Margaux Kolly’s industrial workshop

Official photographer of Belluard Bollwerk Art Festival and former vice-president of the Goulag Music Festival, Swiss photographer Margaux Kolly welcomes us in her one-of-a-kind workshop located in the heart of Fribourg.

This unique place definitely matches with Margaux’ creative spirit. From cultural events to portraits and brand pictures, she captures moments with talent. As a child, she already used to “play” with Photoshop and after an agency experience, she decided to launch her own photography and communication business. In 2015, she sets up her atelier in a former factory.

Timeless, this industrial building has been re-invented many times through the last decades. From industrial to creative space, it bears the traces of each period. In early 1900’s, it was housing the firm Condensateurs Fribourg. Its founder and owner Ignacy Mościcki even built a small getaway between the factory and his adjoining home, before going back to Poland where he became President of the Republic in 1926.

When the factory closed in 1990, Belluard Bollwerk Festival’s co-founder Klaus Hersche took it over and transformed it into a theatre workshop where his troupe prepared and played experimental shows. After the last performance in 2000, the artists left, however the decor made of a black and white floor, dressed columns and long curtains remained.

Thanks to the artists Michael Egger and Maïté Colin from Anyma, the show goes on in 2001 and the building becomes a hub where interdisciplinary arts can be expressed without boundaries. In 2015, Michael warmly welcomed a new generation of creative minds: photographers Margaux Kolly and Charlotte Walker as well as designer Florian Lagrancourt.

Full of treasures and vintage finds, this creative workshop looks like no other one and keeps inspiring its residents and guests. It will definitely host many more artful gatherings.