How is the Abegg-Stiftung foundation addressing the current energy shortage?

The sustainable use of resources is not a new topic for us. We’ve been managing our household efficiently and considerately for a long time. For example, we converted our heating system to wood chips in recent years. This makes us independent of fossil fuels. And this summer we installed a large photovoltaic system. It covers a significant portion of our electricity consumption in summer. At the same time, we have been making continuous efforts for a long time to reduce our energy consumption through efficient housekeeping. With a view to the climate, nature in general and the current situation, we are doing quite well today thanks to our long-term thinking.

Another current topic is diversity. What experiences have you had as a woman in the role of director of a large foundation?

I have always experienced a very open climate. When I took up my post as Director 20 years ago, I became a mother at the same time. Thanks to the understanding of the Board of Trustees and my staff, combining the two roles was absolutely no problem. I was certainly privileged in my position to have a little more freedom to manage my time. Even back then, I was able to work from home – at a time when the concept didn’t really exist. As an institution, however, we tend to have the opposite problem: textiles are generally associated with women’s work. And most of the staff at our Foundation are women. When it comes to new appointments, we therefore have to seriously question whether we want to choose a woman again, because we could be further confirming the stereotype. But the bottom line is – quite simply – that we want the best person for the job. We don’t choose a man to make us look balanced, we choose the person who has the best track record for the position we want to fill. I believe this is still the right way to go. At the moment, the majority of our employees and students are female, but they come from very different backgrounds – from Taiwan or Brazil, for example.

How do you make sure a team with so many different cultures and backgrounds works?

Our shared subject matter and the common interest in our work are, of course, connecting points. But above all, it is important to have understanding for each other, to take everyone seriously and to let everyone come into their own, no matter where they come from. At the same time, no one person should completely dominate the whole team because of their own needs. In general, we try to cultivate our international community and strive to come together without blinkers as much as possible. Of course there are limits. In some regions of the world, our expectations and ways of working are too foreign for us to simply export them. Instead of training people here, we have already sent textile conservators to work directly with the relevant institute on site. They work on concrete tasks to develop solutions and train employees. This seems to us to be more effective, because sometimes people find that there’s neither understanding nor the right environment in their home country to implement what they have learned in Switzerland.