Swiss International Air Lines has made this announcement:
Swiss is further underscoring its strong commitment to Western Switzerland โ the French-speaking โRomandieโ โ by serving as principal partner to this yearโs Fรชte des Vignerons in the region. As part of this collaboration, The Airline of Switzerland has also given one of its Geneva-based A220-300 (CS300) aircraft (HB-JCA) (below) a special โFรชte des Vigneronsโ livery.
Swiss International Air Lines unveiled one of its advanced A220-300 aircraft at Geneva Airport tthat has been given a special livery to honor and highlight this summerโs Fรชte des Vignerons festival in Vevey in Western Switzerland, for which it is principal partner. The livery has been designed by Western Swiss artist Mathias Forbach (alias Fichtre) (below) to mark this long living tradition. Festival director Daniele Finzi Pasca paid tribute to Fichtreโs artistic creation by serving as the โgodparentโ to the newly-reliveried aircraft. The unveiling was also attended by Vaud State Councillor Philippe Leuba and Geneva State Councillor Serge Dal Busco.
Swiss, a proud partner of Fรชte des Vignerons 2019
As The Airline of Switzerland, Swiss is proud to support this exceptional festival event and to put the colors and images of the Fรชte and its region onto one of its aircraft, which will carry them all over Europe. โItโs very important to us to show our guests the character of our home country: its culture and its traditions, from which we draw our inspirations every day,โ says Lorenzo Stoll, Swissโ Head of Western Switzerland. โThe natural riches and the savoir-faire of our regions are very much part of that. And this is why we have chosen to pay our own tribute to the Fรชte des Vignerons, which is such an embodiment of the Romandie.โ
A once-in-a-generation experience, the Fรชte des Vignerons is a celebration of the winegrowing tradition of Western Switzerland. The globally unique event, which is organized by the Confrรฉrie des Vignerons, has been on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2016. Almost a million visitors from Switzerland and beyond are expected to attend this summerโs month-long Fรชte, which will be held in the town of Vevey.
โThis winged messenger of the Fรชte des Vignerons 2019, decked in the colors concocted by Vevey artist Fichtre, is about to undergo its baptism aloft,โ enthuses Franรงois Margot, Abbรฉ-Prรฉsident of the Confrรฉrie des Vignerons. โTradition, innovation, hospitality and an openness to the world: these shared values of our airline and our UNESCO-recognized festival will now shine out far and wide. And we could not wish for a fresher, more original ambassador of the air!โ
A flying tribute created by a Romand artist
Swiss already dedicated its first A220-300 aircraft โ โLโAvion des Suisses Romandsโ โ to Western Switzerland and its inhabitants back in 2017 (above). The company is now underlining that commitment to the Romandie by commissioning another special livery to mark the Fรชte des Vignerons, a celebration that will move and delight the people of Western Switzerland and beyond later this year.
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To ensure a certain consistency between โLโAvion des Suisses Romandsโ and the newly-decorated aircraft, Swiss has again turned to Western Swiss artist Mathias Forbach, alias Fichtre, to design the new livery. The choice is even more appropriate in that the artist is from Vevey, where the Fรชte will be held.
Fichtreโs guiding goal for his new livery creation was to awaken the memories of the last generation which experienced the Fรชte des Vignerons and to arouse the interest of a new generation with a modern and contemporary design. With its spontaneous, colourful and festive style, the new livery captures the spirit of the Fรชte and draws its inspiration from many of the features that make it so unique.
The colors and images used reflect the cycle of the seasons that give their natural rhythm to the winegrowing world. Nature features strongly in Fichtreโs livery composition, which has incorporated elements of the local Vevey landscape such as Lake Geneva, the vines, the autumn leaves and (of course) the grapes.
The start of a European journey
The specially-liveried Swiss A220-300 will be deployed throughout Europe over the next nine months. The aircraft will serve 42 destinations from Geneva including Palma de Mallorca (in summer), St. Petersburg (in winter) and Dublin (all year round). And it will carry over 150,000 passengers in its festive colors.
Mathias Forbach
Mathias Forbach (Fichtre) was born in Vevey in 1983. He attended the Lausanne University of Art and Design (ECAL), graduating in 2005 with a Bachelorโs Degree in Media & Interaction Design. Since 2009 he has been teaching at the School of Design and University of the Arts in Sierre in Canton Valais. And in 2012 he decided to continue his own artistic education by following the Work.Master program at the Haute รcole dโArt et de Design (HEAD) in Geneva.
In 2014 he co-founded the STADIO art space in Vevey together with Joรซlle Nicolas, Guillaume Ehinger and Jacques Duboux. He was awarded a Master of Visual Arts degree in 2015.
An independent spirit among graphic artists, Fichtre uses drawing and illustration as a means of experimentation and research. The surface is central to his approach โ a creative baseline that is constantly being challenged and renewed. The surface, to Fichtre, is a polymorphous vehicle, a venture of infinite potential, a renewal of every graphic language. As such, it becomes a โhypersurfaceโ: a continent of indistinct borders, and a reminder that visual art, too, has no limits or constraints.
In other news, Swissย welcomed its 28th A220 to its fleet: A220-300 HB-JCT (above) arrived in snowy Zurich. With this arrival, there are only two more A220s to be phased-in in the course of 2019.
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