SOE

Ludwig Oechslin would certainly have been wearing his pince-nez slightly further down his nose the day he scrutinised the figure on the car’s radiator. What he found was a wonderful sense of dynamism and the use of loose garments to indicate wings. Pure Art Nouveau! The Spirit of Ecstasy set him thinking  –  not so much of the car it came from as what he could do with such an amazing figurine…

He thought of the pocket watches he had created, and which still lay in the cellar. He bought an original sculpture with lots of patina on it and immediately set to work…

She now turns!  –  always facing the position of the sun, once a day in every direction, and once a day in your direction! Ludwig reworked the 8-day clockwork movement to give one rotation every 24 instead of every 12 hours. Driven by the hour wheel, the Spirit of Ecstasy rotates slowly on her black perspex plinth.

Every time you look at her you see a different side to her  –  rather poetic, don’t you think? And the time? She indicates it on a continuous basis through the direction she is facing. There’s no precise dial, no particular definition. She flies free as a bird! Ludwig Oechslin handcrafts the sculptures  –  just a few pieces: art from his Treasure Chest of Ideas, which is available for sale through ochs und junior.