SIGMASIX is an experimental studio based in Geneva, combining a wide range of practices to create interactive installations for commercial clients and artistic projects. Founded in 2004 by Swiss artists Eric Morzier and Florian Pittet, both graduates of the Lausanne Cantonal Art School (ECAL), the studio prides itself on creating works imbued with a touch of magic and poetry, achieved by allowing disparate technologies to coexist. The ambition is to integrate technology to the point of making it disappear, leaving room for wonder and profound emotion. Each project is a reinterpretation of various technologies associated with spatial or object design to develop unique experiences. Today, the studio consists of a team of four designers surrounded by a pool of freelancers, allowing large projects and complex ideas to be conceptualised and realised. Art Vista’s Kristen Knupp interviewed SIGMASIX co-founder Florian Pittet at the company’s design studio in Versoix. 

Kristen Knupp: After having seen your design studio including the digital cutting machine, 3D printer, manual saws, and row-upon-row of tools, I realise that what SIGMASIX does is above and beyond the average art studio. How did the company start and what does it do? 

Florian Pittet: SIGMASIX started in 2004 when we were doing vjaying, meaning visual jockeying, which includes creating, installing and running all the video animation inside nightclubs. This was the birth of the company, and it occurred during our studies at ECAL. We were in the new media section of the school, so we had access to many different technologies. In addition, we learned a lot from vjaying because we could be very experimental and try different video effects without much pressure from the clients. We made a little bit of money and had the freedom to be very creative.  

We were also involved early on in 3D mapping, using multiple video sources to give life to an object. We were involved in the Geneva Mapping Festival which was a starting point for us. A catalytic moment for us was the final project at ECAL in 2008, when I made Light My Fire. We consider this project to be the starting point or guideline for our company. In this project, we liked combining an analog element with a digital result. With this, the visitor strikes an actual match on a strike line on the wall, and depending where they strike it, different digital videos play on the wall above the strike line. We liked that the technical aspects were completely hidden and therefore there was a magical element to the project. It was simple and had a sense of wonder to it. We went on to show this project at the Art and Science Exhibition in the National Museum of Beijing and we won a prize for it. It was a really good experience. 

KK: You have worked for Baume & Mercier, Hermès and other large luxury companies. How did you go from your student project to working for luxury brands?

FP: Actually, it went very fast. The diploma project was shown at the Milano Design Fair in 2009, and I met a lot of people there including Hermès. At the same time, we also had a contact from Leo Burnett, the advertising agency, who wanted us to create something based on Light My Fire for a client. We went into this 100% and we really had to step up our game and quickly prepare for client-facing work. 

KK: You also do more “artistic” projects. How would you describe what these projects consist of?

FP: We try to do an artistic project which for us means that there is no brief or client. We would like to do at least one of this type of project per year. One of our projects, Vertical Sound, was presented at La Batie-Festival de Genève and we worked with an audio artist called Mimetic who is the co-founder and artistic director of the Electron Festival in Geneva. He is very respected in his field. We created a light installation which was connected to a 3D surround-sound system which moves around you in coordination with the lights. People could walk inside and around it and the sound and light sculptures followed them. 

We also showed this at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts who contacted us after seeing us listed as artists at the festival. For this installation, we had a white box where we could specify the parameters we needed. We also had an entrance with the show times so people could experience it from beginning to end. 

KK: You have done a lot of work with luxury brands like Piaget and Hermès, could you describe some of the projects?

FP: We have done work for companies at Watches and Wonders (formerly SIHH) in Geneva. We did an installation for Piaget in 2018, and the idea was to create an environment where the public felt like they were inside of a pool, standing on the bottom and looking up at the surface. This was a great opportunity where we took all our knowledge of video projection and used it in a different environment. 

We did an interesting project for Hermès in Geneva. We have worked with them for a long time, so they know how we work. They had an event to showcase the men’s collection in the Geneva store. The space was, of course, not built for an exhibition so we had to design an object that was aesthetic but in which we could hide the technology for the project. We designed large three-legged lamps in which we hid video projectors and showed videos on the walls and ceilings within the store. Another element for Hermès was to showcase the tie which is obviously an important symbol for them. We created spool-like supports which twisted in semi-random patterns, rolling and unrolling the ties. It was simple yet effective and entertaining for their customers.  

KK: How long does it take from conceptualisation to completing a project, on average?

FP: Actually, it depends on the size of the project. It is sometimes a couple of weeks, and sometimes a couple of months. For example, the project Station Lights in Châble train station was a light installation and not in the world of events. It was more architectural, and for this type of project the timeframes are longer. This was very new for us, and it is nice because you can plan a bit more about how you will approach the project. With an event, it has to be ready on a certain day, and if it is not, everything you have done is useless. It is stressful, but the most stress is to be able to have enough work for the company to keep on moving, and that was the case for the first few years. Now we have been doing this for so long, and work keeps on coming. We have some very good clients who keep coming back. 

KK: Do you come up with several concepts for each job?

FP: It depends. Sometimes the clients are very open; they have an idea or an object they want to highlight. Then it is very free for us to invent something, and we have carte blanche. One thing that is changing with big companies is that many of them now have in-house art directors. They come up with ideas and propose it to us. This is also nice because we don’t mind working on someone else’s project. At the end we want it to be beautiful and work perfectly. A good idea is a good idea, and it does not matter who came up with it. Sometimes the art directors have a bit more time to think about the parameters, and have knowledge about in-house requirements, and they also have really good ideas. Other than that, at times a project falls somewhere in between where we give an idea a twist or rethink it. 

KK: What were your favourite projects?

FP: At least one of my favourites was an exhibition we did for Hermès called Leather Forever. It was a very big exhibition of around 2,000 square meters and it was installed in around ten different countries, in Asia, and many different places. We had some projects inside this exhibition, and the most we had was seven projects. We went to the different countries and set it up and after six weeks we went back to dismantle it. We learned a lot and we met incredible people at Hermès as well as freelancers. In addition, in every country there were local technicians who helped set up the project and we learned different techniques from them. 

KK: I was wondering if there are any artists who inspire you and your work?

FP: Well for one of the Hermès projects we designed a system with pulleys to display the tableware collection. We were inspired by Jean Tinguely for this project. Personally, I like Richard Serra’s sculptures, and they are an inspiration for one of our current projects. 

KK: What projects are coming up for you?

FP: Oh, we are working on a lot of different projects. We are working on an entrance to an exhibition from Hermès. It is going to be inside of shops so it will be seen a lot and will travel. It has to be “plug-and-play” so it must work without us being on-site to install it. The technicians on-site will have to do it, and we must be 100% confident that it will work. It will be installed in March in Tokyo. Then there is another project for Hermès in April in Hong Kong. There are many mechanical effects that we are creating. In addition, we are working on a project for RTS that is an interactive system of honeycombs for children where they can listen to podcasts. It is nice to work for a Swiss institution like RTS. We have a lot going on at the moment.

Cover portrait image credit:  Federal, Xavier Ripollès