The Swiss embassy in China held a design exhibition in Beijing's Today Art Museum Saturday afternoon, showing the conception of contemporary Swiss designing style.

Devised by Pierre Keller, director of the famous University of Art and Design of Lausanne, the "Swiss Design Now" exhibition set out works from 11 well-known Swiss designers, including household articles, watches, knives and decorations.

"Placing concepts such as functionality and simplicity at the core of the approach, Swiss designers created many a form that are regarded today as classic," said Swiss ambassador to China Dante Martinelli at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

A second part of the exhibition is a photo exhibition presented by the Tourism Bureau of Switzerland which showed the landscape of the European country through eyes of four professional Chinese photographers.

Jiang Gongmin, director of the Beijing Cultural Bureau, said that such an exhibition in China will push ahead bilateral exchanges in the fields of culture and art.

The exhibition will strengthen the friendship and lay a solid foundation for the future cooperation between China and Switzerland, Jiang said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 18, 2006)