Discover Germany | Special Theme | Top Swiss Design 2017
Florian Schlumpf.
Fiona Schlumpf.
TM5.
The art of becoming timeless:
One tick-tock at a time Lovers of unconventional, functional art will be happy to read about the authentic designs of Swiss artisan Florian Schlumpf, who focusses his work on the conscious appreciation of time and its relation to life.
mall in Moscow; at a height of 23 metres it certainly is a most striking evidence of Schlumpf’s singular talent, vision and craftsmanship.
TEXT: SILKE HENKELE I PHOTOS: SCHLUMPF INNOVATIONS GMBH
Florian Schlumpf comes from a family with a 132-year-old tradition of workmanship and innovative engineering. “Johann Schlumpf, my great-grandfather, was a skilled carpenter and mechanic genius who laid the foundations for a successful business that today is a widely known worldwide operating component manufacturer of the paper, plastic, film and foil industry,” Schlumpf recounts his family background. Johann’s inventive genes have been passed down to Florian who developed a pronounced interest in mechanics, which he today combines with art. “I have a degree in sculpturing as well as in mechanical engineering which perfectly matches my multidisciplinary interests and which prepared me for running my own workshop,” elaborates Schlumpf. One of the results of Schlumpf’s successful workshop in Trimmis is a unique view on clocks and precision mechanisms, out of which in 2014 developed Schlumpf’s
timeless design series ‘Zeitmaschine’ (Time Machine). “The objects crafted by me and my highly skilled team provoke by their authentic blend of design and engineering that effortlessly creates a real aesthetic value while at the same time serving as an invitation to weigh our unique approach towards time against the innovative mechanisms we use for our devices,”says Schlumpf. Schlumpf, who in 2012 was joined by his daughter Fiona who thus presents the fifth generation in the line of this highly successful family business, wants the Zeitmaschinen understood holistically. “For us, clocks are more than a mere appliance for measuring time. Our latest design is the TM5, an uncompromising kinetic composition that transcends time by uniting contemporary design with the authentic traditions of Swiss timekeeping,” Schlumpf describes their latest masterpiece. Another one of Schlumpf’s singular designs is the Monumental Time Machine, which has been installed in a shopping
There are five differing series of Florian Schlumpf’s marvellous Zeitmaschinen and each series is available in differing colours and designs. “Our designs are tailored to our customers’ individual requests thus making the objects singular pieces of functional art,” says Schlumpf, underlining the particularity of the Zeitmaschinen, which are on view in Schlumpf’s showrooms in Trimmis and Zurich. www.schlumpf.swiss TM4.
Issue 56 | November 2017 | 13