" .... says Erwin Perzy III. He is the third generation of family snow globe makers. His grandfather invented the snow globe"
The grandson of the man who invented the snow globe!
As we read the Vienna Design Week programme introduction to "Wunderliche Kugelkammer" by Julia Landsiedl @ Erwin Perzys Original Wiener Schneekugeln we knew that there was no way we could miss it.
The grandson of the man who invented the snow globe!!
Somewhat amusingly we did then very nearly forget to go, thanks to Herr Gruber - but more on Herr Gruber later.
Fortunately at the very last minute we did remember.
In 1900 Erwin Perzy III's grandfather Erwin Perzy I built his, and indeed the world's first snow globe. The Mariazell Basilica, the Virgin Mary's birth place, providing the first motive.
The first "snow" was made from milled rice. These days the "snow" is a synthetic material made from a secret recipe, but that is one of the very few things that has changed in the past 110 years.
The scenes, the figures, the messages have remained largely unchanged.
And it was this tradition, these silently accepted conventions that surround the snow globe that attracted the attention of Vienna based designer Julia Landsiedl.
For "Wunderliche Kugelkammer" Julia Landsiedl not only created her own snow globes which challenge our perceptions on the world that exist with snow globes, she also asks 13 unanswered questions, questions which have their basis in the unspoken tradition of and our relationship to snow globes. For example;
Does snow have a recommended retail price?
Can iPhones become fossilised?
Can memories dry up?
In addition Julia plays with our perceptions of the snow globe and for all their peaceful nature.
Which all sounds a bit "and ?" until you start thinking about what snow globes are meant to reflect and what purpose they serve.
Then it gets very interesting.
"Wunderliche Kugelkammer" is a project very much in the spirit of the Vienna Design Week Passionswege - it doesn't set out to create anything commercial, rather allows a designer the chance to present their take on an established Viennese company and so potentially inspire them to try something new.
And gives visitors the chance to experience something that we would probably normally not have seen.
Such as the workshop of the grandson of the man who invented the snow globe.
And we apologise for the quality of the photos - as we say, we almost forgot and so we were working at the harder end of pioneer blogging...
