'Verbier Mountain Climbers' exhibition: the classic ski gondola reimagined

An action movie standby, the (dramatically dangly) classic ski gondola is a lesson in understated industrial design. 'Verbier Mountain Climbers: Revisiting a Swiss Icon', the brainchild of three Swiss art and design entrepreneurs, recognises and celebrates those credentials.
The trio have called upon some of Switzerland's leading designers to have their creative way with a collection of retired gondolas. The results will be shown at Design/Miami Basel this week before returning home to Verbier for a summer exhibition and then on to Geneva Airport for a final showing. They will then be auctioned by Christie's with the proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
'The Gondola we are transforming for the project is a beautiful and typical example of industrial design,' says Albert Schrurs, founder of the architecture and design firm Allegory Studio, and one of the organisers of Verbier Mountain Climbers. 'We asked the designers to give these objects a second life, as interesting and emotionally strong as was their first life. And they approached the project in different ways. The gondola was perceived as a volume, a source of material or as an emotional trigger.'
Atelier Oï's contribution, 'Cabine del Papa', is a fantastic white pod with spinning rope wings while Adrien Rovero's 'Rock' - a piece already given an airing last year - is a four-seater rocking chair. Taking his cues from Optimus Prime and the Transformers, Nicolas Le Moigne's gondola has become an indestructible looking table while Jörg Boner and Lela Scherrer have taken a number of gondola doors and created a series of heavy-duty screens.
Baker Wardlaw and Yves Décoppet meanwhile have taken a more tangential approach and turned their gondola into a giant gum-ball dispenser and Philippe Cramer has taken away the gondola away altogether and left the plexiglass windows hanging heroically in mid-air. The photographer Anoush Abrar, charged with provided a suitably dramatic image to be part of - and promotion for - the exhibition, has his gondola held aloft by its own cloud.
'La Cabina del Papà' by Atelier Oï
'Vending Machine' by ECAL/ Baker Wardlaw and Yves Décoppet
'Rock' by Adrien Rovero
'Levitation' by Anoush Abrar
'Transformers' by Nicolas Le Moigne
Artefact by Philippe Cramer
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
All-In is the Paris-based label making full-force fashion for main character dressing
Part of our monthly Uprising series, Wallpaper* meets Benjamin Barron and Bror August Vestbø of All-In, the LVMH Prize-nominated label which bases its collections on a riotous cast of characters – real and imagined
By Orla Brennan
-
Maserati joins forces with Giorgetti for a turbo-charged relationship
Announcing their marriage during Milan Design Week, the brands unveiled a collection, a car and a long term commitment
By Hugo Macdonald
-
Through an innovative new training program, Poltrona Frau aims to safeguard Italian craft
The heritage furniture manufacturer is training a new generation of leather artisans
By Cristina Kiran Piotti
-
Design Miami 2024 is alive with possibility: here are 14 things to see
Design Miami 2024 opens 4-8 December – let Wallpaper* guide you to the highlights, from dazzling installations to plump sofas and anthropomorphic sculptures
By Ali Morris
-
Design Miami 2022: highlights from the fair and around town
Design Miami 2022 (30 November – 4 December) aims at ‘rebooting the roots of our relationship with nature and collective structures, ecospheres, and urban contexts’
By Sujata Burman
-
Design Miami/Basel 2022 explores the Golden Age
Design Miami/Basel 2022, led by curatorial director Maria Cristina Didero, offers a positive spin after the unprecedented times of the pandemic, and looks at the history and spirit of design
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Fashion’s finest findings at Design Miami and Art Basel Miami Beach 2021
It wasn’t only art and design aficionados that descended on Miami this week; the fashion crowd also flocked to city, including luxury houses such as Loewe, Saint Laurent and Fendi
By Laura Hawkins
-
Design Miami/Basel 2021: the Wallpaper* highlights
As Design Miami returns to Basel (21 – 26 September 2021), we look at the fair’s highlights, including thematic displays, Curio presentations, and large-scale installations
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Design Miami launches shop to support Covid-19 key workers
Design Miami/ Shop will include collectible design from 52 international galleries, and the new charitable initiative in collaboration with international designers and artists
By Rosa Bertoli
-
Scientific theory and 1980s rock inspire Lindsey Adelman’s Paradise City
By Alice Morby
-
Experiments and curious showcases at Design Miami/Basel
By Henrietta Thompson