Stories
Creative: Nico Vuignier
This article has been adapted from the Winter 2018 print issue of Downdays Magazine. Use the mag finder at the bottom of this page to find a copy in a ski shop near you.
It’s never easy to stand out from the crowd, but that hasn’t been a problem for Nico Vuignier, who always seems to find a new angle to look at things.
In 2016 the 26-year-old Swiss freeskier went viral with his “Centriphone” edit, using the simple but groundbreaking idea of swinging his smartphone around on a string while skiing. Last season, it was “Poor Man’s Selfie Drone,” made using a modified “throw your GoPro” foam flyer.
Nico’s latest short online drops have displayed increasingly mind-bending editing tricks, as everyday desktop objects—pens, coins, books—suddenly metamorphose into ski features, just like in every schoolkid’s daydreams. One oddball clip, in the style of a UFO sighting, zooms in to a strange-looking line in a cloud, only for a skier to appear and slide it. It seems like Nico sees skiing and skiers wherever he looks.
We challenged Nico, who usually works with moving pictures, to create a still image for this page. This is what he came up with.
