Textile Design and the women from Bauhaus: case study of Gunta Stolzl's textile design methodology, 1920-1931

• Grant number: 10/10488-2
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): February 29, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Industrial Design
• Principal researcher: Antonio Takao Kanamaru
• Grantee: Nathalia Barreiros Araujo
• Home Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The paper deals with a case study of the Gunta Stolzl's work as director of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop (1919-1933). The work shop was made of basically female students that, despite the adversities, passed down great conceptual and methodological contributions to the modern field of textile design. Weaving was considered a feminine and inferior art, and through the years, got less attention in relation to the other languages of the project. Not enough, under Gunta Stolzl's orientation and her student's cooperative work, made the workshop one of the most successful, revolutionizing weaving through constant technique experimentation, esthetic and methodological, which resulted in modern fabrics, from the use of new material, uses, and even its visual shape. To that end, Gunta Stolzl faced many adversities and predicaments in the beginning of the operation of the workshop, but faced them remarkably until reaching the inside and outside acknowledgment to the Bauhaus. Former students became new masters in this specialty. Therefore, it is proposed as object of study, investigate and analyze Gunta Stolzl's work in the condition of master and designer of the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop, between 1920-1931, especially as to her design methodology, going from the premise that the cooperation, interdisciplinarity and experimentation in Gunta's direction, helped directly to overcome the difficulties found in the incipient Weaving Workshop. The dynamic utilized in the work propelled the formation of new masters of known contribution in the trade and the modern development of weaving in the textile design, whose knowledge might contribute to the development of the Brazilian textile design.