We want to present you a different project in the rural territory in the village of Thalgau in Austria.
The project Jewels of Thalgau are going to open new dialogues, awaken new points of view and even provoke controversy in the region. Because although many do not see it like this, this project is very provocative in the eyes of the inhabitants of this region, where tradition and customs will be positively transformed. Thalgau's new urban furniture combines art, technique and design, and connects, through cooperation work, people of different generations, mentalities and disciplines.
Thalgau is a small municipality in the province of Salzburg, which is part of an initiative called Villages of Excellence in Austria. This network of villages of the future is characterized by positive examples where inspiration, courage, innovation and creativity face projects of their own initiative that represent a counterpoint to a conceived image of rural life. Das Buch vom Land  is the book that shows that in the rural territory where there is no lack of good ideas and there is no resistance to change.

These Villages of the future, as they call themselves, are founded on learning and open cooperation between them and want to learn from each other, to discover and enhance creativity and use of nearby resources in an innovative way for use In local projects.
Thalgau feeds this idea and leads its urban furniture project in a special and different way. In cooperation with the nearby University of Applied Sciences in Salzburg, the municipality has developed an innovative concept for the new equipment of the town. Jewels of Thalgau , this new design and sculpted urban furniture, is born from the quarries of marble stone and oak wood from the region's forests. The project has been led by John Grubinger who has involved the students of this university to do the design of the pieces.

Around 12 tonnes of oak wood has been used to make about 50 objects: benches, stools and pilonas, which are distributed in the pedestrian area of ​​the village. The pieces of wood were made in Thalgau by Ariane Patout and René Müller, artists from Spain, during the month of April, integrating in the process the students with training days.
The village also has a new water fountain of 1,800 kg of marble from the Salzburg region, which has been made at the HTL_Hallein Steinmetzschule stone school, and other metal objects have been made by the town's blacksmith.
On 17th of may 2017 the inhabitants of the town are discovering with surprise and curiosity the new objects that they will use to inhabit the public space.