Designer: Gunta Stölzl
Gunta Stölzl designs are bright, abstract and creative. Inspired by modernists like Kandinsky, she applied geometric principles to her textiles, moving away from traditional pictorial forms. She favored patterns that were clear, direct and simple. While studying and then teaching at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, Stölzl transformed its weaving workshop as the first female Master. Her progressive ideas, grasp of the technical, and strong design sense elevated textiles to the status of art.
• Kept detailed diaries about friends, classes and readings, starting at the age of 14.
• Worked as a Red Cross nurse during World War I.
• Taught Annie Albers.
• Forced to resign from the school in 1931 due to growing political pressures associated with the rise of Nazism.
• Experimented with synthetic materials in weaving, including cellophane.
Quote: The Bauhaus Period was, for all of us, like a chamber of inalienable treasures, especially the Weimar period, where one could devote oneself fully to one's work without any sort of calculation.
Attended: Bauhaus School
Known for: Abstract patterns and textiles
Representative Pieces Shown Above:
1. "5 Choirs" Jacquard Wall Hanging, via Think Designer Prints
2. African Chair, collaboration with Marcel Breuer made with her textiles, via Parenthetically
3. Collier-Campbell fabric based on Gunta Stölzl tapestry pattern, via Margaret Cooter
4. Limited edition Gunta Stölzl rug by Christopher Farr
5. "Stölzl Plate 160" from the Design Within Reach Gunta Stölzl Colelction, via The Design Files
6. Poster of Stölzl designs from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, produced by Aquarelle Publishing. Via Guntz Stölzl Foundation
7. Wall Hanging from the Metropolis residential building in New York City, via Gunta Stölzl Foundation
8. Chair collaboration with Marcel Breuer, via Fibre
9. Fabric, via Ffffound
10. "Rhythm" Wall Hanging, via Nothing was Disastrous
Stölzl On the Web:
• Gunta Stölzl Foundation
• Gunta Stölzl at Christopher Farr
• Bauhaus Online
(Images: as credited above)