The land of swings

The Bregenzerwald is known far beyond the Alps as a "model region" when it comes to forward-looking topics such as architecture, crafts, design, culinary arts or social formats. Now a new project enriches the Austrian area in Vorarlberg: The Land of Swings.

Behind this term is the Hutschn project - the three founders Andreas Baumann, as well as Andreas and Matthias Bunsen have combined creative joie de vivre and first-class craftsmanship and produce high-quality swings from solid oak planks, the so-called "Hutschn", in elaborate manual work in the master craftsman's workshop. Here, quality, durability, origin and the ecological balance are in the foreground. The project was created in their free time and was not profit-oriented from the beginning. For all three, it is a passion alongside their professions. A conscious decision was made against commercial mass production, despite high demand. Swing. Letting go. Being free. Their success proves them right. For a long time now, they have had the vision of sharing this attitude to life with more people - and with more regions. With the "Land of Swings", Hutschn is launching a project that spans the Alps. What could be a better starting point for this than the visionary Damüls/Faschina?! "It's the start of something bigger," says Andreas Bunsen, "we're already talking to other regions and maybe the project will develop into a European swing trail across the Alps."The first four Hutschn have just been set up in Damüls Faschina, exclusively accessible on foot at an altitude of up to 1850 meters. Breathtaking mountain views included. Tourism director Mathias Klocker is keen to encourage other regions to join in this project and create an interface between people and nature. The swings do not simply represent a seat, they are rather an invitation to change one's perspective, an opportunity to sharpen one's view of the surroundings again and again through the continuous forward and backward movement and to incorporate impressions gained. To follow the childlike impulse to simply sit on it, push off and swing away, to set one's own body and the world in motion. A Hutschn is more than a swing, it stands for an attitude towards life. And everyone who passes by is cordially invited to feel it.