Holy sow: Bath gets ‘Chip & Pig’

picoChip sponsors local charitable Pig Parade

Bath, England, 13 August 2008: – Proving the adage that there’s nothing better than a bit of gammon and chips, Bath based semiconductor firm picoChip is pleased to announce that it has sponsored a pig in the 2008 Bath Pig Parade – a public art event to celebrate Bath’s origins and its artists.

One hundred life-sized model pigs feature in the campaign and are currently on display across the city to raise awareness of a 3,000 year old legend of how Bath was founded by King Bladud.

‘Chip & Pig’, the picoChip pig, was creatively brought to life by artist Claudia Phipps, a British artist who usually works with glass. “Revealing what lies beyond or through surfaces is important in my work. The pigs have been a new departure for me and have made a nice change from my usual work.

“Although it was a very different medium, I used the same approach that I would with glass, focusing on colour, and composition.”

The picoChip-sponsored pig will be sold at auction on 31st October, along with the others, to raise funds for the Two Tunnels Project. The project will create a direct, flat route between Bath and Sustrans path. Amongst other benefits it will make cycling a more realistic option for the city’s residents.

Squeezing a quick pig pun into a statement, picoChip’s president & CEO, Guillaume d'Eyssautier, commented: “It may sound hammy but, Claudia has more ‘sow know-how’ than you can wiggle a curly tail at. Choosing a name for ‘Chip & Pig’ wasn’t easy with alternatives such as ‘Ham & Chips’ and ‘Chipolata’ in the pen.

“On a serious note, it’s not very often that you can give something so creative, engaging or charitable back to your home town. We’re proud to be involved in the project. ‘Chip& Pig’ is striking and representative, and we trust residents and tourists think so too.”

There will be a Farewell Pigs Event on the weekend of 18th/19th October at Queen Square, Bath where all 100 pigs will be on display.

picoChip is the only semiconductor company focused solely on wireless infrastructure, and provides baseband solutions to address the key challenges of cost, development time and flexibility for the next generation of wireless systems.

Picture caption: ‘Sow know-how’ – designer Claudia Phipps with her picoChip sponsored ‘Chip & Pig’