«New in the Collection: Carpet and fabric patterns by Elsi Giauque»

Elsi Giauque learned weaving from former Bauhaus student Heinrich O. Hürlimann, who encouraged her to experiment with colors and materials in accordance with Bauhaus ideals. After becoming an instructor at Zurich’s Kunstgewerbeschule in 1926, Hürlimann left one of his looms to Giauque. She proceeded to set up her own hand-weaving workshop, “handweberei elsi giauque,” on the “Festi” hill in Ligerz, where she created geometric-patterned designs in a variety of materials and structures. From the 1940s on, Käthi Wenger, a former pupil of Giauque’s, continued to execute her designs. For the 1964 “Expo” in Lausanne, she made carpets designed by Giauque in collaboration with the architect Ernst Gisel. The extensive donation made by Elsi Giauque's daughter to the museum gives an idea of her enormous oeuvre, preserved mainly in carpet and fabric patterns.