The story behind the Swiss brand Akris is not unlike a fairy tale. One hundred years ago in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Alice Kriemler-Soch began sewing aprons in her atelier. Through war, economic crisis, and the death of her husband, she persevered, “You must never say you can’t do something; just have a go, and then suddenly you will find that you can do it,” Alice wrote in an undated diary entry.
As her atelier grew, she expanded her team and bought an office building, which remains Akris’ home base to this day. After her husband passed, her son Max came on to help with sales, a job he planned on doing for one year; after five years, he became director. In 1960, the family fashion house officially became Akris, an acronym devised by Max when he was 19, composed of the letters in Alice’s name. Albert Kriemler, Max’s son, began working at Akris immediately following his high school graduation. Today, Albert is the creative director, and his brother, Peter, is CEO. Perhaps more than a fairytale, the story of Akris is the story of a family legacy.
In celebration of a century of Akris, Kriemler has curated an exhibition at Zurich’s Museum für Gestaltung (on view through September 24) and authored an accompanying book titled Selbstverständlich, a term he often uses to describe Akris. Its literal translation is “of course,” but colloquially can mean “effortless,” a word that instantly comes to mind when admiring the house’s feminine simplicity.
“When designing a garment, I always have the woman wearing it in mind: Can she travel in it, is the fabric light enough she will feel free and at ease? It needs to serve her first,” Kriemler tells me. “An exhibition has a totally different purpose. Yet, what I wanted this exhibition and my designs to have in common are moments of surprise. The atmosphere is one of surprise and discovery.”
Kriemler’s promise is not an empty one. Unlike most museum shows where touching is strictly prohibited, this…
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