Zurich and Lausanne September 2023

 Hi,

It was a beautiful and super busy day starting at the Swiss National Museum.

One of the museum curators took us to view and discuss the Koch ring collection. And OMG this was a gigantic collection of rings from ancient to present. 

I can't imagine how obsessive these collectors were to accumulate over 2,500 rings. 2,500!! A little more than half were on view in the most inventive display which formed a circle with rows of rings displayed in rows and below is a digital display where you can find out more about each ring. It was a huge effort to photograph and write up something about each ring.

And then there are the cases filled with rings.

Bernhard Schobinger rings

Upper ring is Meret Oppenheim with a sugar cube and below is a lipstick ring

We were there for about an hour or more and then went exploring the rest of the place. And I have to say they have some of the coolest displays of any museum I have seen. Like, look at these folk pieces...

Then I couldn't resist this wonderful sleigh

We had lunch outside at the museum restaurant

Then we went to Christoph Zellweger's studio where Monica Gaspar (his wife) introduced him (second from the right) and 3 other artists he asked to show their work as well.

This is a retrospective of the work that he put together for us. Many things he makes investigate the body and body replacement parts.

Then we took a bus to the studio of Gabi Veit- she introduced us to her work with this display outside of her studio on the wall of her studio building. She is a graphic designer and a metalsmith not so much a jeweler although she makes jewelry too.

 

Loved this piece. Very heavy weights 

Thank you Linda for this shot

These spoons were covered with thorns and I loved them so much I bought the one on the lower right.

More spoons

Such a cool studio space

So then we went to dinner and ended the day with a lovely visit by Monica and Christof. We were kind of exhausted by the day and were glad to get back to our hotel. 

Love,

Susan

PS Thanks for your emails and reactions to the previous day's messages. Love them