Sensing Switzerland: Basel, boats, and a whirlwind of design discoveries

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All photographs and words here are my own, unless otherwise stated. More from me + Absolument can be found in these places: Website | Instagram | Book Recs. Merci, thank you for reading!

In mid-April of this year, I spent by 34th birthday on a work trip that I can easily recount as being full of Swiss charm, potato, and visual fireworks. The goal was to finally see the ins and outs of Vitra’s campus. It also marked my first time in my neighboring countries of Germany and Switzerland! I had no idea what to expect, but these quickly-passing days still pop into the front of my thoughts.

I stayed at the wondrous Hotel Krafft Basel in a charming room right on the Rhine. As soon as I arrived, my Basel-based colleague walked over to the hotel and we began our walking tour of Old Basel. He enthusiastically brought me through the older parts of the city so we could admire historic buildings, introduced me to the rösti dish which is now on my long list of favorite foods, and brought me back to the other side of the river via boat. How thrilling! My other coworkers joined us and we did the tour all over again. I was surely glad to be getting on the water-and-rope-powered boat again.

I was immediately taken by Switzerland. The people were overwhelmingly warm and friendly (and most spoke English fluently, which is still impressively nuts to me). The food everywhere was DELICIOUS. The boats, the quaint buildings, the bicycling, the swans in the river, the history—AH! I joked the entire trip that I’d have to move to the France/Switzerland/Germany border so that I could, as a daily practice, enjoy the three countries all at once, constantly.

THE rösti!

A fraction of the architectural details that I saw that day.

The architectural favorite of mine was the Basel town hall, Rathaus, which is absolutely/psychotically the perfect mix of Neo-Gothic darkness and wonder:

One thousand regrets for not going inside this shop. I didn’t want to hold up the group and now I’ll be permanently wondering what treasures it holds! More on it below in the notes.

The boat runs back and forth across the Rhine. It’s attached to a cable system and angled so that the current of the river pushes it along. No gas, no electricity—just a party decoration-esque cord!

That night, we ate a tarte tatin at the hotel’s restaurant. I dreamt of it later, I swear.

Another night, we ate at Restaurant Hasenburg. MORE RÖSTI.

Two magical days at Vitra

Now for the icing on the cake: Vitra! Actually, Vitra is the WHOLE cake of this trip, including the icing. And that says a lot, after showing you that gorgeous tarte tatin.

I’m going to be more brief than I would like here, because my job’s confidentiality are very, very important to me. But please know that I was in design MECCA and felt/still feel so thankful that the Eames family shared this experience with me.