This year, we had the honour of redesigning the family garden of Swiss musician Marc Sway. We collected your questions via Instagram and Facebook and put them to him. Enjoy the interview with Marc Sway!
All questions during the interview
We bought a house five years ago. I was told: «Look, ten years later everyone will be doing the garden». It hasn't been ten years, but five years. You know your favourite places, you know where you like to spend time, and that's how it was. Above all, we wanted to make better use of the space available to us.
To be honest, I ask myself the same question every day (laughs). My name is Marc Sway, I'm a singer and composer and I love making music. I am me.
In the first phase, it was mainly about letting myself be surprised. We wanted to know what someone would do with our garden. That was the phase where Daniel asked us a lot of questions. He asked us what we do, what is important to us, what our needs are. The first plan then emerged accordingly. One of the most important things was that we not only use the terrace, but the whole area. That was the point where he grabbed us and pulled us along.
Yes! I know what hummus is, for example. I always thought it was something to eat. But it's the layer on which plants grow. I know lots of names, like the rock pear. I wouldn't have known that before the renovation. I've been looking into a lot of things: Materials, stones, plants. I've learnt a lot. And digging, of course.
I can only support you in this! The reason why we wanted a pool was also because, as a musician, I spend a lot of time at home. Instead of investing in other things and luxuries, I wanted to invest in our family time and make our time together more enjoyable. The main tip would be to listen to your instincts and ask yourself where you like to be, what your needs are and to know and deal with them.
I decided in favour of a Living Pool - a biopool. It took me a while because at first I thought there were newts and frogs swimming in it, it's all a bit slippery. It always bothered me that the children always had red eyes in the chlorine pool. Then the salt pool was also an issue once, when I realised that the salt also turns into chlorine, so we have the same problem. So the Living Pool - which has the same properties as a normal pool, you can't tell by looking at it - was the solution. We are actually bathing in drinking water, so to speak, and we are very happy.
First comes the planning phase, where we collated and looked at all the plans and held initial discussions. We then let the ideas take shape, which was also very important. This allowed us to consider whether we wanted something or not. Then came the remodelling, which took plus or minus six weeks.
What we have already noticed is that when water is available, they like to go there. That's why we built the water close to our previous favourite spot in the garden. Water somehow just attracts people.
We had a great team. On the one hand, we had a mixture of familiar, friendly interaction. You're still very close to each other. We live right next door. On the other hand, I also thought it was great that our privacy was respected during the renovation. Although there were always people here, we were able to get on with our lives. The guys were also very nice that they didn't start work early in the morning after a gig, which required loud machines.
(laughs) I have the studio right down here. When I was singing, I'm sure they heard me. They played Marc Sway a few times when they were working. And every now and then there were pop songs, then I had to scold them a bit.
That's something I also know from music and that's the beauty of it. You write a piece, then the musicians come together and in the end the piece is more beautiful than in the performance. And that's actually the best thing that can happen.
This Saturday we had the Blues n Jazz in Rapperswil. We were on the road again for a long time, playing in front of 10,000 people. We rehearsed in the afternoon and the whole band came here with their families, the children had a bath and we prepared ourselves so that we could go on stage in the evening. That's how I can answer the question: I always wanted it to be a place where people could come and have a good time together, where we could exchange ideas, where people could simply meet. That's why I redesigned the garden. I made the garden because I want us to celebrate festivals, to be able to meet each other, to be able to relax, to simply make life a little more beautiful. That's it: making life more beautiful.
