Photography: Christian Cervantes
What is growth for you?
The way our Montamont brand is growing is very symbolic of how we are developing personally. For a long time, the work of our design studio was characterized by the fact that we were able to cover our disciplines, strategy, design, photography and illustration in a small and compact team and implement them internally. This brings advantages and short paths of communication for our clients and leads to very well-rounded projects.
With Montamont, however, it is exactly the opposite. It takes a lot of amazing, inspiring, talented, and forward-thinking people, to paint the picture of what we call the new alpine travel culture. It shapes our current life to visit these people on our travels, to get an insight into their projects and visions and to learn from them. It is an honor for us to be able to present their work through our perspective to an audience that truly appreciates these things. These audiences are as much a part Montamont as we are and the people who we get to work with inspire us every day to make these special places tangible and to make Montamont grow into something bigger. So, in summary, growth, to us, can happen in small ways within a close knit team, or in big ways by building a whole community. Both is beautiful in its own right.
What keeps you grounded?
We are pretty Tyrolean in that we enjoy a mountain peak from time to time, but mostly live life with both feet firmly grounded. And that seems to be the way for the people we get to work with as well. The beautiful places and experiences that they create for their guests and themselves, maintain, and lead meaningfully into the future, are born from their own authentic needs. They work with honest and genuine materials and products that suit them, the region and their guests. A true appreciation for people, animals and nature plays a major role here. No artifical settings, nothing that goes against nature.
And of course there is our little Moritz, who at the age of two always asks the right questions and makes clear to us what’sreally important.
How do you connect with nature?
We live in Innsbruck. This small town is located in the heart of the Alps and the distances to nature are pretty short. A ski tour before work or mountain biking in the evening is part of the lifestyle here. It clears your head and brings people together.
What is a book that has inspired you?
Of course there are many. We are fans of travel and good food. With that, to us a good cookbook is best, combined with impressions of the places where certain dishes or ingredients originate. Meredith Erickson’s cookbook “Alpine Cooking: Recipes and Stories from Europe’s Grand Mountaintops”, for example, takes you directly to the best lodges high up and lets you conjure up the taste of many a place of longing on your plate at home.
What is your favorite plant?
A not so “alpine” answer, but we truly love our Howea forsteriana palms and the shadows they throw on the walls when the evening sun shines through them. Nothing can define a room and bring it to life as much as a piece of art or a beautiful plant.
