IT’S only a slight exaggeration to say that art helped save the Swiss watch industry. Back in the early 1980s, some of the country’s biggest watch manufacturers were suffering badly at the hands of their Asian competitors who were churning out functional (read: ugly) digital timepieces for next-to-nothing and selling them for the price of a bag of sweeties. Fortunately digital cuckoo clocks didn’t take off, or the whole country could have gone bust.
In 1982, however, when two of the stricken giants of Swiss watchmaking, ASUAG and SSIH, came together to form the company we now know as Swatch, a corner was turned. The CEO of this new outfit, Nicholas Hayek, realised that style was the key to winn
ing back market share, and so began a long and fruitful tradition of commissioning high-profile artists and designers to create eye-catching fashion accessories that also happened to tell the time.
Over the years, Vivienne Westwood, Keith Haring, Kiki Picasso and others have “done the Swatch thing” and their designs will be on display from 25 July at The GRV in Edinburgh at an exhibition entitled The Art of Swatch. Oh, and thanks to an exclusive offer at the bottom of this page, Scotsman readers have a chance to win one of five brand spanking new Once Again, Again watches designed by Italian artist Norma Jeane. Don’t say we never give you anything.
Lionel Richie bankruptLAST August I spent a morning hanging out with Lionel Richie. Not the Lionel Richie, you understand, but a young comedian called Barry Ferns who had changed his name to Lionel Richie by deed poll in order to whip up some publicity for his Fringe show. Often such outlandish stunts are perpetrated by talentless no-hopers who can’t get people to buy tickets by any other means, but in the case of Ferns and his partners in sketch comedy, Chris Head and Simon Spencer-Hyde, the product they were selling actually matched the ingenious marketing campaign: in fact, their hour of silly skits made me laugh like a loon.
Sad to report, then, that Ferns/Richie was forced to declare himself bankrupt earlier this year because of debts from last summer (although he’s back again next month with a show called This Show Belongs To Lionel Richie). I’m sure he isn’t the first Fringe performer this has happened to – although the Fringe office don’t have any record of it happening before – but this should act as a cautionary tale for anyone bringing a show to Edinburgh this August: if Lionel Richie can bankrupt himself at the Fringe then so can you. For a guide to managing festival finances, performers should visit
www.edfringe.co.uk Ithaca via Mexico THE best thing about Edinburgh in August? The hidden gems. Ithaca is an exhibition featuring a group of young Mexican artists responding to the myth of Ulysses and his voyage home after the Trojan War. It isn’t in any of the official festival programmes, but look out for it at the Universal Arts Theatre (Venue 7) or see
www.dosequisseries.com• Tim Cornwell is away
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