East Eats West

Envoyage, exquisite Swiss designed leather bags

 

By now you probably know that you will never read about Gucci or Louis Vuitton handbags on my blog (okay, an exception was the recent Hermès article). This blog is about new products from creative designers, made with love and care. I recently came across a very young and charming designer by the name of Claudia Eicke of Envoyage. She was born in 1983, worked for Bally, Freitag bags and Stefi Thalmann before setting up her own shop in summer 2010. She has a little shop cum office in Zurich that sells some selected leather goods. When I asked her how she got started she said that she invested all her modest saving in pursuing her own vision of leather bags. Freedom was what she was looking for and the most she could lose was money. Anyhow, she gained the freedom she was aspiring for and so far her business is going strong. I particularly like her handbag with a Champagne bottle compartment. Very chic!

http://www.envoyage.ch/

Can I ride your (Schindelhauer) bicycle?

 

Recently I took my Schindehlhauer bicycle for a spin and went for a coffee at the local coffee shop. I parked my bicycle outside the coffee shop against a tree. A young, tall and blonde German girl stopped in front of my bicycle. She ogled at it with big eyes and scanned the surroundings for the bicycle’s owner.  As my bicycle helmet was a giveaway, she quickly spotted me as the owner and came towards me with a big sports bag full of tennis rackets on her back. She looked at me, said hello and immediately asked if she can take my Schindelhauer bike for a spin. All of a sudden, all eyes in the coffee shop were on me. Clearly everyone was intrigued if I would agree or not. I gave the matter a quick thought and said yes. Truly happy, the young German girl mounted my bike and went for a quick spin. She came back beaming and asked me, what make is was. I told her that it is a German made Schindelhaur. She sadly glanced back at her standard mountain bike and told me, she couldn’t afford such a nice bike like mine. As quickly as she appeared she vanished on her sad looking mountain bike, leaving me with a big smile and admiring glances by the coffee shop customers.

http://easteatswest.typepad.com/east_eats_west/2012/03/schindelhauer-german-built-bikes.html

Magical Atelier Haller

This used to be the workshop of the Swiss artist Herman Haller in Zurich. Can’t beat it for location (right on the lakeside) and atmosphere. It is open for public viewing in summers.

http://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/kultur/de/index/foerderung/bildende_kunst/atelier_hermann_haller.html