The Bauhaus Dessau Foundation is pleased to present a very special endowment to its collection: a wall hanging (Half-gobelin technique) based on a design by Gunta Stölzl, weaver and head of the weaving workshop of the Bauhaus Dessau. The textile had up to this point only existed as a pattern, as a small and colourful watercolour dating from 1927/28 which is currently on show at the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum of Design in Berlin. Thus, the new wall hanging is a genuine original.

Commissioned by the kreis der freunde des bauhauses e.v. (Friends of the Bauhaus), textile designer and graduate of the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle Katharina Jebsen began by determining the colours in the watercolour, reproducing the pattern digitally and programming the loom. The piece was then produced on a Jacquard hand loom at Burg Giebiechenstein, with Prof. Bettina-Göttke-Krogmann serving as project co-ordinator. The result is a contemporary wall hanging measuring 118 cm x 123 cm with a striking and harmonious colour scheme, which is reminiscent of a painting. It is made from cotton (warp) and wool and two types of metallic thread. All in all, 3456 threads were used.

"While I was free to realise it as I saw fit, I also wished to stay faithful to Stölzl’s original idea", states Katharina Jebsen. "The design sketch is tiny and for that reason, even identifying the colours was time consuming."

On 2 September 2017 the kreis der freunde des bauhauses e.v. presented the tapestry to the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. A piece of history was thus returned to the Bauhaus Dessau.

The project was commissioned by the kreis der freunde des bauhauses e.v. in collaboration with the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle and the Bauhaus-Archiv Museum of Design, Berlin. The Bauhaus Dessau would like to thank the following contributors: Katharina Jebsen, Prof. Bettina Göttke-Krogmann, provider of the initial idea Ingeborg Arnold (Deputy Chair of the kreis der freunde des bauhauses e.v.), Monika Stadler (daughter of Gunta Stölzl), who offered up a choice of 5 sketches of never-realised tapestries, and Prof. Dr. Christoph Stölzl (former Chair of the kreis der freunde des bauhauses e.v. and nephew of Gunta Stölzl).