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Without reins or saddle

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Photos Jacques Toffi

Free roaming horses that move as if they were led by invisible strings have become synonymous with the legendary equestrian performer, Jean Francois Pignon.

By Camilla Alfthan

“BASICALLY, I try to show people a part of nature – a stallion, mares and foals, and that is my goal with the shows where horses roam freely,” tells the softly spoken Frenchman over a glass of wine before going in the ring with his show, Horse Music.

The venue is a five star show jumping event with luxury brands strewn all over the place. As a contrast to the lavish surroundings the celebrated horseman is remarkably low key.

Unlike any other rider, Jean Francois Pignon does not work with reins, nor does he use a saddle.

“In my life I was always more or less guided without having to step back and think,” he tells. “It all began one autumn after school when I did’nt have too much time to look after my mares because the evening came fast. I wanted to play with them and didn’t have the time to brush them or put on a saddle. In fact, I learned to ride without a saddle because my father did not have the means to buy one.  And I think he thought it was a good way to learn to improve my balance. Afterwards, I found myself working with the horses in the same way.

So without reins, how do you communicate ? What are the brakes and the steering wheel?  In the beginning I fell in the trap using words that my father was using, certain words that indicated what the horses had to do. Then I began to observe them and I realized that they don’t communicate like that. Whenever you see a herd move it happens silently. How does the leader tell them, now we move? It’s much more subtle than using words or sounds. Humans are intelligent enough to say that if they go to England it helps to speak English, if they want to talk with me it’s better if they speak a minimum of French  and we haven’t thought about the horses in the same way.

With them we speak a human language. I wanted to do the contrary, I wanted to understand the subtleness of the horse.

At first I tried to use a few words that were strong and precise. But a little over a decade ago, I said to myself that I really want to communicate only through movements.

“Whenever you see a herd move it happens silently. How does the leader tell them, now we move? It’s much more subtle than using words or sounds.”

That destabilized me in the beginning because I got used to clicking my tongue like any rider usually does. The first time it didn’t go as well because the horses were used to a certain dialogue between us, to which they responded very well, and when I wanted to go deeper into this subtle langue I felt less sure about myself and the horses were a little bit confused. So we regressed a little.

But I had a new horse, who – unlike the others – did not know his name. All the others would respond to their names but he did not know his, and he was always observing my movements to know what to do and that reassured me. While the others were a little bit confused, he was observing  me all the time to read my movements. So I stayed on this track.

Now I have a special relationship with my new horses and I feel that we’ve come further than the others who were used to my voice. I even feel less uncomfortable.

“My dad taught me one thing which is very interesting and important – that the animal must respect you. I find that is the base.”

Is there a hierarchy where you work with the leader of the herd so that the rest will follow him when he follows you?  No, you really need to have a relation to each individual horse. Only when you have that you can put them in a group, because once you do so, they have a tendency to slide away because of their natural hierarchy.

So it is only by having a relation with those who are in the lower echelon of the hierarchy that you can make them come next to the dominant horse, that they feel, it is OK because they are protected by me.

So are you their leader ?  No, I’m a human being among the horses. But I believe strongly in God and think I was made to be dominant over the animals – especially the horses. So I won’t abuse of this power; I want to respect them and believe in this gift that I was born with.

It began years ago with your mare Gazelle from Camargue. Exactly, I became very interested in horses when I had her, contrary to football where everyone was measuring one another and I needed to prove myself to my friends on the field. With Gazelle I could be very tired and I wasn’t judged by her in any way, she made me feel really good.

Later, when I found faith in God it completely changed my life. He made me understand that loving horses is a good thing but you must not forget to love the humans, too.

So you’re very religious ?  No, not religious, certainly not. Because religions are the source of many wars and it’s not very playful. One of the most important phrases in the Bible is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. Religions make war and they often make mistakes. I believe too much in God to be religious.

I really want to love my neighbour, even if he doesn’t think like I do. If theres a lack of respect I will retreat, and the same goes for the horses.  The horses that don’t respect me don’t have the right to come next to me. I always put them a little bit behind the others. My goal is to be in harmony with horses and the people.

How long does it take to train the horses? Does it only work with some of them ?  It works with all horses which is extraordinary. To make a horse take interest and follow me usually takes one hour.

What do you think about the way the equestrian scene has developed in recent years?  The horse adapts very well to all changes. There are many methods and you need everything to make the world. The Bible has taught me about tolerance and love, and everyone has their own ways, if it is jumping bars or racing a horse. I like what others do, too, and  I don’t want them to do the same as I.

At l’Ecole Militaire in the heart of Paris, the horses were a relaxed backdrop to Stella McCartney’s latest collection.

How do you get new ideas to innovate your shows ? Well, it’s funny; my inspiration comes when I clean out boxes when we’re on the road. It’s a manual work that I dont have to think about and my ideas come at that moment and, of course, also when I pray. Whereever I go the language of the horse is universal. We entertain people and I’m also enjoying myself.

Do you ever use tack when at home ? No, the horses are nude. I’m dressed. I feel their warmth against me – we become one.” ©

The days that really stand out

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November 30th, 2018 was nothing short of spectacular for Mikaela Shiffrin: On Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies she wins her first Super G, joining an elite group to win all five major disciplines in alpine skiing.

As Mikaela Shiffrin’s records keep piling up, she prefers to ski for herself rather than the results, she tells.

By Camilla Alfthan

AS THE  YOUNGEST athlete ever to win Olympic gold in slalom, Mikaela Shiffrin has had some memorable moments in her stellar career.  One day that really stands out is the day she won her first Super G – the alpine speed event in the World Cup series that she was missing.

“When I was a little girl I was dreaming of being able to win in all of the skiing disciplines and I didn’t expect that it would happen so quickly. And then to do it again the next week in St. Moritz was even more incredible. It was really special to know that all the hard work is paying off,” tells the 23-year old during a training break with her boyfriend in the Norwegian fjälls.

On the world circuit Lake Louise is one of the most quiet races, surrounded by endless forests of pines and the majestic ridge lines of the Canadian Rockies. Most people have to fly here and the stadium only has room for a couple of hundred fans – a stark contrast to the previous weekend in Vermont where almost 40,000 people attended.  

“For me it’s really nice because you’re not focusing on all the distractions and who is around. You’re just doing your skiing. It’s almost like going back to when I was 12 or 13 and racing and the only people who were watching were the parents and the court workers,” tells Mikaela Shiffrin.

As the clouds were coming in when she was getting ready in the starting gate, her coaches feared that it was going to get dark and effect her run. 

“I was like, ‘I don’t care if it is cloudy or sunny. I know that the weather can change. It doesn’t matter, I’m still going to follow my plan and ski how I want to. To really go aggressive and attack the mountain.’ When I have that mind set it’s a cool feeling. There’s a little bit of luck in it, too, but if you stop worrying about whether you’re going to be lucky or unlucky then you kind of take luck into your own hands.” 

Just one week later, Shiffrin won her second Super G on the tough and tricky course of St. Moritz in Switzerland. She also won the parallel slalom – a new city event which means that skiers now compete for six disciplines instead of five which adds a lot to the schedule.

“The event itself is harder on our bodies than any other event. My back is still sore and it’s been five days now. I couldn’t ski for three days because I was totally done,” she tells with a shrug. 

Mikaela Shiffrin attacking the mountain in Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies.

For the American prodigy, skiing was always a way of life. She was only two and a half when her parents began to teach her at home in their drive way. Later, they took her to local championships with her older brother where she caught the skiing bug.

“My first memory is probably skiing in the Nastar ski racing programme, where there’s a lot of different mountains where anyone can go. You just start and they say who has the fastest time within your group. That’s a really fun thing to do. I was skiing with my brother and my parents. That was one of the first things that got me a passion for the sport. I always wanted to race and I always had that competitive spirit.”

Her boyfriend is the French giant slalom specialist, Mathieu Faivre that she has been dating since the summer of 2016.

“He really understands how it feels to be at the top level. There’s so much passion and we both want to win. If something goes wrong it’s so frustrating and heartbreaking. I think certain people would not understand; they’d think ‘whatever, who cares’ and he can help me in so many ways. One of the biggest things is being able to talk with him.”

Above all, Shiffrin skis because she loves the sport.

“Every event is different. It’s a like a puzzle and I love that part of it.”

“I love to go powder skiing and free skiing but right now my biggest passion is training and racing, and I love to feel the speed. Every event is different. When I’m working on my skis and my technique I feel how I’m improving and I see the results in the races. It’s a like a puzzle and I love that part of it – to piece the whole thing together.”

In 2018 she became the first skier ever to win 15 World Cup races within a year.

Her goal is not to win more world cups but to be one of the world’s best skiers of her time.

“If I think too much about my wins then I stop winning. I have a tough time thinking too much about the result and not about working and training to get better.

It’s about putting in the time and the hard work, but also doing it right so it works.  A lot of athletes could win many races, but maybe their ski equipment is not quite at the right level to give them the speed that they need. That’s one small detail that can make a really big difference.  It’s also managing you time to have the right amount confidence and right level of preparation so you have the right energy. I think we have good balance of that in my team. Right now it is working, but that is not always the case.”

Although the skier herself downplays her many feats, it hasn’t stopped the experts analyzing Shiffrin’s astonishing achievements. In 2018 she had a total of 51 World Cups as the youngest skier ever. If she continues like this she could beat Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 victories in just a few years. But that would not change anything, she reflects.

“Stenmark is one of the biggest legends in our sport and he’ll always be that.”

“Stenmark is one of the biggest legends in our sport and he’ll always be that. People who know nothing about skiing remember Stenmark. He made such a big impact and you can never take that away. You’re not able to compare, really. He was in a different sport. It has since evolved  – the skis are different and the technology; all these things are different. If you’re the greatest now, maybe you’d have to have 120 wins.”  

Her all time favourite is the American champion, Bode Miller for his style, which was sometimes very reckless and exiting, just like his personality. Now she’s the one who’s captivating huge audiences.

“It’s hard to believe because I’m inspired by others and I still feel like when I was 12 and watching Bode compete and hoping that maybe I could get his autograph on my helmet. For sure I’m at the level as one of the best skiers of the world. But it’s also very easy for me to remember those days, and feel that it is impossible for me to be in this position right now, because I still feel like that little girl.” ©

Skier Mikaela Shiffrin Presents New Longines Watch at Macy’s Herald Square in New York (PRNewsfoto/Longines)

Mikaela Shiffrin

Born 1995, Vail, Colorado, USA.    Family Jeff and Eileen Shiffrin, brother Taylor.   Profession Alpine skier.   Skiing background Her parents were competitive skiers who took her to local championships where she could race.    Current Leads the World Cup series.    Travels  With her team and some 70 pairs of ski.

Highlights

2013 Her first US slalom championship.    2014 First Olympic gold medal.    2017 First Overall world cup title.  2018 Olympic gold in giant slalom and silver in the alpine combined. First skier to win 15 World Cup races within a year. Most successful female Slalom skier of all-time (36 World Cup wins).  First skier to win all five major alpine skiing disciplines of the World Cup plus the new parallel discipline. A total of 51 World Cup victories, as the youngest skier ever.    2019 Won two gold medals at the World Ski Championships in Åre – a Super G, and a record fourth-straight slalom title. 2023 Eclipses Stenmark’s long standing record with a stunning 88 World Cup wins. 2025 Wins her 100th World Cup in Sestriere, Italy, and launches a new initiative, “MIK100: Reset the Sport,” in partnership with Share Winter Foundation, aiming to raise $100,000 to help youth learn to ski and snowboard.

Favourite skiing destinations

Åre, Sweden. “A really nice mountain to go skiing. When the lake is frozen, there’s lake races, ice fishing and hockey. The town is really cute and Christmassy.” aresweden.com.     Courchevel, France. “Very high end and expensive, with wonderful hotels, amazing food and a beautiful mountain with really nice powder skiing.” courchevel.com      St. Moritz, Switzerland. “The town is beautiful, and there’s lots of après ski. It would be so nice to have a couple of days off where my boyfriend and I could just free ski.” stmoritz.com.     Zermatt, Switzerland. “I’ve been there skiing with my parents. It’s a really cool and unique place with a glacier that you can ski on in the summer.” zermatt.ch.     La Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy and the Austrian side of the border. “It has perfect skiing and the topography is beautiful with the rock formations of the Dolomites. It’s a place we always love to go to.” dolomiti.org.     Lappland. “I’d like to go back when it is dark most of the day and feels like Christmas. It’s a really different and cool thing that I think a lot of people would enjoy experiencing. Last year in Levi I saw a small green shift in the sky and I’d like to go back outside the town to see all the different colours of the Northern lights.” levi.fi

The story was published in Scandinavian Traveler.

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Accumulative value

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Swiss with a swish

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Designer Alfredo Häberli has created a Swiss Gesamtkunstwerk with the best of the best from his own home country.

By Camilla Alfthan

THE SCENE of this contemporary space is situated in the outskirts of Copenhagen in the residence of the Swiss embassy – a 19th century house facing the sea which is inhabited by Benedikt Wechsler; an ambassador with a penchant for sports and modern design. Dressed in tailored suits and matching bowties he cycles to meetings on a renovated Swiss bicycle from the forties, complete with batteries. A breath of fresh air has also blown through the formerly conservative residence which has been turned into the coolest home on the block. The most iconic piece of furniture is perhaps Ubald Klug’s creme coloured Sofa Terrazza from 1972 which is juxtaposed with an asymmetric coffee table made of fake granite. Its’ hedonistic design of the seventies evokes images of the pop culture of the epoch.
“I received a call from Bern saying that the sofa is not embassy like. I had to reassure them that the ambassador does not smoke pot. If I did not have some humour I would not be doing this,” tells Alfredo Häberli with a laugh.

Ubald Klug’s not very embassy like Sofa Terrazza is in for a revival. In the adjoining room Frank O. Gehry’s cloud shaped lamp from Vitra hovers over the dining table.

As the curator of the project he imposed an important rule : All interiors had to be designed or produced in his native Switzerland and of the very best quality.

“I could not buy textiles just because they were inexpensive or choose a furniture cover because it was practical.  At first I put a lot of pressure on myself, thinking that the Swiss design had to stand up to the Danish masters such as Wegner and Jacobsen which seemed an impossible task. But then I looked at contemporary design and I realized that Switzerland is doing better than the Danes. Our design is stronger,” he says.

Traditionally, the Swiss style is rational and functional. Colours are muted and the furniture is made using as little material as possible which is often aluminium.    “It is a little cold and not very cosy if you don’t count the wooden chalets in the mountains. We don’t have the hygge of Denmark,” Häberli explains.

“At first I put a lot of pressure on myself, thinking that the Swiss design had to stand up to the Danish masters which seemed an impossible task. But then I looked at contemporary design and I realized that Switzerland is doing better than the Danes. Our design is stronger”

As a Swiss born in Argentina Alfredo Häberli prefers colors and warm material such as wood and velvet. Instead of the usual white walls, a Scandinavian classic, he painted each room in different pastel colours and picked design favourites from Swiss companies such as Vitra. He also selected things from his own studio including his iconic Moreso chairs and the humouristic Jill Tube which is made of aluminium tubes wrapped in knits.

Benedikt Wechsler in his Swiss surroundings which include Häberli’s elegant Moreso chairs and photographs from Fotostiftung Schweiz.  Ph. C.Alfthan

As a design project the embassy is a first of its kind.

“Design is a cultural statement. In Denmark and Finland it was always used to market the country but we’re still not quite there though we have good designers and very good architects,” says Häberli who also included the garden in his Gesamtkunstwerk, filling it with Swiss furniture from different epochs. On the terasse there’s Hans Coray’s Landi chair from 1939 with polka dotted holes and another sculptural chair is Loop of 1954. Together with the eternit furniture on the lawn which absorb the heat of the sun they are testaments to the longevity of Swiss ingenuity. ©

Humour, a dash of colour and shoes (for the Swiss brand, Bally) are a part of Alfredo Häberli’s signature designs.

 

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working from home

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During the Hong Kong riots designers Ed Ng and Terence Ngan were busy creating their new office in Japanese Karuizawa. “To see a mountain with trees and birds instead of tall buildings is the ultimate luxury,” they say.

By Camilla Alfthan, Antik & Auktion, fall 2020.

northern reflections

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In a turbulent world personal relations are more important than ever, says Denmark’s grand old man of foreign affairs, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen.

By Camilla Alfthan, Hufvudstadsbladet, May 2021

swiss with a swish

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“Design is a cultural statement. In Denmark and Finland it was always used to market the country but we’re still not quite there,” says Alfredo Häberli

Magazine Schweiz

inspired eclecticism

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As the daughter of two antique dealers, Laura Gonzalez has made herself a name in the world of interiors with a penchant for classics mixed with the unexpected.

By Camilla Alfthan, photos Francis Amiand 

treasure island

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In the southern archipelago of Greenland, a Danish archeologist discovered the worlds oldest rubies.

By Camilla Alfthan, HBL, photos van Steinwijk,HBL, December 2019

parisian variations

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An expat in Paris enters a world of history and heritage.

By Camilla Alfthan, Antik &Auktion, 2020