East Eats West

Young Swiss book-binder

 Picture: Handmade with passion and care in Zurich.

In the age of financial crisis traditional handicrafts are in high demand again. Luxury labels were able to stick an eye-watering price-tag on any mass-produced good. Those days are not gone but these days they are far and few between. Consumers are more discerning nowadays. They spend more time comparing and assessing the quality. And locally made products are back in favor again. One of my favorite shops in Zurich that sells well-crafted colorful jewelry boxes and hand-made book covers is run by Beatrice Wetli. She recently took over a book-binder shop in the old-town of Zurich. She is still very young and beams with creativity and enthusiasm. My personal favorites are her colorful jewelry boxes and hand-made notebooks with personal imprints. You find her shop at Froschaugasse 20 in Zürich.

Here is her website: http://www.beawet.li/

 

Swiss quality watch winder

Picture: It is simple, reliable and good looking, the Swiss watch winder Swiss Kubik.

Every owner of an automatic watch knows how tedious it can be to set the time and date after not having worn a mechanical watch for a while. Electronic watch winders are therefore a useful and clever way to store, display and wind a watch. The only problem is that most watch winders I came across cost an arm and a leg. Or they were cheap and fell apart in no time (believe me, I tried a cheap one on Ebay for a while). The Swiss company Swiss Kubik now offers a sleek, high-quality and decently priced alternative. The winder is actually a cube measuring 10cm on each side. It is propelled by standard batteries and the finishing is excellent. The cheapest model costs 650 Swiss Francs and can be had in different subtle or bright aluminum or wooeden finishes. It even comes with a three year warranty. A perfect gift for any wearer of automatic watches.

www.swisskubik.com

 

Sadly, no bespoke shoes for me

Do you remember that I had my feet measured by a bespoke shoe-maker in Zurich? Yep, that was in January. And finally, after waiting nine months, I got to try them. Unfortunately three hours of detailed measuring did not help and the shoes were too small. I had to wait another two weeks while the shoe-maker tried to make them wider. To no avail. By now it was middle of November and I was seriously annoyed. I felt like I wasted too much time so I called it quits. The shoemaker returned my money without problems and kept the shoes. A friend of mine and blog-reader got his semi-bespoke shoes made by the same shoemaker and everything went fine. Up to now I do not know why the shoes ended up being too small. He never explained to me and I never asked. One thing is certain though: keeping customers waiting for eleven months and not communicating precisely will not generate any new business. And he needs returning customers as, according to him, only after the third shoe he covers his costs.

For more articles about the Bàlint shoemaker read my previous blog-articles: http://easteatswest.typepad.com/east_eats_west/2009/01/meeting-with-my-feet.html