Swiss Design Mexico

This year, the tenth edition of the FICA has taken place, counting with the presence of Switzerland, who has designed two different pavilions especially for this edition. The fair took place from the 14th to the 29th of April 2018, hosted in a variety of places in Mexico City’s historical center. The activities took place within the scope of Mexico City being designated World Design Capital CDMX 2018.

The Feria Internacional de las Culturas Amigas (International fair for peer cultures) or FICA is a cultural diplomacy project created by the government of Mexico City that, since 2009, has the objective of strengthening the bonding and cooperation in a international level, through multicultural encounter and exchange within the scope of a magnum celebration that allowes traditions of the world to be known, as well as the most representative artistic and cultural manifestations from all five continents. The assistance register of this year has overcome 4 million 150 thousand visitors. 

For this very special edition, the Swiss diplomatic representation has presented two different stands: the now traditional diversity stand, and for this edition specially the swiss design stand, given that Mexico has been named World Design Capital for this year.

The theme for the design pavilion has been “swiss design for the city”. A total of six design projects that serve to improve the city life were presented. What united a multilingual country like Switzerland is its graphic identity, and as an example, in the pavilion one could find swiss wayfinding panels that show that amongst the entire country there is a graphic unity. Just as well, there is another sustainable design example: the famous Freitag bags, a concept developed by two brothers who wished to create a waterproof bag. As a whole, three recicled materials are used in each product.

For the diversity pavilion, it has been decorated with five swiss design icons: the famous army knife, the Swiss railway clock, the “Loop” chair by Willy Guhl, the timeless pealer, and the famous Helvetica typeface. These Swiss icons were translated into graphic icons. Just as well, a sale of t-shirts with the same graphic icons took place. 

This edition has been a true success for the Swiss diplomatic representation.