Swatch sets up New York base

Swatch International is interviewing designers to work at its new design laboratory set to open in New York in April.

The manufacturer has appointed “a famous Italian designer” as creative director, according to a Swatch International spokesman in Bienne, Switzerland. The director’s identity will be revealed in the next two or three weeks.

The laboratory will comprise about 12 designers who will be assigned to specific projects.

The spokesman says: “These people will have different attitudes, procedures and artistic and cultural backgrounds to those in our Milan laboratory.”

The two laboratories will work on an equal level, says group product manager Holger Dahmen, with the US site offering “a more international influence”.

Milanese designers have created the first collection of metal Swatches, which are scheduled for launch in the UK between April and June. Packaging for the range was designed by Daniel Weil, partner at London design group Pentagram.

Swatch is the official time- keeper for next year’s Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, and both Italian and American designers will create additional collections to tie in with the event.