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DESIGN
ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE TRENDS Bättig Design creates avant-garde staircases for commercial and residential interiors
BY SUSAN KELLY
184
THE AUTUMN ISSUE
A STAIRCASE PAS COMME LES AUTRES, even extraordinaire is the dream of many a homeowner. And it is exactly the effect Martin Bättig, founder and president of Bättig Design in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, is after. “While we can’t completely reinvent the staircase, I’m all about pushing the design envelope as far as possible,” he says. The look of Bättig’s company’s staircases is cutting-edge contemporary, although it still turns a hand to traditional wroughtiron versions on occasion. Perhaps the most dramatic examples of the Bättig team’s work are on display in the multi-million-dollar revamp of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in downtown Montreal. The majestic black glass-and-steel main staircase was manufactured and installed by Bättig Design, who
also consulted with architect Pascal Beauchemin of Sid Lee Architecture. Marin Bättig started out 24 years ago designing furniture for himself and a few friends while completing an MBA. Word of his unique design approach spread until it became a lucrative sideline. He soon started tinkering with stairs, intrigued by the combination of form and structural function. Today, his company produces staircases, railings and fencing. A showroom, offices and production are housed in a 14,000-square-foot facility in Trois-Rivières. When he founded the company in 1998, 90 per cent of staircases were constructed of steel. Today, he reckons only 30 percent are purely of that material; the rest integrate wood, tempered glass, acrylic or concrete.
