robert roth + stephanie hornig imprint canning heritage

robert roth + stephanie hornig imprint canning heritage into resort collection
image © designboom

every year, vienna design week organizes passionswege, a program that selects and pairs young contemporary designers with local historic companies in austria to produce something for the fair. on this occasion, stephanie hornig was teamed with robert roth, one of the few craftsmen that mastered the viennese artistry of hand-weaving cane called ‘wiener geflecht’. this vienna netting owes its name to michael thonet, who first used it for his chair nr. 14. the ‘wiener geflecht’ has been widely employed in many other chairs and furnishings ever since its appearance and its aesthetics have become a strong part of austrian history.

the collection is composed of a series of bags and baskets
image © kollektiv fischka – kramar

the netting is still widely used and although no longer hand-woven, its its industrially produced. when stephanie hornig started working with the material, she knew immediately that in order to preserve the heritage, they had to find different applications and create an interaction between the medium and the user. to do this, they decided to apply the material to something never seen before, giving it a new meaning.

using the netting to create bags shows its flexible yet strong structure
image © designboom

the result was a collection of bags presented at roth’s workshop in an installation that showcases the variety of soft applications to the netting. these objects are reminiscent of the outdoors and remind us of the origin of the material. combined with leather, textiles and modern hardware the versatility of the material is shown and its unusual applications deepen our understanding of it.

detail of the sport’s bag
image © designboom

on the process, hornig commented that, ‘during my initial conversation with robert roth, I realized that the canning is always pushed into hard frames of metal and wood, but what if this frame was soft? suddenly a whole new world opened up in front of me. today, partially industrially produced, the ‘wiener geflecht’ can be acquired by the meter, just like a textile. with recent projects I learned that braiding is one of the only craft techniques that can create a flexible construction within its own stiffness. in this way it can replace any kind of net or flexible but stable construction. by combining it with leather and textiles its unique crafty character is enhanced and seen in a different way.’