21 November 2023

Seen at the MAK Design Lab: Designs for fabrics and wallpapers by Wiener Werkstätte artist Felice Rix-Ueno, which are still in use today

The press conference for the exhibition 'Stars, Feathers, Tassels: The Wiener Werkstätte Artist Felice Rix-Ueno (1893 - 1967)' at the MAK Museum of Applied Arts Vienna took place today. Fashion.at published an article about the exhibition in October, especially on the occasion of the collaboration with Akris, whose creative director Albert Kriemler was inspired by Felice Rix-Ueno for the Akris Spring/Summer 2024 collection. The Swiss brand is the sponsor of the exhibition, which shows the wide range of Felix Rix-Ueno's creativity.

Fashion.at was invited to the press conference and had the opportunity to join a guided tour through the central room of the MAK Design Lab, where the exhibition about Felice Rix-Ueno is located. The MAK Design Lab is the beating heart of the museum, focusing on the history of design with a view to the future. Currently, visitors can access two other interesting exhibitions in the lab; one shows the textile objects from the Berta and Bernard Rudofsky Collection, and in the room to the right as descending the stairs, the exhibition 'Critical Consumption' focuses on the production of fashion.

The new exhibition grew out of research into the women of the Wiener Werkstätte, whose work is often unrecognized and whose names are rarely documented in the history of design. In the central room of the MAK Design Lab, selected designs by Felice Rix-Ueno are on display, ranging from drafts for textile patterns, design studies for the coloring of enamel decorations together with the final designs, as well as illustrations for the Wiener Werkstätte's fashion marketing activities, designs for bags, cushions, and wallpapers. The objects date from the time she worked for the Wiener Werkstätte from 1914 to 1932 and from the years she lived in Japan.

The space is divided into disciplines such as the design of fabrics or wallpapers. On the floor of the room are lines that resemble a pattern once created by Felice Rix-Ueno for the Wiener Werkstätte; the fabric design is called 'Archibald'. Exhibition designers Marie Rahm and Monica Singer of POLKA Designstudio created a playfully animated digital representation of the fabric in motion - a digital copy of the pattern originally designed for a print on cotton fabric. Another fabric highlighted on today's tour was the 'Fuchsie' pattern for a Wiener Werkstätte fabric from around 1930, which is presented in the so-called 'Fashion Showcase' additionally with an original dress made from the fabric and several other examples showing how the fabrics were used for clothing at the time of their creation. Most of Felice Rix-Ueno's designs for Wiener Werkstätte fabrics were used for fashion and lampshades.

In the opening speech, MAK Director Lilli Hollein and exhibition curator Anne-Katrin Rossberg introduced the exhibition by announcing the 'Felice Rix' stamp, which was issued today by the Austrian postal service Österreichische Post. The stamp depicts the fabric 'Geranium' from the MAK collection. The stamp is one of two issued on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the Wiener Werkstätte. (More information is published on https://www.post.at/en/p/z/commemorative-stamp-november-vienna-workshop.)

Among the approximately 200 objects on display are designs that are still being produced today, such as several of the wallpapers shown, as well as scarves and notebooks that are currently available at https://www.makdesignshop.at/. The wallpapers were produced by Linden Co. Ltd., Osaka, a cooperation partner of the MAK Museum, using a special surface printing process that the company demonstrates in a video. The scarves and notebooks in the MAK Design Shop are from Linden's 'L.Rix Fantasy' brand.

Fashion.at received the accompanying German/English catalog as part of the press materials. The catalog can be recommended (available at the MAK Design Shop). It provides an overview with a selection of objects as well as articles on Felice Rix-Ueno's work and life, including other family members such as her sister Kitty Rix, who worked primarily as a ceramicist for the Wiener Werkstätte. The history of design is set in the context of the political circumstances of the 1930s in Austria, as well as her work in Japan, where she and her husband founded the International Design Institute.

The exhibition 'Stars, Feathers, Tassels: The Wiener Werkstätte Artist Felice Rix-Ueno (1893 - 1967)' opens today and will be on view through April 21, 2024; details at https://www.mak.at/en/felicerixueno.

Images, from left: On the left is Anne-Katrin Rossberg, curator of the MAK Metal Collection and the Wiener Werkstätte Archive at the MAK Museum of Applied Arts Vienna. Anne-Katrin Rossberg curated the exhibition 'Stars, Feathers, Tassels: The Wiener Werkstätte Artist Felice Rix-Ueno (1893 - 1967)', which will be on view from November 22, 2023 to April 21, 2024. Right: The exhibition design was created by Marie Rahm (left) and Monica Singer (right) of POLKA Designstudio.