Reis­sue of furniture by Jean Tschumi by BIG‑GAME and Girs­ber­ger

Armchairs and a round table in dark green‑black marble, designed by Jean Tschumi, in the lobby

© unknown, 1956

Since the construction of its headquarters by modernist architect Jean Tschumi in 1956, Vaudoise Assurances has cultivated a close relationship between architecture, art, and institutional identity.

This vision, still very much alive today, has shaped a living herit­age that accom­pan­ies the company’s evol­u­tion. Designed by Jean Tschumi, the Vaudoise headquar­ters exem­pli­fies a holistic approach in which the build­ing, furniture, colours, and artworks form a harmon­ised whole – a true expres­sion of corpor­ate archi­tec­ture. This philo­sophy has been sustained through the Artistic Commis­sion, active since 1955, which contin­ues to enrich the collec­tion by support­ing contem­por­ary creation while enhan­cing the company’s archi­tec­tural and artistic herit­age.

North‑east façade with main entrance

© Agence de Jongh, 1956

Renov­a­tion of Le Cèdre and collab­or­a­tion with BIG‑GAME and Girs­ber­ger

Follow­ing the recent renov­a­tion of Le Cèdre, Vaudoise commis­sioned the Lausanne-based design studio BIG-GAME – foun­ded in 2004 by Augustin Scott de Martin­ville, Elric Petit and Grégoire Jean­monod to adapt several pieces of furniture designed by Jean Tschumi for the build­ing, updat­ing them to contem­por­ary mater­i­als and manu­fac­tur­ing tech­niques while rely­ing on the original plans still avail­able. The re-editions were produced by the Swiss manu­fac­turer Girs­ber­ger (foun­ded in 1889), whose expert­ise in high-end furniture and strong design sens­ib­il­ity made it a natural part­ner for a project of such exact­ing stand­ards.
As only a few items of furniture had survived in their original state, the chal­lenge for both design­ers and craftspeople was to recon­struct the miss­ing elements from docu­ments that often resembled sketches rather than execu­tion draw­ings, in order to remain faith­ful to Tschu­mi’s inten­tions. In some cases, colours and mater­i­als also had to be recre­ated or rein­ter­preted from histor­ical photo­graphs and archival sources.
This collab­or­a­tion resul­ted in four re-editions: a chair, an armchair, a side table and the large marble table visible in period photo­graphs of the entrance hall.

Jean Tschumi Designer exhibition at the Le Carré space

© guillaumepython

BIG-GAME/Girsberger, réédition de la Petite table dessinée par Jean Tschumi en 1956, 2025. Noyer américain, acier, aluminium

© guillaumepython

BIG-GAME/Girsberger, reissue of the Armless armchair designed by Jean Tschumi in 1956, 2025. Imitation leather, sheet steel, iron, aluminium

© guillaumepython

Jean Tschumi, Armchair with armrest, 1956. Metal base, fabric, wooden armrest

© guillaumepython

“The reis­sue of these long-lost pieces of furniture was first groun­ded in metic­u­lous research, during which we cross-refer­enced the inform­a­tion contained in the avail­able draw­ings, plans, and photo­graphs, and veri­fied it with great care. Our aim was to adopt
the most faith­ful method possible, in order to repro­duce these pieces using contem­por­ary tech­niques while strictly respect­ing Jean Tschu­mi’s original designs." – BIG-GAME

“Our main chal­lenge was to trans­late, with abso­lute preci­sion, the spirit of Jean Tschu­mi’s original draw­ings into a contem­por­ary real­isa­tion. Work­ing along­side BIG-GAME and Vaudoise, we trans­formed this metic­u­lous research into a mater­ial expres­sion that is both accur­ate and faith­ful to the history of the site and the initial expres­sion of its furniture." – Girs­ber­ger SA, Custom­ized Furniture