Manual work for a “dog mission”
(Pictures Yannick Andrea)
by Max Hugelshofer, Swiss Mountain Aid
(20 June 2022) What do guide dogs in Switzerland, the USA, Australia or France have in common? Most likely they wear a harness that was handmade in Switzerland. Until recently in the Jura, now in a mountain village in Ticino.
A small village in the Valle di Peccia, at the back of the Maggia valley. Ten villagers. If you walk through the alleys in the morning, you are unlikely to meet anyone. The young people are moving away. There have been no children running through the corridors of the old schoolhouse for a long time and the building has been empty for years.
But for a few months now, the lights are switched on again. Through the illuminated windows you can see a bright, tidy workshop, a wood-burning stove, high tables, many shelves and some machines. Alessandro Kaufmann is sitting at one of them. He carefully places pieces of leather in a kind of template made of cardboard, smoothing them flat. He pulls down a large lever, slowly at first, then swiftly and with more pressure for the last centimetre. Quickly he removes the piece of leather. It is now embossed: serial number, indication of size. And the name “Swissharness”.
a livelihood with their new company
This is the brand name of the company that moved into the former San Carlo school building in summer and has completely changed the lives of Alessandro and his wife Sandra. As the English name suggests, it produces “harnesses”. Harnesses for guide dogs, to be precise. It has established it’s reputation in this small niche and produces for customers all over the world.
No more commuting at last
Alessandro comes from the vicinity of Lugano in the southernmost Swiss canton of Ticino. He is a trained car mechanic and then studied automotive technology and mechatronics. His work took him to the Rhine Valley St. Gallen, the eastern part of the country but his love led him to the Maggia Valley in Ticino. This is where Sandra comes from. For many years she did without her Alessandro during the week. When their first child arrived two years ago, it was clear to them that something had to change.
Most of them require a lot of precision.
Whenever a job vacancy in his field turned up somewhere in Ticino, Alessandro applied for it, but somehow nothing fit. They should have a company of their own, they both felt. Then Alessandro wouldn’t have to commute and could earn his money close to home. And suddenly an opportunity presented itself: Alessandro’s father had worked from time to time with an inventor from the Jura who, in order to be able to finance his inventions, had built up a company for guide dog harnesses with an international clientele over decades. Now the tinkerer was reaching retirement age and was looking for a successor for his company.
Alessandro and Sandra were immediately interested. A few visits later, they had bought the company. “Although we never had anything to do with guide dogs or worked with leather in our lives,” Alessandro laughs. But he liked the work. “You have to be technically proficient because many different materials are processed with a wide variety of machines.“
He spent three months in the Jura – as an apprentice in the workshop of his predecessor. Afterwards, he converted the old schoolhouse into a workshop almost exclusively through his own efforts, together with Sandra. And then came the moment of truth. The machines were partly transported from the Jura, partly bought second-hand. Since then, Alessandro has been working full time, Sandra 60 percent. But it was not without initial difficulties. Customers had to wait for their orders because Alessandro and Sandra were quite slow at the beginning.
“My biggest fear was not being able to maintain the high quality and putting off long-time customers.” Because they checked each other and all the processes over and over again, Alessandro and Sandra also had the occasional quarrel. In the meantime, however, things have eased up and the two work together very well. Sandra: “we now have exactly what we wanted: more time for ourselves and our children.”
Supported by “Swiss Mountain Aid”Alessandro and Sandra Kaufmann have used all their savings to acquire the guide dog harness production. “Swiss Mountain Aid” has supported them in the acquisition of machines and in setting-up their workshop. |
harness destined for the USA.
Energetically sophisticated
While she skives the edges of previously punched leather pieces on a special skiving machine, Alessandro works on a lathe on plastic tubes that are needed for the harness handles. That, too, is precision work. And as with the guiding harnesses themselves, there are countless variations.
Every customer – all of them guide dog schools – has its own philosophy. For example, some want there to be a short distance between the dog and its master when walking, while others prefer constant contact between the animal and the blind person’s leg. So everyone wishes for a slightly different harness. Alessandro wants to make use of this flexibility in his production to expand his product range later on.
“We can make anything that combines leather with plastic and metal. I already have a few ideas.” It is clear that this additional work can then no longer be managed on their own. And also intended: “at some point we would like to create jobs for other valley residents as well.”
Source: Berghilfe Magazin 115 «Frische Ideen» (Frühling 2022)
(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)