Friends and Fools
Friends & Fools is a platform for food, art, nature and hospitality. Born in the mountains of the Arlberg, it has grown into something far beyond a single place.
Since 2022, we have been bringing together curious minds: chefs, artists, winemakers, producers, hosts and guests from around the world. Through dinners, festivals, workshops, residencies and unexpected encounters, new ideas, perspectives and sometimes even friendships emerge — connections that last far beyond the moment itself.
What started at Rote Wand has continued to evolve over the years. Through events and collaborations in Lech as well as cities like Copenhagen, Zurich and Berlin, an international network of people, places and creative impulses has taken shape.
Friends & Fools is built on exchange and shared experiences. The Friends & Fools Lounge, the Culinary Lab, the Zuger Säge, the garden and many other spaces become settings for conversations, creative processes and culinary experimentation.
Whether it’s Sommerfest, Kunstsommer, Dialoge, pop-ups or new festival formats — every project is driven by the same belief: that the most exciting things happen when people come together.
Friends & Fools is not a traditional concept, nor simply a place you visit.
It is a community. A mindset. An invitation to stay curious.
Everyone is welcome.
Summer 2026
Summer 2026 at Friends & Fools unfolds across different places, formats and moments. Between June and October, dinners, residencies, conversations, fire kitchens, workshops and festivals bring together food, art and nature.
The season begins with the Rote Wand Sommerfest at the end of June — mountain breakfasts, garden parties, open-fire cooking, Dinner Roulette, yoga, DJs and long evenings shared between the Friends & Fools Lounge, the Zuger Säge and the garden.
Throughout Kunstsommer, Rote Wand becomes a temporary workspace and exhibition setting for international artists. New works, conversations and perspectives emerge in the Kunstsäge, at the Zuger Alpe and around the house — an open process that guests are invited to experience along the way.
Across the entire summer, the Friends & Fools Lounge hosts pop-up dinners and wine & dines with international chefs, winemakers and producers. The programme is complemented by fire kitchens, communal dinners and culinary formats centred around exchange and shared experiences.
In July and August, the Rote Wand Dialoge create an international platform for conversations between art, architecture, design and society — curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen together with guests from across Europe.
September introduces new festival formats such as THE SHEF’S EDITION VOL. 1, bringing together some of the most exciting female chefs working today, alongside Koschina & Friends. In October, INTO THE WILD closes the summer season with a weekend shaped by fire cooking, forest, craftsmanship and product-focused cuisine.
A summer of encounters, long tables, conversations and shared experiences — unfolding across the many different spaces of the Rote Wand world.
