Weaving pattern for throw blanket, (untitled),

ca. 1925

The Decorative Arts Collection acquired this small selection of textiles from Gunta Stölzl’s own holdings in 1964, finding it representative of her work in Dessau on the specific demands of textile design. The fabric derives its appeal from the variable crossings of the threads and the different yarns employed, forming an exciting contrast between glossy and matte, light-reflecting and lusterless. The use of new fibers such as rayon (viscose), iron yarn (paraffin-treated cotton), or cellophane strips enabled technical innovations in the field of home textiles. Stölzl succeeded in combining fabric properties such as abrasion resistance or tensile strength with an aesthetically pleasing balance of color and form. When Gunta Stölzl emigrated to Switzerland in 1931, she brought her expertise to bear on her work for the company she cofounded in Zurich, S-P-H-Stoffe (Stölzl-Preiswerk-Hürlimann), which specialized in handweaving. In 1937, she became sole owner and changed the name to Handweberei Flora. Although Stölzl had produced sample pieces for industry during her Bauhaus years, when her explicit goal was the mechanical production of textiles, in the end it was only the handloom that gave her enough creative freedom “to develop an idea from experiment to experiment.” For thirty years she sold handwoven fabrics and tapestries in Zurich, pieces that were shown at, among others, the Swiss National Exhibition of 1939. (Franziska Müller-Reissmann)