Elective Swiss with global views
Design icon Tyler Brûlé has created a new image for Swiss wine. The founder of *Wallpaper* and *Monocle* magazines is considered a trendsetter. He became famous in Switzerland for his logo for the new Swiss.
WW: Yesterday I drank two glasses of red wine from Australia. Was that a faux pas on my part, as a Swiss with Italian roots?
Tyler Brûlé: (laughs). Everyone has their own morals. I can't help you there.
You are accepted as a trend guru. You know what to eat and where. You recommend brands and "places to go. What actually makes you so sure about your taste?
Our work is based on an international team. That is also one reason why international companies want to work with us. It takes a mix of experts from all over the world to be able to assess something correctly together. Travel is also an essential factor in shaping my judgment in matters of taste. But the key thing is the diversity of our team. If I need a good graphic designer, I ask the one from the New York Times. When launching a new media project, I rely on marketing people who know the US market very well. For really beautiful and elegant packaging, I can hire someone from Japan to do the job. So clients choose our agency because of our international focus. And because we do things a little differently. Our competitors build big networks with branches around the globe. We keep it small in London. But from there, we manage projects all over the world. Hong Kong, San Francisco. Zurich.
This is the second time you've created a new identity for a Swiss brand. And in both cases, you're playing with our famous white cross. What is your relationship to the Swiss flag and to our country?
My reference: I pay taxes here. I have been registered here since 2002 and I feel at home here. Since my first job for Swiss International Air Lines, I feel a bit "arrested " in these Swiss colors and shapes. But if you look at my creation for Swiss Wine now, the play on "Swiss" came out quite differently. I didn't start from the flag. We do work with the structure of the cross. But I see more associations with the architecture of a vineyard. And for me, the new logo has a lot of dynamism.
With your work for Swiss, you have established a Winkorp company here. You still pay your taxes through this company. Does that give you any advantages over the tax authorities in London?
It was convenient for several reasons. I sold the rest of my shares in Wallpaper magazine. That was a significant "changing point" in my life. I was living in Zurich at the time and this was the center of my life. So it made sense for me to have my papers and my company here as well.
Have you handled other mandates in Switzerland since the big Swiss job?
Yes, in Geneva we have been working for Bank Pictet, Publishing Work, for four years. In Zug, we are currently working for Kjus, a ski fashion company. Both mandates are a bit under the radar and not big budgets, but a nice task for us. In the pipeline, however, is a Swiss media project that I can't talk about yet. That promises to be pretty exciting.
What exactly was your job for Swiss Wine?
The centerpiece is a new identity. But we also talked a lot about marketing with various people. Swiss wine is a product that is rather unknown internationally. So we wanted to create the possibility for a mouthpiece through which you can also communicate with a hotel in Hong Kong about the quality of Swiss wines.
When your new Swiss logo was presented in 2002, I happened to be sitting in the office of Karl Gerstner, the creator of the replaced logo. He was surprised by your design. It was also the subject of much discussion in the media. In the meantime, people seem to love the cool part. How do you see it all in retrospect?
It was a very emotional moment for the country at the time. Who would have thought that the airline of one of the richest countries in the world and a brand like Swissair would be forced to ground. In such an emotionally charged moment, you only look for someone to blame. There is nothing positive to be gained from a new logo. So I knew that probably more than half of the Swiss people would not love my work. We actually tried to give the old look the greatest possible respect. But we had to create something new. And the most important thing for us was to be able to put a white cross as clearly as possible on the tail fin again, so that this symbol, as a guarantor of Swiss quality, can once again bring this message to the runways all over the world. Apart from that, it's fair to say that the painted surfaces of Swissair's planes at the time were a terrible smorgasbord of tastelessness, and in the rest of the documents there was an exuberant lack of concept. We wanted to bring everything back to a "level of purity and cleanliness". And we also wanted to make a symbolic statement: This is a fresh start for the brand. Let's cut away the frills and create a new ground from which we can grow again. When I look back today and am also asked whether the comments back then hurt me, I can say: no, a strong brand needs its development. And Swiss is only a little over ten years old today. I think the machines look inviting to today's passengers.
How does it feel for you to have created something that can be seen in all the airports in the world?
"Yeah, it's good." I've just come from Tokyo and flown with Swiss. It's a special feeling when you taxi to takeoff in such a big Airbus and recognize through the window the design that you yourself have worked for. I am also still recognized by many captains and greeted in a friendly manner. And I think the white airplane has style, when I compare it with these Tutti-Frutti colors and the fantasy paintings of many low-cost airlines. That makes me really proud.
Worldwide, your agency Winkreative and the editorial team of Monocle magazine employ 135 people. What are your current projects?
At Monocle, my second magazine, which I founded in 2007, we are working on a new book. A first one came out in September 2013. We realized it together with the publishing house Die Gestalten in Berlin. It was called "Monocle Guide to Better Living." The new book in September 2014 is about business. How to launch a company. We consulted inspiring startups around the world for that. To that end, we're also kind of going with a political message with all of our publications. We still believe in the paper and are not ashamed to say so. I don't believe that the really big thing will ever be discovered on an even bigger canvas.
In another interview, you stated, "I don't care about social media." Are you still not to be found on Facebook?
I am probably on Facebook. But that's not my account. Our PR department has a direct link to Facebook and Twitter. But that still leaves me cold myself.
But your magazine Monocle is still available in the iPad version?
Yes. We also make the services of our archive available via the Internet. But we don't present this "augmented print experience" on the tablet. I don't believe in that. You can listen to our Monocle radio on the iPad. "That's Great." But I don't want an e-reader. No.
What is your message with Monocle magazine?
A message for consumers. We try to navigate people a bit. The magazine is published once a month. We are in daily contact with the radio. We want to present stories to people that they probably won't get to read anywhere else. Discover products and trends for them. But we don't necessarily want to be trendsetters. Sometimes it's just as interesting to find something tried and true and to be able to follow that discovery properly.
You also run a Monocle Café in London and first stores in various places around the world. What motivates you to keep starting new businesses?
We have also opened a coffee shop in Tokyo and are looking for more booths. Coffee houses are a great meeting place to read, talk to people and observe the world. Again, we are a bit "political". We don't have Wi-Fi in the coffee shop. What's the point of having people hidden behind their screens? We want our guests to have eye contact. Unless they're reading our Monocle (laughs). But we also put on other magazines or, for example, newspapers like Le Monde. For me, that's the best symbiosis: reading a magazine while drinking a coffee or a glass of wine.
Swiss Wine ...
Yes. Our company started with the claim to be able to offer good products. We want to show our readers what they might enjoy. In the meantime, this has become a corporate social responsibility program. As a major media company, we have the power to find a market for meaningful things. A small leather goods manufacturer in Appenzell can find a market with real chances of survival through our channels. Or any other product from South America. We can already guarantee interesting sales to a whole series of small companies. In this way, we support them in their fight against copyists or the ever more destructive mass production. Our readership appreciates this and we are able to navigate them to products they could not find otherwise. We support old family businesses as well as young start-ups.
Design with a political approach?
A little bit. It was not like that at the beginning. For example, we have a radio from China in our product range. We checked very carefully which guidelines our supplier uses to manufacture his products. Because everyone who works on our lost and found should be able to go home satisfied in the evening. Regardless of whether they manufacture something in Appenzell or in Liguria.
Interview: Andreas Panzeri
