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Zai Ski Factory Tour in the Swiss Alps
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Inhabitants of the small town of Disentis, in the Swiss canton of Grisons, still mainly communicate in the Romansh language—a Roman dialect that has survived here over centuries. This is mainly because this part of Switzerland had remained rather untouched, due to being a little cut off from the rest of the world (even for Swiss standards). In fact, the name Desentis derives from Desertinas (deserted), but yet it's the birth place of the most innovative skis that the world has seen for many decades: the ZAI skis.
They're the brain child of passionate skier and "son of the mountains" Simon Jacomet, whose main objective for designing these skis was to "create a tool which enables people to ski easier and have more fun—to forget about the skis and just be creative themselves in the snow." Educated in the local Disentis ministry by abbots, he developed this rather Zen design approach of "constructing a ski that is doing the skiing itself."Rather fitting to this approach, one of the ZAI ski models has a core made of stone, sourced from local mountains (Rofna-Porphyr gneiss, to be precise). Zai's research led to the development of carbon fibre stone (CFS)—created by wrapping stone in a special carbon fibre laminate, making it not only pressure-resistant but also flexible.
On a recent trip to Switzerland I had the great pleasure to meet Simon and gain some insight into the production of the ZAI skis. The outcome is this photo gallery. Enjoy.
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Brit Leissler
Brit Leissler lives and acts between London and Berlin. After receiving a Master degree in product design from the Royal College of Art in London she started her own Shoot the Stylist! design studio. She also works as a design educator for various institutions and founded Punch'n'Cuddle Ltd., producing and distributing her own products.
When taking a break from the design world she writes, sings and composes quirky electronic pop or travels the planet. Brit loves all forms of eccentricity, joins up the dots and aims to get into interesting conversations with all kinds of weird and wonderful people. As a hardcore digital camera gunslinger she shoots everything that moves and grooves. She doesn't eat animals, is hot for cheese, loves the Kensington Squirrels, robotic dance moves and life enhancing ideas.
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