In Dialogue with Otti Berger: An interview with textile designer Katja Stelz

Reproducing weaves by Otti Berger was a lot like having a dialogue with Otti Berger. I even kept a diary during the process because I had so much going on in my head. My goal was to create a fabric that matched the original as closely as possible – in terms of technique, colouration, material, feel and function.

These fabrics are now 100 years old and were made with materials that no longer exist. For that reason alone, the reproductions are not 100% copies, but artistic approximations of the original. It’s only when crafting them do I experience the entire process. I have to understand the fabric in order to recreate it. First of all, the material is very new and foreign to me. I have to get a sense for and become familiar with the materials. How do I treat the material to create a fabric that possesses the functions and original character I’m looking for?

In addition to the technical aspects, there was also an emotional level to the process: getting to know the designer Otti Berger. I asked myself what she knew about the aura of the finished textile while she was designing it. Was she surprised by the finished product? How much preparation and experimentation when into it?

Both fabrics are made with special materials, and their uses differed significantly. The wall fabric made from ramie ribbon is quite ingenious – it’s evident that Otti Berger had experimented with it a lot beforehand. There are a number of small sample specimens in the collections which we examined in preparation. Berger used the ramie fabric for the covers of her pattern books and draped it across a lighting fixture for a light installation.

I suppose Berger became familiar with and studied the functions of the material through experimentation. Once she had created the fabric, she tried using it for various purposes. The goal of the cellulose-based fabric, on the other hand, was to create a spectacular impression and interior acoustics with a sound-damping quality. Before production began, Berger experimented with various weaves. Samples of these still exist in Zurich. Berger finally decided on a type of weave that was especially suited for achieving the desired function.

Weaving is thinking with your hands. To reproduce a weave, I have to get up close to the fabric. Something that normally isn’t possible at museums. I have to hold the fabric in my hand and study it under a magnifying glass. I have to carefully ply apart the threads to compare and understand the weave pattern. The biggest challenge was to find the right materials, as these no longer play a role nowadays in textile design and weaving.

I looked around for a long time all over the world, and finally I hit gold in Switzerland and Italy. The threads are very similar to the originals. I had a miniature sample that I used to reproduce the cellulose-based fabric. We had no idea what the original fabric was like.

During the working process, I was closely studying a 6 x 6 cm piece of fabric which was originally intended as a wall covering for large indoor rooms – like in a cinema. Even while I was weaving, I only had miniature samples to look at. After removing it from the loom, when it was hanging up in the workshop and I could look at it from a distance, the fabric was suddenly different.

I was very surprised! It was no longer a textile made of black warp and white weft threads. Rather, the black and white merged together to create a jaw-dropping, foil-like, silvery shine. That’s how it was supposed to look! Only on a large area did the fabric make its biggest impression.

Weaving is an extremely complex technique. To help people understand it who don’t know how to weave themselves, I produced a “making of” documentary on the research and working process which is now part of the Bauhaus-Archiv collection. To truly understand the fabrics, it’s important to give people the opportunity to touch samples.

Both fabrics – on account of the material alone – possess a highly sensual quality. It also helps to present the fabrics in the way and form they were intended. For example, the ramie-based fabric is translucent when draped against an illuminated background – which Judith Raum demonstrates in her installation for the temporary bauhaus-archiv. This is the kind of thing you can do with reproductions in an exhibition room.

Most of all, I’m delighted that the weaver Otti Berger has been rescued from oblivion and her magnificent work is now appreciated. She joins Anni Albers and Gunta Stölzl as one in a line of great Bauhaus weavers. Albers was an artist, Stölzl an outstanding artisan, Berger a modern textile designer. Those are three very different areas which are important for the textile arts. Otti Berger was the one we were missing with her very unique signature and intention. She collaborated with the industry.

Reproducing the fabrics enabled me to become acquainted with Otti Berger as a designer and exceptional artisan. Reproducing the weaves helped me understand her thought process as a textile designer. I’ve come to admire her artistic confidence, virtuosity and artisanal expertise. Berger single-handedly instilled her fabrics with architectural functions. The textile analyses showed us how Berger devised textiles as an integral component in architectural design – for lighting, insulation and acoustics. Even Berger’s upholstery fabrics possess a sculptural function and are intended for interior settings.

Nowadays, textiles with such versatility and quality have largely vanished from architecture. Most fabrics today are decorative – pillows, drapes, carpets. It’s so wonderful to see what new possibilities Otti Berger’s work can still offer us today. We’re rediscovering the characteristics of textiles for the rooms of today and the future.