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In 1926, Gunta Stölzl, head of the Bauhaus’s weaving workshop (and one of many extraordinary women at the school), designed a patterned blanket that laid across beds in the Prellerhaus dormitory at Bauhaus Dessau.
The “Prellerdecke” blanket (“Preller” refers to painter Friedrich Preller and “decke” means bedcover in German) was intricate yet modern, with lines and colors that intersected to create a striped pattern. Stölzl’s students in her workshop handwove more than 100 of those blankets, which have all since been lost.
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Now, the blankets are coming back to celebrate the Bauhaus’s 100th anniversary this year. Jörg Klambt, founder of Designshop Bauhaus Dessau, commissioned London textile studio Wallace Sewell to recreate the blanket design.
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Wallace Sewell referenced an archival photo of the original blanket to accurately capture the “rhythm and simplicity of Gunta’s design,” working closely with Stölzl’s daughter, Monika Stadler, in the process.
After detailed design development on small looms, the resulting Wallace Sewell Prellerhaus blankets incorporates a few modern updates. While the original was made from rayon, a popular material during the Bauhaus era, the new blankets use a more sustainable fiber, wool. The blankets also now come in two new color ways fit for a contemporary palette. The new color ways will also be available as cushions, scarves, and bags.
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The designs will launch in July at Wallace Sewell, Designshop Bauhaus Dessau, the Tate Edit Shop at the Tate Modern in London, and the shops at the Guggenheim and the Cooper Hewitt in New York City.