Claudia Von Boch is a ceramist who recently stopped giving courses to adults and children in the Pully area and works on her sculptures full time in Italy. We were impressed at how creative the quarantine has made her. After initially cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning, followed by doing jigsaw puzzles and then yoga, she got a brilliant idea! She designed and created a 3D ceramic jigsaw puzzle Mandala for her wall of 300 separate porcelain individually-crafted pieces! She kept a photo journal and shared it with her readers.
Here are just a few of the stages for your pleasure... more at the bottom of this article.
Tell us of your history
I have been doing ceramics since the age of 10, in Argentina where I lived for 23 years. I worked on and off with clay in different studios until I moved to Switzerland. I then decided to do an art school specializing in ceramics. While exhibiting my work, I also taught ceramics for 25 years in my studio in Pully. But last year I stopped teaching to concentrate just on my sculpture (see below for 2 examples). Now I work from my atelier in Italy where I spend a good part of the year.
If you were one of our charming customers at Know-it-all Marketplace these past years, then you will certainly be a big fan of Lanxel Candles! Our candle lady — and we call her— Lotte is currently moving out of her shop premises and sent knowitall.ch a message to let our readers know about her moving sale 50% discount. We took the opportunity to ask Lotte Lanxe a few questions.
Why did you start?
I have always loved candles. It’s in my DNA. I grow up in Denmark and candles are part of our lifestyle, with winter setting in from Mid-September and barely no daylight from December to Mid-March we have candles and light in abundance.
What has been the inspiration?
I really struggled to find true natural candles. There’s many so-called natural candles on the market but if you look at the small print there’s often too many cheap fillers added. I wanted to burn candles that I knew were safe for me and my family. I’ve made candles for the last 20 years; just for me to enjoy. I was not aware that other people wanted natural scented candles made from super food oils as well! All my candles are made from rapeseed and coconut oils.
Have you been working on this idea forever, or was it something that came to you recently?
When I first realised that other people were looking for the same type of candles as myself, the business start-up was very simple. I signed up for a local artisan market and the rest is history.
We finally caught up with Laurie Theurer, author of Swisstory, to find out more and host a competition to win a copy! This new book is an entertaining illustrated history of Switzerland for all ages 9 to 99.
What prompted you to do this book?
I first approached Richard Harvell at Bergli Books with the idea for a game about Switzerland. We met to discuss the possibilities and it became fairly quickly apparent that my talents did not lie in game design, but rather in researching and writing about history. After a few tries and invaluable input from Richard, we found the heart of this book together.
What is Swisstory about?
When most people think of Switzerland, images of chocolates, cheese, Heidi, William Tell, banks, and yodelers come to mind. There are volumes and volumes of books that detail the horrors of European history in general, but Switzerland – even though it’s in the center of Europe – is not typically included in those horrific tales. In truth, Swiss history is just as bloody as the rest of Europe… and in some cases even bloodier. Swisstory: The Untold, Bloody, and Absolutely Real History of Switzerland is about just that. History is brutal… and Swiss history is no exception.
What was the biggest obstacle you came across when choosing or writing the book?
I think the biggest obstacle was in finding out what exactly this book wanted to be. Richard Harvell and I discussed multiple ideas that I could pursue, as well as a myriad of voices that could tell the story we wanted to tell. I sent many, many, many drafts to Richard and reviewed his notes until we finally found the right formula. Only then could I set about producing the twenty chapters that make up the book
When some people have been complaining about how they will get their groceries and products, one of our readers has been very active in compiling a very useful list to share! Thanks to Josana Mendes for putting this together and forwarding on to knowitall.ch. Josana wrote, "I'm gathering delivery websites around Switzerland mainly from small producers to try to help business that might suffer in the near future. There are way more options beyond Coop and Migros. Please check the updated list so far and don't hesitate to copy to share with others."
Farmy.ch (delivery all over Switzerland of local producers) and I have a Fr. 20 voucher for anyone doing their first shopping
www.farmy.ch/invite/josana652?nzp&locale=fr-CH
Ugly Fruits, also delivery all over Switzerland of local producers
https://uglyfruits.ch/en/uglyfruits
Organic food delivery in Switzerland
www.mahlerundco.ch
Vaud: culti-shop.ch
www.culti-shop.ch
Vevey: Delicatessen that is offering delivery
www.ratatouille.ch
Valais: Fraîcheur de votre jardin
www.fraicheurdevotrejardin.ch
Neuchâtel: Label Bleu
https://labelbleu.ch/fr/neuchatel
Jura-Nord Vaudois
www.lespaniersdelaferme.ch
The new stamps from the Swiss Post Office were released a few weeks ago. It is so exciting to see what they have come up with. We love the new beer ones shown above. What fun it would be to use for a party invitation! It doesn't cost anything to order stamps via the website as you pay the face value and postage is free!
When ordering, make sure you choose the ones that say: non oblitéré. Otherwise, you will receive stamps that have the postmark on the day of issue. Some stamps are offered as "autocollant" for peel-off stickers; or "gommé" for the kind you need to moisten.
Would you like to learn more about the art of brewing beer? Then take part in the Post Office's competition to possibly win 2 tickets for a guided beer tour in Bern on 20 November 2019 or a sheet of “The art of brewing” stamps worth Fr. 8.-! Deadline is 31 October 2019 so hurry and click on this direct link to the entry page in English.
Here is another new set that is beautiful and could be used for a wedding invitation.
