Rolf Sachs

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Rolf Sachs was born on August 10, 1955 in Lausanne, Switzerland to Anne-Marie Faure and Gunter Sachs, a German industrialist, photographer, author and socialite descended from the Sachs-Opel industrial families. He went to school at Le Rosey, and the Lyceum Alpinum, Zuoz. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Menlo College, Menlo Park, California, United States.

He started working professionally in the mid-Eighties and set up his studio in London in the mid-Nineties.

Copyright: rolf sachs fun c 'tion. Photo by Byron Slater
Copyright: rolf sachs fun c 'tion. Photo by Byron Slater

Art and Design[]

Rolf Sachs's work moves between art and design, objects, spaces and visual medium. It encourages his audience to question preconceptions and view objects from a different perspective, through an inquisitive and conceptual approach.

Sachs’ work was initially inspired by the principles of minimalism. Restrained decoration, deconstructed right angles and sharp corners were the defining characteristics of his work, predominantly made from felt and solid wood.

His work has changed over the years, becoming more experimental and conceptual and therefore not as definable. He searches for the unconventional and the unexpected, a philosophy reflected in his artistic style.

Rolf Sachs has exhibited at numerous art and design galleries including the MAKK Museum in Cologne, Galerie von Bartha in St Moritz, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, ammann// gallery at Design Miami Basel, Phillips de Pury & Company New York, Monica Sprüth Cologne and Faggionato Fine Arts in London. His set designs the Faust opera, which debuted at and the Faust ballet at the Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, which toured globally. In March 2009, Sachs completed the set design for Vincenzo Bellini’s “Norma” at the Opera de Monte Carlo.

Rolf collaborated with his stepmother Maryam Sachs on developing the concept for the photographic project entitled The Wild Emperor The Wild Emperor where over a period of a year, a stationary camera captured the Wild Kaiser mountain range outside his house in Bavaria, in 10.5 minute intervals.

At the end of September 2016, Sachs published a yearlong photographic exploration on the UNESCO World Heritage Rhaetian Albula / Bernina Railway line, entitled Camera in Motion: From Chur to Tirano. In this recent project Sachs's photographs were taken from a moving train. These images uncover Sachs’s experimental approach to photography and challenge the viewer to step towards an unknown reality. The book features 87 photographs and includes texts by Bill Kouwenhoven and Helen Chislett, and is published by Kehrer Verlag.

In October 2016, Sachs designed the Leica M-P (Typ 240) special edition 'grip' by Rolf Sachs, in collaboration with Leica Camera AG. The new, limited edition, model unites the iconic rangefinder technology with artistic product design with a combination of unusual materials and the artist’s signature bright red colour palette.

Business Background[]

After completing his studies Rolf Sachs worked for his family’s business as a specialist and investor in the ‘alternative’ investment world. He is still active in the financial world and holds a number of advisory and board-level positions, and has a family office in Switzerland.

External links[]

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