mischer’traxler

Alcantara and the Maxxi museum asked 9 design studios to interpret Asian and European cities with the versatile material Alcantara. mischer’traxler studio worked on an installation focusing on Vienna.

Vienna is a city full of history, music, rhythm and emotions. It is not loud, not fast and not colourful. It is a secretive city that has to be slowly explored with open eyes. Then one can discover a lot of patterns that carry the characteristics of the city. In order to represent Vienna in Alcantara and as a small souvenir, the focus is on these patterns and structures that can be found within the city. Typical motifs are simplified into graphics and translated with Alcantara by making use of various production techniques like laser engraving, weaving and gluing. The resulting fabrics are then additionally turned into small objects. This way the tiles often found in the old (above ground) subway stations by Otto Wagner are made into folding boxes; the shingles of St.Stephan’s Cathedral become pillows, the ‘Wiener Geflecht’, a traditional woven structure of seats, is turned into a shopping-bag and the botanically inspired roof of the secession-building is converted into a lamp-shade whilst typical herringbone- parquet flooring is changed into home-slippers. Alltogether the fabrics and objects, all in typical dusty, slightly faded but still very charming colours give an overview of what can be found in Vienna and try to capture a glimpse of Viennese atmosphere.

The project was shown in the exhibition ‘East meets West’, curated by Giulio Cappellini & Domitilla Dardi, in February 2016. The group exhibition showed projects by Studio Job, Constance Guisset, Poetic Lab, mischer’traxler studio, Gam Fratesi, Neri&Hu, Hans Tan, Michael Young and Cosmas Gozali

Vienna is a secretive city that has to be slowly explored with open eyes. Then one can discover a lot of patterns that carry the characteristics of the city.