Charles Blunier & Co. is now responsible for the design of all issues of the glossy magazine L'Officiel. The publications were revised and restructured by the Zurich agency. In addition, the team produces parts of the content. "It's always challenging to implement the content in an avant-garde way but still in the tradition of L'Officiel," says Blunier. "But it's always been a cutting-edge magazine. And even though it's already state-of-the-art, we were chosen to design this legendary publication." A total of six magazines bearing Charles Blunier's signature will be published in 2018.
L'Officiel - Shaping the international fashion scene since 1921
The first and only international luxury magazine produced in Switzerland, L'Officiel Schweiz/Suisse, has been published on the Swiss market since March 2014 in a German-language and a French edition. Initially every two months, but now ten times a year with a double issue each in winter and summer. L'Officiel Hommes is published twice a year, and L'Officiel Couture once.
Charles Blunier & Co. - the most exclusive design agency in Switzerland
Charles Blunier has had his own studio in Zurich's Kreis 2 since 2007 and specializes in designing books and magazines, developing branding campaigns as well as apps and websites, and designing exclusive collectibles. In the past 25 years, Blunier has worked for global brands such as UBS, Holcim, Credit Suisse, Time and Oetker Collection, to name just a few. Various partners have been on board, including Oliver Stone, Yves Saint Laurent, Naomi Campell and Daft Punk.
Among the major milestones of his career are the book for the 150th anniversary of Credit Suisse, the art project for the global corporation Holcim and the project "One year in Space" that he realized with Marco Grob in 2015. During his career, Charles Blunier says he has received over 120 awards for his work in New York, London and Paris.
Responsible at Charles Blunier & Co: Charles Blunier (Creative Director), Simon Tellenbach (Account Director) Linda Flury (Project Management), Silvio Demuth, Annika Hänni, Marco Müller (Art Direction), Roman Limacher (Senior Media Operator).
Reinhard Schmidt will continue as Art Director, and Stéphane Bonvin will also remain with the team as Senior Editor for the French-language edition. Manou Steiger, the previous coordinator, will take on the role of Managing Editor for print and online.
New management duo
Odile Burger studied journalism at SAL in Zurich and is the former editor-in-chief of the parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi. The 47-year-old later worked in management at Unicef Switzerland, as head of marketing and communications, before completing further training at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York in 2010 and founding the fashion company Wooster. Odile Burger joined the team in October 2015 as editor - initially for the art magazine L'Officiel Art - and shortly afterwards took on this role for all the other titles: L'Officiel Switzerland, L'Officiel Hommes, L'Officiel Voyage.
Livia Zafiriou was already part of the L'Officiel Switzerland team at the time of its conception in 2013 - initially as Coordinator, and after a year as Managing Editor, making her responsible for the production of L'Officiel Switzerland, L'Officiel Hommes, L'Officiel Voyage and L'Officiel Art. The 28-year-old was born in London to Greek-Swiss parents and spent much of her life between London and Switzerland. She studied history and art history at Amherst College in the United States. She later started her career in London, where she worked in financial communications at RLM Finsbury and briefly in art PR before joining the British auction house Bonhams, where she worked in the capacity of researcher for the Impressionist and Modern Art departments. In 2012, she moved to Switzerland.
Since its founding in 1921, L'Officiel has held its place at the heart of the luxury and fashion universe. The Swiss edition was launched in spring 2014 by Blond Publishing as licensee and has since been published under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Sandra Bauknecht (Werbewoche.ch reported).
Benjamin Eymère, CEO of Jalou Media Groupe, in a statement, "I'm looking forward to Switzerland, the luxury-oriented market is promising." As before, the magazine will continue to be published bilingually, for German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. Regarding the composition of the new editorial team, Jalou Media Group is currently in talks with some of the staff members of the previous team and will communicate the personnel changes in the course of the next week. Eva Favre, Affinity-Primemedia, will continue to be responsible for the advertisements.
With Trevisan, Blond Publishing has gained an experienced publishing manager as a partner. Trevisan has held positions of responsibility in the Swiss media landscape as publishing director of the Sonntagszeitung and Tages-Anzeiger newspapers and as head of the NZZ newspapers division. With the successful relaunch of the NZZ am Sonntag, he was able to make a name for himself beyond the country's borders. He followed the call of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), where he worked for nine years in Frankfurt as Chairman of the Management Board. Since this spring, he has been building up a group of companies under the Peakrgroup brand with his partners in Germany and Switzerland, which focuses on the development of demand-driven digital business models in the areas of careers and further education.
Oliver Burger, CEO of Blond Publishing, said in a statement: "I am delighted that we have been able to gain another partner for Blond Publishing in Tobias Trevisan, who can support us with his knowledge, his experience and his extensive network of contacts. We feel that his commitment confirms that we are on the right track." Tobias Trevisan is also looking forward to the collaboration: "In my many years in the publishing industry, I have not often come across a project that has been launched on the market as successfully as L'Officiel in Switzerland in such a short space of time. Sandra, Stefan and Oliver have done a great job. They deserve my trust. I am delighted to be able to work with them and support them in further developing the magazine and the L'Officiel brand in Switzerland."
A native of Germany, she has extensive experience as an editor, freelancer and also producer; in addition to work for various Swiss and Austrian publications, the stations of her career to date include Springer Verlag, Jahreszeiten Verlag and most recently Burda Verlag. L'Officiel was successfully launched on the Swiss market in March 2014 and is published by Blond Publishing. Editor-in-chief is Sandra Bauknecht, editorial director is Stefan Hottinger-Behmer, and publishing management is in the hands of CEO Oliver Burger.
The magazine, which is aimed at men with a sense of lifestyle, fashion and exciting reportage, is published twice a year by Blond Publishing. The publisher has already successfully launched L'Officiel Schweiz for women in March this year (Werbewoche.ch reported). Editor-in-chief Sandra Bauknecht is responsible for both magazines, Stefan Hottinger-Behmer is publisher and editorial director, and CEO Oliver Burger is in charge of publishing.
In addition to fashion, beauty and lifestyle news from around the world, the first issue will also include stories written by renowned authors about the Rockefellers, dangerous codes in Mexico, Swiss IT stars, British design and world-famous men such as Clive Owen and John Paul DeJoria. 178 pages, in which there is also space for multi-page fashion reports and background stories on international labels.
L'Officiel Schweiz Hommes is not just a supplement, but a stand-alone issue sold at newsstands for twelve francs per issue. Subscribers to L'Officiel Schweiz will receive the new magazine together with the September issue. L'Officiel Schweiz will be published every two months until the end of 2014, and monthly from next year.
Sandra Bauknecht is editor of the fashion and lifestyle blog "Sandra's Closet". This reports from the front row on worldwide style and fashion trends and is read in over 140 countries. In addition to her blog, Bauknecht was responsible for the fashion section of Weltwoche Stil magazine from 2010 to 2012. She has also been writing a regular column for SI Style for two years. Before that, she was fashion editor for the German edition of Marie Claire. Speaking about her new role, Sandra Bauknecht says: "L'Officiel is one of the top international fashion magazines and I am very excited to launch the Swiss edition together with the local team. For me, it will be a particularly interesting balance between the precision and aesthetics of a print magazine and the immediate timeliness of online coverage on my blog."
Oliver Burger takes on the role of Publishing & Advertising Director. He previously worked as publishing director at Du, and as sales director for Das Magazin. He has also worked for advertising agencies such as BBDO and Young & Rubicam.
Jürg Zbinden, luxury and style columnist for Weltwoche, takes on the position of Fashion Features Editor - in addition to his new role as author of the recently launched city blog En Vogue of the renowned Neue Zürcher Zeitung. There he regularly reports on topics such as design, music, film and popular entertainment.
As Senior Contributing Editor Catherine Sand as the magazine's editorial manager in French-speaking Switzerland. She is deeply rooted in the international fashion scene - thanks to years of experience as an art journalist at Manhattan File, picture editor at Der Spiegel and correspondent for Bolero in New York - as well as freelance work for Independent on Sunday, New York Magazine and the German Elle.
The London-based Raquel Franco will act as Fashion Director for L'Officiel Switzerland/Suisse. She has worked for various fashion magazines; including American Vogue, Interview Magazine, L'Officiel Hommes and ultimately as Acting Fashion Editor for the UK's Harper's Bazaar. Franco has worked with some of fashion photography's most respected and influential icons - including David Bailey, Daniel Riera, Jason Evans, Maurizio Bavutti and Nick Knight.
Celeste Neill brings years of national and international experience to the L'Officiel Switzerland/Suisse team as Marketing and Brand Director. She is the founder of Zurich-based brand and marketing agency Adams & Neill and in this role has advised clients such as Hackett, Wrangler, Karen Millen, Hotel Costes, Absolut Vodka and Sentebale - the charity founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. As a journalist, Celeste Neill also reports on trends in lifestyle and business. Her articles have appeared in the Guardian and London's Daily Telegraph, among others.
Nicolas Schaltegger, previously with the agencies Roth & Maerchy and Crafft in Zurich, becomes Creative & Art Director at L'Officiel Switzerland/Suisse. His client portfolio includes innovative art projects as well as international brands, such as Credit Suisse.
The project is led by Stefan Hottinger-Behmerwho will serve as Publisher & Editorial Director. He brings over 15 years of experience in international publishing. Hottinger-Behmer is an experienced journalist and communications expert and has worked for some of the world's most influential newspapers and magazines, including AD, Wallpaper, Harper ́s Bazaar, Travel & Leisure, The Times, Elle, Collezioni, and various international editions of L'Officiel.
The team is supported by Livia Zafiriouwho grew up between Geneva, Zurich and London and completed her studies in the USA. As Editorial Content Manager, Zafiriou is responsible for editorial coordination at the publishing house.
