A monumental installation by Gion A. Caminada

Contemporary craft has a new international platform: the public fair TRESOR contemporary craft in Basel. It celebrated its premiere from September 21 to 24, and the bar was high - it wanted to show nothing less than the collectibles of the future. Also present as show and lounge partner was the Swiss manufacturer Girsberger, which caused a stir with an installation curated by Gion A. Caminada.

Anyone strolling through Hall 3 of Messe Basel had only to follow their nose: The scent of tree sap led visitors unerringly to a centrally positioned, monumental table made of larch wood, which covered an identical model that seemed tiny in comparison, in usable dimensions. touch wood is what the multiple award-winning architect and professor at ETH Zurich christened his almost sacred-looking installation, which plays with our perception of things. "The different size deliberately pulls the table out of its ordinariness, out of the human and social," he explains. "The experiment with the two tables is to be understood as a search for the essence of things and for our possible relationships with them." Gion A. Caminada on his installation The essence of things
By means of the pictorial composition, Gion A. Caminada takes up a theme that has strongly influenced his career. Born in the remote Graubünden mountain village of Vrin, as an architect he has made a decisive contribution for over twenty years to ensuring that his home village does not fall victim to the rampant rural exodus. With the structural extensions to the village - including his own home and studio - he created a contemporary interpretation of the traditional alpine knit construction method that respects and preserves the cultural distinctiveness of the region. He wants to create places that create identity, says Caminada, who completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter in his youth. And identity is also created by the things that are part of the place. That's why the recovery of handcrafted qualities for everyday objects is the primary goal in times of mass production and throwaway culture.

Making-of A passion for craftsmanship
In Girsberger, the idealistic planner undoubtedly found a perfect ally. The renowned contract and office furniture manufacturer, for example, already produced the furniture for his Tegia da vaut, a forest hut commissioned by the rural civic community of Domat/Ems, according to Caminada's design specifications. For many years, in addition to its own collections, the family-owned company has focused on the production of custom furniture as well as the sustainable and authenticity-preserving restoration of existing furniture. In addition, Girsberger processes selected solid wood into tables and sideboards in its manufactory at the Bützberg site. The giant table just shown in Basel and its normal-sized offshoot, available in five signed copies measuring 90 x 175 centimeters, were also made here. Also on show for the first time at the fair was the new solid wood table system Akio by Mathias Seiler.

With its passion for craftsmanship and high-quality wood processing, Girsberger swims against the tide - and yet hits the nerve of the times. This is proven not least by the good visitor numbers of TRESOR contemporary craft, which stands for the general longing for (be>tangible, handmade beauty in the digital era.

Girsberger

The Swiss group of companies was founded in 1889 as a turnery and soon developed into a renowned seating furniture manufacturer. Today, the focus of the product range is on high-quality and innovative furniture solutions for the office, contract and residential sectors, as well as special processing expertise in the solid wood segment.

Pouring A Concrete Slab The Basics