Mr Brändle, what do you think is the most important task of a design museum today?

Christian Brändle: Everything is design. Consider how prevalent design is in our everyday lives: the clothes we wear, the tram we board, the book we read – everything has been designed. Design is the DNA of our society. Our role as a museum is to demonstrate the relevance and quality of design, so that people can make informed decisions. I don’t mean that it always has to be top-tier design, though. It can be quite the opposite, but the key is making a conscious choice. Our educational mission should also be engaging and enjoyable. Today, people want to experience something in a museum and take something away with them.

Isn’t a museum more a place of remembrance, rather than a place for thinking about the future?

We serve as a bridge between the past and the future, and between experts and lay audiences. Our role is to be active at the margins. Students and professionals will come anyway. Of course, we don’t only look back; we look ahead as well. One of our anniversary events this autumn is the opening of the ‘Museum of the Future’ exhibition, which explores how historical material can be brought to life. Balancing preservation and communication is always a key consideration when exhibiting objects. Consequently, exhibits are often only partially accessible to visitors. This exhibition explores the potential of digitalisation and AI for the museum of the future.

The concept seems to be working – your museum has recorded its highest visitor numbers in recent years.

In 2019, we had more visitors than ever before at the Museum für Gestaltung and our exhibitions in 2024 also attracted large crowds. In general, museums have experienced a strong resurgence. They have managed to shift from monologue to dialogue. The dusty, one-directional model where a curator stands on a pedestal explaining the world to visitors is a thing of the past. We’re now part of the edutainment sector, aiming to combine education with entertainment. Like most museums today, we focus on engaging with the public.

That’s a huge task for the curators.

Yes, our four curators compiled the selection with a blend of expertise and personal judgement. We also aimed to allow for mini-exhibitions within the larger show. In our drawer-style vitrines, for instance, visitors can open a small Adrian Frutiger showcase and compare it with that of his typographic counterpart Wolfgang Weingart in the next drawer. It’s a simple but effective way of telling stories. It’s also a conservation strategy – these light-sensitive objects are better protected this way.

What makes this curated selection so unique?

We don’t just collect the highlights; we also document the processes behind them. Take Josef Müller-Brockmann, for example, who was a leading figure in Swiss graphic design during the 1950s and ’60s. Visitors can follow his creative process as he approaches a design solution for the Dutch department store De Bijenkorf, developing a visual concept into a logo. This process-oriented approach is what sets us apart from other design museums. It reflects the nature of our collection as part of Zurich University of the Arts, with which we share the same campus. Moreover, it is much more engaging for visitors to study half-finished designs, particularly in the digital age.

From typography and logo design to typeface and corporate design, the graphics sector is very important in Switzerland. How do you keep up to date with the latest developments?

We consider typography and typeface design from Switzerland to be our most important export, so it’s a huge deal for us. Our graphics and poster collections contain countless examples of typeface applications, and our graphics collection features typeface samples and designs by renowned designers such as Adrian Frutiger, Walter Käch and Walter F. Hettenschweiler. Looking to the future, we have launched the eFont.ch platform, which aims to visualise digital typefaces developed based on analogue typeface samples from our collections. These digital fonts are either faithful reconstructions or extensions of the original designs or new creations inspired by them. Currently, 15 fonts are accessible, but more will be added gradually.

Would ‘good design’ pieces be considered part of the industrial design family?

Yes, we have some treasures in there. The ‘Gute Form’ movement aimed to promote industrial culture in Switzerland. Max Bill was a key figure in this movement, having organised the international touring exhibition ‘Die gute Form‘ in 1949 on behalf of the Swiss Werkbund (SWB). We are fortunate to be receiving the entire Max Bill archive soon.

What other gems do you hold?

We often have the last surviving copy of an object. For instance, we have the very first Toblerone packaging from the 1920s – safely kept in our vault.

In the new permanent exhibition, visitors encounter some surprising juxtapositions.

Exactly! Unlike an art museum, where a Mark Rothko painting would invariably be displayed alongside other American abstract expressionists, we have much more freedom. In our industrial design exhibition, you might find a ski boot next to an espresso machine, for example. These create exciting cross-references: both have glossy surfaces, a similar scale and functional mechanics – a clasp there closes a boot and a lever here locks a capsule. Such parallels exist everywhere, and it is this that makes our collection so rich: it is diverse and can be combined in so many different ways. Ours is a field of storytelling.

Storytelling also takes place in some of the permanent exhibition areas, which are curated by external creatives.

These temporary installations are intended to offer a fresh perspective on the collection. By inviting people from outside the museum to contribute, we hope to broaden the scope of the collection. For instance, we invited the renowned Zurich restaurateur Zizi Hattab to select objects from the collection based on her own preferences. We deliberately want to take a risk and open up the museum. Young people also offer a fresh perspective. For some years now, we have been running a project with a Zurich school, in which eight- to fourteen-year-old design scouts suggest objects they think are worth collecting.

Such as?

Green Lime scooters, FC Zurich fan scarves, or cult iced tea packaging. Some suggestions make our hair stand on end – but this friction is essential. It keeps us from becoming an echo chamber.

Participation plays a key role in your exhibition concept.

Yes, the permanent exhibition includes a Studio space. Here, visitors can try their hand at design, experiment, deepen their knowledge, share ideas – or simply relax. For the anniversary, we’re starting with paper. Visitors can fold chairs, and paper fashion is a big theme. I love how every day new pieces are created here with great focus and joy – and we even exhibit them. It’s a true enrichment!

What else is changing the role of museums today?

Digitalisation, no question. We’re always exploring new paths. The exhibition includes an interactive installation in which AI generates visual combinations from our archive. You can select a poster and the AI will search for pieces with similar colour distribution, black-and-white dynamics or contrast, creating a mini-exhibition that is completely different to one curated by a human.

Just a gimmick?

For now, yes – but our long-term goal is to use AI to support inventory work. It’s a massive task – we catalogue around 5,000 objects per year.

Does your E-Museum have any surprises up its sleeve?

We started developing our E-Museum in 2002. From the outset, our goal was not just to create a search engine, but a discovery engine. That’s why it includes a ‘Browse’ function, which provides users with a digital representation of our collection and allows them to explore over 126,000 objects. This is an alternative to searching; it’s more like strolling through a flea market. You never know what you might find.

There’s also a surprise for visitors down in the basement of the museum that’s totally not digital. Now, the display depot is open to visitors, unlike in the past when it was only accessible by request.

Walking through the archive is like walking through design history. A skywalk — a transparent bridge — guides you through the showroom, where spotlights stage the objects depending on where you are standing. I felt completely free here. Here, you can find Max Bill’s original stool bearing the scratch marks of his cat. You can marvel at iconic seating designs. The ‘Grand Confort’ armchair by Charlotte Perriand and Le Corbusier is displayed alongside the ‘Sans Confort’ by Stefan Zwicky — a brutalist parody of the legendary model, made of concrete. The organic forms of Verner Panton’s cantilever chairs and Willy Guhl’s beach chair are also on display. Other treasures include haute couture dresses by the world-famous fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga and enchanting marionettes by Sophie Taeuber-Arp.

The illuminated skywalk is also a real eye-catcher.

Yes, it’s a very popular place for taking photos. These days, a museum has to be Instagrammable – there’s no way around it.