Staal met bedrukte zijde, dessin Tanzpaar 1915

Here's a steel and printed silk design, called Tanzpaar, by the Wiener Werkstätte. There's a band of zigzagging marks, printed in magenta and black. I imagine them deciding, let’s make a pattern that vibrates! This design feels very specific, like someone was saying, this is exactly how this dancing couple should be. It’s interesting to think about how the image gets transferred onto the fabric. The designer isn't just making something decorative; they're inventing a method to do it, and in that way, they become very technical. These design principles are about something very old and enduring – how we project ourselves and our own kind of rhythm and logic onto the world around us. I feel like they're telling me they’re inventing language, not just decorating a cloth.