Martin Frei co-founder and chief designer of Urwerk. URWERK was founded in 1997 and they presented their first timepiece with the AHCI at Baselworld that same year.
1. What did your father do? What did your mother do? Describe briefly your childhood.
My father is an Engineer, he was working in basic research speeding up protons.
My mother took care of us, my younger sister and I. She is a very good and kind teacher. I was born in Winterthur a city famos for its Artmuseums and collections. 3 years later we moved to a beautiful little village at a lake called Greifensee. My father drove to the institute every day in nearby Zürich. As kids we spent a lot of time outside at the lake. There is a Castel in the old medieval center, right next to the small port where we had our sailboat. It was a very adventurous place and I enjoyed a great childhood.
2. As a child did you have any driving ambition? What did you want to be?
I wanted to become an Archeologist. I thought it must be a very adventurous thing to travel the world and to find a hidden treasure... I am still a big history buff.
3. What is your first significant memory as a child?
When we where little kids my grandfather used to show us objects on the night sky looking trough his telescope. He had it set up in his garden on a little hill. We discovered such marvelous things as the moon with his craters, Cassiopeia or the rings of Saturn...
4. Have you ever had another profession? What did you do?
I studied Art and did many jobs next to my artwork, simply to earn money as a student. I painted murals for a Dinosaur-museum depicting the impact of a giant Meteorite on earth, did videos for a history museum or drew Storyboards for fiction film. I did many jobs in the film world, from set-design to directors assistant, editor, cameraman and I directed one or two films myself. I worked as an illustrator for magazines, as a photographer, graphic designer and Interior Architect.
5. What made you choose to become a Designer? Who have you worked for in the past? What made you decide to go in the direction you have chosen.
With URWERK we started our own company in 1997 because we, Felix Baumgartner and I enjoyed to talk and think about time, time measuring and creating a contemporary watchmaking.
7. What’s been the hardest moment in your life so far, and how did you over-come it?
Twice in the history of our company we where close an end, every time we managed to overcome the obstacles and transform the difficulties into a chance. It is usually only a question of how one looks at it...:)
8. Who has had the strongest influence on you? What are your greatest inspirations?
The strongest influence certainly came from my parents. My father is a person who can explain very abstract concepts in a simple and understandable way, we had and still have very interesting, discussions.
At art school I had an extraordinarily inspirational Professor called Roman Signer, he impressed me a great deal. His concept of contemporary sculpture, where time is of essential importance had a big influence on the way I understand the process of creating. It is difficult to only name a few because the whole world is packed with inspiration.
9. What are you most proud of?
I am very proud of my son:-)
10. What advice would you give to a 20 something someone thinking of taking a similar path as you?
Just go for it, let your curiosity guide you to discover the world.
11. Name three things on your bucket list.
Creating a time sculpture on a public square
Traveling the silk road
Finding that treasure chest:-)
12. Where do you think the industry is going to be in 10 years’ time.
There are no shortcuts, we have to do our share in order to see the outcome.
You can learn more about Urwerk at www.urwerk.com