INTERLUDE: In Between is Now | Dubai 2025

Dubai Design Week | November 4 - 9, 2025

ABOUT THE INSTALLATION

The soft installation represents an ethereal cocoon, a responsive, inflatable structure that breathes with subtle shifts of light, sound, and scent. Inside, visitors are invited into an experience of slowed rhythm and shared presence.

Merging principles of sound therapy, sensorial design, and embodied movement, the installation supports nervous system regulation and emotional wellbeing. As a living organism of calm within the rush of contemporary life, INTERLUDE offers a gentle counterpoint to overstimulation and urban acceleration; A space to pause, breathe, and reconnect.

CULTURAL CONTEXT AND COLLABORATION

The presentation of INTERLUDE: In Between Is Nowat Dubai Design Week marks a major moment in the UAE’s evolving dialogue around design for wellbeing and human-centered environments.

Through this partnership, Therme Art — the cultural incubator of Therme Group — supports this vision by advancing its mission to promote physical and mental wellbeing through art and architecture that invites reflection, connection, and a renewed sense of balance.

More Info here.

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Annabelle and Therme Art in bringing INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now to the region,” said Chimere Cissé from ArtKōrero. “The installation reflects our vision to champion artists whose work pushes the boundaries between experience, technology, and sensorial design. It’s about creating spaces that remind us of our shared humanity in a time of fragmentation.”

“INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now reflects Therme Art’s ongoing commitment to promoting art experiences that place physical and mental wellbeing at their core, creating immersive environments that restore balance to the mind and senses. We are pleased to collaborate with Annabelle Schneider and ArtKōrero in presenting this work at Dubai Design Week, furthering the Group’s shared vision of wellbeing for all.” - John White, Managing Director, Therme Art.

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION

Since its inception, INTERLUDE: In Between Is Now has garnered international acclaim. The work has been honored by the NYCxDESIGN Awards 2025, won the German Design Award 2026, and shortlisted for the Swiss Design Prize 2025, with coverage in Dezeen, Designboom, La Vanguardia, or NZZ Bellevue.

BREATHE WITH ME | Basel Editon: Soft Clubbing

Singer Klub at Marktplatz, Basel | June 17 - 22, 2025

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BREATHE WITH ME is an immersive, multisensory installation for wellbeing and community. Designed and conceptualized by the Swiss-born, New York-based experience designer Annabelle Schneider.

Originally commissioned by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, the installation has already been shown internationally – including in New York, Barcelona, Tashkent, and Gainesville – and now returns in an evolved form to its place of original inspiration: Switzerland.

In May 2025, BREATHE WITH ME was named a Finalist and Honoree of the NYCxDESIGN Awards, recognized as one of the year’s most outstanding installations and exhibitions.

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A BREATHING COCOON FOR PRESENCE

The installation invited visitors into a soft, cocoon-like space that offered stillness, reflection, and reconnection. Guided by an original soundscape composed by Luc Oggier and activated through intimate live performances by Braths and OSOMO, the experience unfolded through breath, light, scent, and an amorphous, inflatable textile sculpture that rised and fell rhythmically – an homage to the calming breath that unites us all. Entering the cocoon offered a shift in perspective: Away from an overstimulated, visually driven, and increasingly AI-smoothed world, into a space of deceleration and grounding.

The breathing spatial sculpture was developed in collaboration with the Swiss studio Luft & Laune, which played a key role in shaping both the form and technical realization, and significantly contributed to the architectural language of the project.

At the entrance of Singer Klub stood the Breathing Drop – a scent-based sculpture developed by Annabelle in collaboration with the Swiss fragrance house Luzi. Inspired by the architecture of the breathing space, it translated the theme of breath into an olfactory experience.

The fragrance FOVET, specially composed by Luzi, made breath tangible on a deeper emotional level. Here, scent became an additional layer of breath – invisible, yet emotionally resonant – guiding visitors through the space with subtle accents.

SOFT CLUBBING – RETHINKING SPACES OF GATHERING

Set in an unexpected venue – a club – the Basel edition reimagined how we gather. Through the lens of well-being, sensual presence, and emotional resonance, Soft Clubbing replaced strobes and bass with rhythm and atmosphere. Here, architecture breathes and connected, offering a radical rethinking of the club not as a site of excess, but as a space for inner tuning and intentional togetherness.

We are witnessing the beginning of a soft cultural shift – one that moves consciously away from sensory overload and toward deeper, more present modes of being together. As traditional nightlife fades and the desire for meaningful, multisensory experiences grows, BREATHE WITH ME offered a “third space” – somewhere between ritual, retreat, and reconnection.

In an age of urgency, disconnection, and visual saturation, BREATHE WITH ME made space not for doing, but for being – invited us to rethink the ephemeral nature of design as a tool for intimacy, sensory awareness, and collective calm.

“BREATHE WITH ME is a response to a world that feels increasingly fast, loud,
and disembodied. In the midst of this sensory overload, I believe design
must slow us down — not through silence, but through depth.
Multi-sensory spaces engage more than just the eye — they awaken memory, sensation, and presence. This project is a quiet manifesto for spatial experience and for designing with and for the whole body — where touch, sound, scent, and breath become tools for inclusion, connection, and well-being.”

Date: June 17-22, 2025 | Art Basel Week, Switzerland
Location: Singer Klub at Marktplatz, Basel
Category: Immersive Experience for calm and well-being
Main Partner: Diageo
Partners: LUZI, Die Mobiliar
Supportive Partners: LAUFEN, Eptinger
Product Partners: Zig Zag Zürich, 4 Spaces, Stadler Form, PIEGA, Stopptrop Fabrics + Henzi
Project Management: Reto Nussbaum
Fabrication Inflatable: Luft & Laune GmbH
Concept, Design +  Imagery: Annabelle Schneider 
Pillow Design: Annabelle Schneider
Visual Identity: W—E studio, Stephanie Specht, Annabelle Schneider
Sound: Luc Oggier
Mix + Mastering: Ben Mühletaler
Sound System: Piega
Live Performances: BRATHS + OSOMO
Photos: David Hubacher for JEFF Zürich Agency 
Content Production: Noel  Scheidegger
Press Contact: Robin PR Agency, contact@hellorobin.ch
Press: NZZ Bellevue, Blick, Basler Zeitung, Tele Basel, BZ Schweiz am Wochenende, BMQ, Drinks Magazine
Project Website: https://annabelleschneider.com/BreathewithMe-ArtBasel-Week-2025

BREATHE WITH ME | An immersive Installation 

161 Water Street, 3rd Floor, WSA New York | May 16 - 23, 2024

BREATHE WITH ME, is an immersive installation conceptualized by award-winning Swiss spatial designer and Parsons educator Annabelle Schneider. Presented by the Consulate General of Switzerland at WSA NY, the cutting-edge cultural hub in Downtown Manhatten, this multi-sensorial space features new and iconic designs by LAUFEN, Luft & Laune, PIEGA, PIN–UP HOME, Schaffner, Studio Christian Wassmann, Tisca, USM Modular Furniture, Vitra, and 4Spaces ZigZagZurich, capturing the essence of Swiss design by seamlessly blending timeless beauty with modern sensibilities, inviting moments of relaxation and reflection.

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Experience breathable textiles synchronized with contemplative sounds and soft furnishings, meticulously crafted to positively impact both body and mind. Fabrics swell and sway to the polyrhythmic soundscape by musician Luc Oggier, mimicking soothing breathing patterns and creating an oasis in the bustling heart of Manhattan.

PROGRAMMING

We celebrated Swiss heritage, design, and innovation in a series of events set in a space to breathe, connect, and reflect. Visitors benefited from the unique opportubity to immerse themselves in BREATHE WITH ME, at WSA NY from May 17 - 23, 2024.

May 16 | 6 - 10 PM                     Press Preview + Opening-Party w/ DJ SHU-G: Invite
May 19 | 7 - 9 PM                       Listening Session w/ James K: Invite
May 17 - 23 | noon - 7 PM       Experience presented for NYCxDESIGN

May 22 | 6 PM  - 8 PM             SWISSNEX x LAUFEN Panel Talk
                                                        on Spatial Wellbeing: Invite 

INSTALLATION 

PANEL TALK  | MAY 20, 2024

OPENING EVENT  | MAY 16, 2024

NYC Scented Trashbag Candle | NYC x DESIGN x Souvenir

Oculus Manhattan | NYC x DESIGN | May 12 - 21 | 2025

Date: May 12 - 21, 2025
Hours: daily from 11:00am - 7:00 pm

Opening Preview + Reception:
Thursday, May 15
10:00 am

Evening Reception:
Saturday, May 17
from 5:00 pm - 7:00pm

Address:
The Canvas at the Oculus
185 Greenwich St Ground Floor (C2)
South Concourse

MATERIAL
The NYC Trash Bag Candle is made from soy waxes, repurposing discarded materials to give trash a second life in an unexpected form. Infused with a distinctive scent, the candle transforms perceptions of waste, engaging not only the eye but also the senses. As it burns, its sculptural layers melt and shift, releasing a fragrance that contrasts with its visual inspiration—turning an emblem of urban excess into an intimate, contemplative experience. Blurring the line between disposable and desirable, the candle becomes a paradox in itself: both repulsive and alluring, fleeting and lasting, fast and slow.

• Candle: Black Soy-wax
  
• Rat: Gold Brass
  
• Fragrance Option 1: Cashmere Musk
  
• Fragrance Option 2: Leather and Labdanum
  

Color Archeology | LAUFEN x Roberto Sironi

River Inn, Alcova Miami | December 2 - 7, 2025

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COLOR ARCHEAOLOGY  - THE MIAMI CHAPTER

During Miami Art Week 2025, LAUFEN presents Colour Archaeology – The Miami Chapter at Alcova Miami, continuing the global journey of a project that explores the ancestral origins of ceramic colour through art, archaeology, and design.

Conceived by Italian designer and researcher Roberto Sironi, curated and spatially interpreted by experience designer Annabelle Schneider, and commissioned by LAUFEN, this new iteration unfolds as a meditation on earth, time, and transformation.

At Alcova, Colour Archaeology enters into dialogue with Miami’s luminous sand and sea, translating the city’s landscape into a poetic reflection on material memory. The installation evokes the act of excavation — unearthing pigments, stories, and traces of human creativity that connect the past to the present.

Sironi’s research, commissioned by LAUFEN, represents the brand’s first multidisciplinary study dedicated to colour in ceramics. Conducted over three years, the project analysed more than 10,000 archaeological artefacts from international museums, tracing the chromatic evolution of ceramics across eight ancient civilisations. The resulting palette of twelve hues reinterprets the refined tonalities of the ancient world through a contemporary lens — from Egyptian Cerulean and Babylonian Sand to Celadon Green and Andean Purple, each colour embodying centuries of craftsmanship and cultural identity.

“The twelve shades of Colour Archaeology rise from the depths of the ancient world, carrying with them echoes of history and craftsmanship. They infuse the contemporary home with sophisticated, timeless nuances — a dialogue between past and present. Conceived in dialogue with the LAUFEN collection, this palette unveils new visions and new meanings through the language of colour,” explains Roberto Sironi.

In Miami, these chromatic narratives meet the soft, sandy topography of South Florida. Through a sculptural composition of forms and pigments, the installation reflects on the origins of clay and on LAUFEN’s own kaolin – the mineral at the heart of its ceramic production. It becomes both excavation and meditation: a tactile study of how colour, context, and craftsmanship evolve through centuries of human touch.

Following its presentations at Milan Design Week and HIX London, Colour Archaeology continues to expand across continents. This new chapter reaffirms LAUFEN’s ongoing exploration of design as a form of cultural dialogue — where art, technology, and sustainability converge to shape the bathroom as a living ecosystem and a space of creativity and reflection.

ALCOVA Miami              Room B 202 - Blue House 
                                            Miami River Inn,
                                            37 SW 2ND Miami

Press Preview                Monday,  December 1
                                            from 3 – 4 pm – rsvp only
Opening Cocktail          from 4 – 7pm – rsvp only


On View                           Tuesday - Sunday,
                                            December 2 – 7, from 11am – 7pm

Open House                     Thursday, December 4, 2 – 7:30pm
                                            LAUFEN Space in Miami Ironside,
                                            7636 NE 4th Court, Suite 112
                                            Miami, FL 33138 

PREVIEW RENDERINGS

“I chose sand as the medium to ground Colour Archaeology — a project on colour by LAUFEN and Roberto Sironi — in its truest context for Alcova Miami 2025: the earth that first held the pigments of ancient ceramics, and a material that echoes kaolin, the mineral foundation of vitreous china. In dialogue with Miami’s luminous landscape, the installation transforms Sironi’s research into a tactile, temporary study of layers, digging deeper, time, origin, and presence.

Thank you to LAUFEN, Roberto Sironi, and Alcova for an inspiring week, for the depth in conversations, and for the shared vision of creating tactile experiences that meaningfully shape the spaces we inhabit”.