Three Michelin stars, 19 Gault Millau points and one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants – Andreas Caminada is globally renowned for his impressive culinary creations. Anyone who has ever visited his restaurant or even his home will have instantly seen that he also values incomparable aesthetics and timeless design when it comes to interior furnishings. USM’s Zoe Torinesi visited Andreas Caminada in snowy Fürstenau and interviewed him about good taste, his new cookbook and his home.

Good taste is something you learn and gradually develop a feel for. Taste has many components and is difficult to define – if you sense that something has been created with passion, joy and quality, then it usually tastes good.

I think it’s very important to buy regional and seasonal ingredients. But what really matters to me is getting to know the producers and harmoniously working with them as partners.

I usually get advice, even if I’ve already got an initial idea. It’s important to speak to professionals as you have to get major investments right.

Home is truly home for me. I do as little business-related as possible here.

I always carry around thoughts and ideas for dishes. During the coronavirus pandemic, I thought, come on, let’s follow on from the success of the first book. That’s why there are a few dishes that are repeated in the second edition. The cookbook was made through a great deal of teamwork and lots of interaction with my chefs and partners.

Our home office is also somewhere we can relax, with a couch and a TV. We use it as a place to store lots of professional and private stuff too. We see it as a kind of oasis – that’s truly enriched by the USM furniture.

I’d seen the furniture advertised and instantly thought: “Wow, that’s cool!” We used to have a USM Haller in the office, but it was a little deeper. We initially planned to modularly expand it, but then we saw the new furniture and immediately fell in love with it.

In general terms, I like the modularity that USM offers as it adapts to my needs. We’ve been using the existing furniture for over 15 years in various different places – sometimes at home, sometimes in the office –, which is great. I also like the timeless, minimalistic design plus the quality speaks for itself.

That’s a good question – my wife probably works here more than I do (laughs). However, I set great store by good interior design and love carefully selected aesthetic things. That’s something people definitely also notice if they visit our home – or the hotel or restaurant.

Many thanks to Andreas Caminada (@andreas_caminada_schauenstein and www.andreascaminada.com) for his hospitality and to the Swiss food blogger Zoe Torinesi (@cookinesi_zoe_torinesi and www.cookinesi.com) for the creation of this interview. 

Photographs: Zoe Torinesi