FiveCo takes flight with the launch of its own brand
The Vaud-based engineering firm announces its new signature brand, named "Around Five". Its first creation is a table clock that blends innovation and design.
Antoine Lorotte. CEO and co-founder of engineering firm FiveCo. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Mont-sur-Lausanne. Today, the firm has around ten engineers.
The R&D engineering firm FiveCo is spreading its wings. With a view to growth, the Vaud-based company announces the launch of its new brand, "Around Five", born from a partnership with Pilotdesign and its founder Philippe Vallat.
Kickstarter campaign
FiveCo, which generally designs objects combining aesthetics, design, and innovation for industrial groups, has decided this time to launch its own creations. The adventure begins with a first object — a table clock unlike any other. Named "A5-01", this unique clock offers a different way of reading time, based on the path of the sun and its curved lines that appear and disappear behind the horizon.
For this debut, Antoine Lorotte, CEO and co-founder of FiveCo, and Philippe Vallat set themselves the goal of offering the most accessible price possible for a high-end object. "The aim was to develop a Swiss Made product that people can actually afford," comments Antoine Lorotte. "We arrived at a budget of around one thousand francs (ed.: CHF 1,210)," the engineer reveals. "In the past, we had already created two brands (ed.: Art of Secret and Mémoire du vin). With AroundFive, it is much more than a mere stylistic exercise. Through this original, 100% Swiss Made brand, we want to reject all compromises and push creative expression to its very limits."
With the clock prototype presented, FiveCo is now entering the delicate production phase. To this end, the Vaud company has launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter platform, with the aim of raising the funds needed to produce the first series. The company has set itself a target of raising close to USD 90,000, the idea being to secure a minimum of one hundred orders — below that threshold, production will not be possible. After one week of campaigning, the outlook appears positive, with FiveCo currently at 40% of its target.
Since its founding in 2002, FiveCo has developed around one hundred projects, of which nearly one third are now on the market. Some of its clients include Nestlé, Alstom, and Maillefer. "But the name 'FiveCo' never appears," notes Antoine Lorotte.
FiveCo's track record
The CEO remains discreet about the projects now available on the market. That said, among the remarkable objects the firm has designed, one can point to the cigar box for Imperiali Industries — an object that contains an extraordinary amount of know-how, innovation, and technology. Also in FiveCo's portfolio is the X-Smart IQ application for endodontics, developed for Dentsply Maillefer, as well as the battery management system for Hyten, which allowed a Nissan hybrid vehicle to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
FiveCo was founded by a group of engineers from the microtechnology programme at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Their first joint project was the interaction system for the RoboX guide robot at the Swiss National Exhibition in 2002. It was following this first acclaimed collaboration that Antoine Lorotte, Xavier Greppin, Gilles Froidevaux, Antoine Gardiol, and Mathieu Meisser embarked on their entrepreneurial adventure.
Today, the firm has around ten engineers — a deliberately small number chosen by director Antoine Lorotte in order to stay as close as possible to clients' needs. "Personally, I find it very difficult to work remotely. I believe we need to see the client, explain the problems to them, and address all the administrative and logistical questions. As an engineering firm, we have this educational role of explaining industrial and technological constraints. And when your client is on the other side of the planet, that is not easy."
