the design and realization of such orders.
Seiler still sees room for improvement in the area of shopfitting. As a side effect, however, these orders have already resulted in a few pieces of designer furniture. "After all, all of our creations are unique. In the case of some particularly successful pieces, we are considering whether we could produce them in larger series." In this way, SLS already distributes a series of exclusive bar stools and a table made of concrete. These design works have meanwhile helped Christoph Seiler to take over "Deseiler".
A task of a very special kind for SLS was the implementation of a film decor for "Cargo". For this first Swiss production in the genre of science fiction, the interior of a space freighter had to be recreated or, more precisely, futuristically "pre-built". The décor was brought to life in Winterthur in a hall of 3500 square meters. It was not only a financial gamble, but also an artistic challenge as to whether SLS should embark on the adventure in space. But it was also a chance to somehow make the original dream of working for George Lucas come true after all. Simply in Winterthur instead of in faraway Hollywood. The motion picture received recognition. The spectacular set "blew everyone away," and director Ivan Engler and producer Marcel Wolfisberg have since moved on in their careers thanks to this bold first feature.
And what's next for SLS? As in the past, Christoph Seiler wants to continue to focus primarily on the broadest possible versatility in the future. "There are phases when many new restaurants are built. Then again, more advertising is needed. With big films, financing can often drag on for several years. That's where it's best to stay flexible. " To grow even further in terms of personnel is also not a goal. Even though he is now a bit busier than before with management and marketing tasks, Christoph Seiler says: "I wasn't born to be a business manager and I want to be able to continue to be in the workshop and have fun working and creating ever more amazing illusions." And, of course, he is determined not only to be able to occasionally shovel some time off for his life partner and his three children.
Andreas Panzeri
