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Weaving pattern for throw blanket, (untitled), ca. 1925
Gunta Stölzl
Weaving pattern for throw blanket, (untitled),
Gunta Stölzl,
*1091

Weaving pattern for throw blanket, (untitled),
ca. 1925

Gunta Stölzl
*1091
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Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Ausstellungsstrasse 60
8031 Zurich
Museum map
Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 94
8031 Zurich
Pavillon Le Corbusier
Höschgasse 8
8008 Zürich
Museum map
  • (untitled) Gunta Stölzl Weaving pattern for throw blanket
  • (untitled) Gunta Stölzl Weaving pattern for throw blanket
  • (untitled) Gunta Stölzl Weaving pattern for throw blanket
  • (untitled) Gunta Stölzl Weaving pattern for throw blanket
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Listen to the text
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Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983), a self-described Bauhaus master, was the only female workshop head at the Bauhaus in Dessau, taking charge of weaving from 1926 to 1931. The fabric sample shown here dates from this period and is part of a selection of the “structural fabrics” Bauhaus weavers were famous for.

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)

Webmuster für Couchdecke, um 1925
Entwurf/Ausführung: Gunta Stölzl, Bauhaus Dessau, DE
Material/Technik: Baumwolle, Wolle, Köper- und Waffelbindung, handgewebt
20 × 14.5 cm
Eigentum: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK
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Literature

Magdalena Droste (Hg.), Gunta Stölzl. Weberei am Bauhaus und aus eigener Werkstatt, Ausstellungskatalog Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin 1987.

Monika Stadler/Yael Aloni (Hg.), Gunta Stölzl. Bauhaus-Meister, Ostfildern 2009.

Image credits

Webmuster für Couchdecke, um 1925, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gunta Stölzl, Bauhaus Dessau, DE
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Webmuster für Möbelbezug, um 1925, Entwurf/Ausführung: Textilklasse, Bauhaus Dessau, DE, Dozentin: Gunta Stölzl
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Webmuster, um 1929, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gunta Stölzl, Bauhaus Dessau, DE
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Korrespondenz, Gunta Stölzl an Erika Billeter, Kunstgewerbemuseum Zürich, 1964
Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Wandbehang, um 1935, Entwurf/Ausführung: Gunta Stölzl, Abbildung: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / ZHdK

Exhibition text
Textiles: Gunta Stölzl

The textiles from the collection of the Bauhaus master craftswoman Gunta Stölzl (1897–1983) are hand-woven templates for machine production from the Dessau textile workshop. The only woman among the young Bauhaus masters, Stölzl became director of the weaving workshop in 1927 and was responsible for its high-quality output. She succeeded in developing a convincing synthesis of technical skill and aesthetic form, imparting it to her students through her excellent teaching. In addition to experimenting with different materials and types of weaving, one of her stylistic hallmarks is the stripe, which allowed her to demonstrate the right proportions of forms and colors­­.