The RhB is adding five new ALLEGRA railcars to the fleet in 2012. Their interior-design reflects the look of typical Graubünden building materials: wood and stone. Christian Harbeke has sought inspiration in the UK when designing the check-patterned seat fabrics, as British visitors were originally responsible for kick-starting Swiss mountain tourism. The fabric is made in the Swiss canton of Bern by the company Lantal Textiles. Christian Harbeke was somewhat overcome when, after mountain-biking in Graubünden, he happened to climb aboard „his“ ALLEGRA railcar. „We had created the designs for the seats, floors and walls, but it was very special to ride on the actual train“, he says. Christian Harbeke, an industrial designer at Zurich-based Nose AG, created the new RhB interior. He designed the seat covers especially for these new railcars. „I drew inspiration from traditional English check patterns when creating the design“, he explains. In designing these train interiors for the RhB, he has perpetuated part of our history, as the British are regarded as the original founders of Swiss mountain tourism. Clad in tweed trousers, they once climbed the summits of Graubünden. „You can come across this typical design even today, as it is still used for golf trousers and horse blankets“, says the designer. He has used a modern take on this British-style pattern to design the RhB’s first-class seats in elegant black with coloured accents, and second-class seats in a cool shade of blue. 3,744 spools of yarn converted into cloth The Rhaetian Railway ordered the fabric from Lantal Textiles AG, a manufacturer based in Melchnau, in the Swiss Canton of Bern. „We worked in collaboration with the team at Lantal to convert our design ideas into actual fabrics“, says Christian Harbeke. The factory’s looms rattle away, busily converting metre after metre of yarn into cloth, as they tirelessly combine the design’s various individual colours. The finished cloth is then rolled up.
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