bauhaus textile designs

In my opinion, Gunta Stolz and Anni Albers are underrated members of the Bauhaus movement.  They were key members of the Bauhaus design team and taught textile design, and developed innovative techniques and designs during an important historical era.  On the Gunta Stolz website Anni Albers is quoted as saying "There was no real teacher in textiles. We had no formal classes. Now people say to me: 'You learned it all at the Bauhaus'! We did not learn a thing in the beginning. I learned from Gunta, who was a great teacher. We sat down and tried to do it. Sometimes we sat together and tried to solve problems of construction."

The drawings and watercolours produced as sketches for the textile ideas are directly aligned with my own interests in geometric patterning.  I am interested in both the precision and the fluidity of these small sketches.



Our trip to the Bauhaus Archiv Museum in Berlin made it evident that although they are geometric designs and fit well with the masculinity of the Bauhaus movement - these designs display the femininity of their makers in their use of colour and materials.

The following page is an excerpt from my 'Berlin' sketchbook:

Done while in the Museum this note in my sketchbook is based on a drawing for a wallhanging design by Bella Ullmann (also known as Monica Bella-Broner) c. 1929.  My note about this design reads: " the red stripes are a really important feature of this design.  Prior to adding them it looked like a jumble of colours.  The precision of the stripes creates a contrast and a focus.  A small but important detail."