V-ZUG Inspirations Magazine - Magazine - Page 23
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How would you describe the current chapter of Fischbacher 1819, shaped under your creative direction and
Michael Fischbacher’s leadership as CEO? I would say
we are in a phase of conscious evolution, in which Michael
and I have been focusing on clarifying who we are today. We
started working for the company in 1997, then lived in the US
and Japan for seven years. When we came back, we started
thinking about how to modernise the brand without losing its
depth. We wanted it to be relevant and alive, not frozen in time.
What do you see as the most significant evolutions Fischbacher 1819 has undergone since 2008? When we began
to lead the company, Christian Fischbacher was about heritage, all curly and flowery. I set out to change it completely,
starting from the visual language. So, the first photo shoot
I did to launch our Benu recycled fabric took place inside an
abandoned warehouse, rather than the usual luxury home.
This caused a lot of drama at the time – we ended up creating a different website to present the collection – but funnily
enough, seventeen years later that has become our calling
card. It wasn’t an easy moment, but I trusted my gut. I would
say that the company as it is today started then.
CAMILLA DOURAGHY
FISCHBACHER
Born to an American mother
and an Iranian father, Camilla
Douraghy Fischbacher lived in
Iran until the 1980s, when her
family moved to Switzerland after
the revolution. She attended high
school in Germany before moving
to the US and later studying at the
University of Oxford, where she
met her future husband, Michael
Fischbacher. After spending
several years living and working
abroad, they returned to St. Gallen
in 2008, where they took over the
family textile company, Christian
Fischbacher, recently renamed
Fischbacher 1819.
THE THREAD OF BEAUTY
colours, but to do what Apple did with the IBM computer. That
was a turning point, after which they all came on board. Today
we are a group of people working between St. Gallen, in Switzerland, and Como, Italy, where we have our facilities. We work
side by side: I think a group is always more intelligent than any
one individual.
So when you are developing a new product, what are the
key elements you look at? My guiding light, by far, is beauty.
Deep beauty, something that resonates with you. I love a William Morris quote that says beauty has the power to save the
human soul: I really believe people are moved when they see
something beautiful. So first and foremost I ask myself, “Does
this make my heart sing?” If it does, this is the fabric we want
in the collection. A perfect example of that is the velvet stretch
we launched last year. We had to choose between this and a
classic mohair, something our competitors already offer but
sales felt we needed to have as well. In the end we opted for
the modern, stretchy velvet, which simply felt better and made
us excited to show it around. The response from the market
confirmed our idea.
Benu is an innovative fabric made from recycled PET bottles and industrial textile waste. Introducing it into the
catalogue was another bold move for a heritage company,
and you’ve already mentioned that the new visual language
caused quite a stir. How was Benu received initially, and
how is it seen today? I was taken aside during a board meeting and told I didn’t understand the company, that Christian
Fischbacher was an elegant house and nobody wanted my
recycled rubbish. It was pretty rough, but it made me very
determined: that reaction meant I really was onto something! The people that were happy with the shift are still great
champions of the direction we took: it’s very important for a
company to focus on a shared direction.
So it’s less about trends and more about longevity. Absolutely. We believe in continuity rather than trends. It’s a
philosophical approach, we really believe in a non-seasonal
use of textiles. Everything should match, year after year,
which is also a way to respect our clients. I find the idea of a
“colour of the year” ridiculous: what does that mean, that colours go out of style in twelve months? Our horizon is much
wider. I think you should keep your curtains for at least ten
years. And even then, if the colour starts to bleach a little from
the sun, is it really that bad? Couldn’t we allow things to age
and be imperfect? Those are the things that I would like to
address. We need to get away from the drive for perfection and
the need for everything to be new. This is the root cause of our
throw-away culture.
The importance of the team. Can you tell us more about
that, and how collaboration shapes the way collections
come to life? As for my immediate team, the designers, I’ve
had the same people since I started. At the beginning they
too were not happy at all with the Benu recycled textile, but
I remember having this pivotal conversation, in which I said
that our challenge, as designers, was not just to figure out nice
I like the concept of fabrics that age well. Is that a sign
of quality? I believe so. Quality to me is both longevity and
beauty, to the eye and to the touch. At home, I have a mohair
sofa. It has faded a lot, because it’s exposed to sunlight and I
have had it for over fifteen years. But it’s not worn out. The
tones have slightly softened and it has a beautiful patina.
It’s still absolutely gorgeous to sit on. I think investing in
“I really believe people are moved when they see something
beautiful. So first and foremost I ask myself, ‘Does this make my
heart sing?’ If it does, this is the fabric we want in the collection.”
