MB&F M.A.D. Gallery: watches and mechanical beauty

I have a rendez-vous at the MB&F M.A.D. Gallery in Geneva’s old town. It is easier to get there by bicycle than by any other means. It is another sweltering day. My shirt sticks to my back as I push open the plush doors. It is cool inside. Very cool!

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The cool interior!

Eléonor is responsible for the gallery’s public relations. She fits the bill. She welcomes me. I ask her about the history of this super-chic Aladdin’s cave. She opens by asking me if I am familiar with Geneva’s watch-making community. I am not expecting this. Images of glossy adverts at the airport flash through my mind. I pull at my left sleeve to hide what I wear on my wrist. Before I can muster any kind of answer, she begins the story of a think-outside-the-box watch-maker with a passion for mechanical beauty.

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Horological Machine Number 3 Megawind.

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Horological Machine Number 4.

As a child, Maximillian Büsser dreamt of fantastic mechanical things. Leaving the University of Lausanne in 1991 with a Masters Degree in Micro-Technology Engineering he found employment with Jaeger-LeCoultre. In 1998, he became Managing Director of – and transformed – Harry Winston Rare Timepieces. He set up his own company in 2005 to give full vent to his own creative energies. Even though he runs against the grain of conventional watch design, his imaginative approach has won him the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.

The MB&F M.A.D. Gallery opened in 2011. It is the showcase for Maximillian Büsser’s “horological machines” and a tribute to Friends (MB&F!) who have helped him along his stellar career path. At the same time, it is a shrine to “Mechanical Art Devices” designed and made by kindred spirits all over the world.

To visit the MB&F M.A.D. Gallery is to be captivated by so much mechanical beauty. But my visit makes for a contrast of feelings. I am drawn to these objects. I want to wear one of these watches for a day. I want to handle the chrome, glass, levers, wheels, cables, nuts and bolts of the other devices. If they have switches, I want to switch them on. I would love just to sit on Chicara Nagata’s motorcycle. At the same time, the aesthetic appeal is so strong that I refrain from touching them; they are too precious. So, I simply stand and enjoy looking at them. Join me!

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This is “Type 5”: one of the “Machine Lights” by Frank Buchwald.

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The “Rhodium Birdfish” by Ulrich Teuffel is a beautifully hand-made modular electric guitar featuring two-piece aluminium body, interchangeable wooden tone bars, headless maple neck and sliding pickups.

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This penny-farthing bicycle, based on traditional designs of the 19th century, was hand-crafted by Zdenek Mesicek.

As I am leaving, Eléonor assures me she is willing to answer any questions I might have. Dare I ask, in jest, if I can take the penny-farthing for a quick tour around the narrow streets? Maybe not! Not so cool!

All photographs in this post are reproduced with thanks to MB&F M.A.D. Gallery.

Feedback from Katka

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Woohoo! We’ve got feedback from Katka Pruskova, whose incredible time-lapse of blooming flowers many of you liked last week. In an email, Katka explained why she made the time-lapse, why flowers, and what it meant to her. Voilà:

“I’ve been fascinated by the time-lapse since I first saw one and I decided to give it a try. I started with the typical things like clouds, just to see the movement, if it is really working. Well it was and I wanted more. It was summer and my mom’s garden was full of beautiful flowers and I started to think how to make a beautiful flower time-lapse, where to set up the little studio in my apartment to be able to shoot through day and night. Well after 3 nights sleeping on a couch in my living room while my first flower was occupying my bedroom (the only room with the drapes), I realized that was necessary 😉 But the first result, even not perfect, made me continue. It was very interesting to see something you cannot normally observe, how the flowers are moving when they bloom, the small movements of petals. I was shooting whole summer and finally during winter found some time to finish the whole video. It was a lot of work, you spend hours and hours of preparation, shooting, and then making the whole movie. And you end up with just 2 and a half minutes of final video. But what you see is amazing and I am very happy I could share the video and I appreciate so much all the beautiful comments I received. I hope to show you some more flowers soon ;)”

Thank you, Katka. Great work!

The wild ceramic wonderworld of Lotte Glob

I drive the desolate north coast of Scotland. The first hint that the single-track road around Loch Eriboll is taking me to an intriguing destination is the sight of Lotte Glob’s house.

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I park and, buffeted by the wind, walk through a pair of fantasy wrought-iron gates adorned with blue ceramics. I then realise that the impressive structure viewed from the road is only Lotte’s personal sanctuary in a wild ceramic wonderworld that comprises her studio and the fourteen acres of hillside dedicated to her mesmerising beautiful stuff.

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Lotte Glob is an internationally acclaimed ceramacist. She does not care whether she is perceived as living at the end of the world. Her world is about the beginning of things. It is a tribute to the molten source of the granites, gneisses and schists upon which she has chosen to live and work. Earth, rocks and fire are, unsurprisingly, her media and her inspiration. Using temperatures of over 1300 degrees C she fuses clay and rock. I run my hand over one of her famous rock books. The Big Book? Genesis? I expect to feel heat from the pages.

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Lotte manages to couple a beginning-of-the-world feel with a wild imagination. In her wonderworld, there are ceramic surprises everywhere. I find pouting bipeds on a hilltop. Hidden in the undergrowth are goblin-like wee beasties a-singing. (Their song amuses them greatly!) Lapiz blues and vibrant torquoises startle at every turn.

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Her creative process also involves leaving something to this geologically ancient environment. Behind her stylish studio is a small pond in which ceramic spheroids bob against each other with a gratifying chinking noise. These belong to Lotte’s “floating rocks” project. She has left 333 such “rocks” in 111 small remote lochans in the area. She doesn’t know what happens to them. It is her way of giving back to this rugged, rocky place.

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Writing for Talking Beautiful Stuff gives me the privilege of meeting extraordinary creative people. As always, the “Who?” behind this beautiful stuff is fascinating? Lotte Glob is Danish. She has spent a large part of her adult life in Scotland single-mindedly pursuing her passion. Her handshake tells a story of the outdoors and a hard manual dexterity. “From the age of eight, I was always in the forests collecting things likes animal skulls, twigs, stones and feathers and arranging them into neat little piles” she tells me. “Pottery was the only thing I was good at in school! Now, when I work, I forget I exist.” She admits to other inspirations: Bach, The Little Prince and walking.

Whilst accolades for her ceramics bring a passing flicker of satisfaction, her steely blue eyes beam the calm of someone whose work and existence are in total harmony. She can afford to be and is generous with her time, with her space and with her thoughts.

In case you are wondering, Lotte also makes plates. They too are beautiful.

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O frabjous day!