Time warp: Christian Fischbacher

Brand story by Jasmin Jouhar
Berlin, Germany
12.03.19

Swiss textile manufacturer CHRISTIAN FISCHBACHER takes historical designs and traditional weaving techniques into the present with two new unique, contemporary fabric designs: INTERACTION and INTERFLORAL.

INTERFLORAL earned the Christian Fischbacher design team a 2019 German Design Award

The textile manufacturer Christian Fischbacher is celebrating its 200th birthday this year with a generous gift: two luxurious fabrics that are fittingly opulent for the festive occasion. INTERFLORAL and INTERACTION are the names of these new products from the tradition-rich family-run enterprise in St Gallen. Both employ the same bicolour basic fabric, literally a textile with a twist: when turned 180 degrees, it changes colour, from a shining gold to a silvery sheen.

Thanks to a refined weaving technology, the fine metal threads are placed such that they alternately come to the fore, depending on the angle – an especially beautiful effect in sumptuously draped curtains. The Christian Fischbacher in-house design studio has further enhanced this already extraordinary fabric with a hand-guided genuine moiré and a floral pattern. The splendid flower design of INTERFLORAL is based on historic patterns, Art Director Camilla Fischbacher explains, adding, ‘We did research in the digital archive of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.’

The two different metallic threads of INTERACTION are incorporated in such a way that the fabric changes colour when turned 180 degrees. The fabric was finished using a hand-guided genuine moiré technique

In old drawings and paintings, they found the roses, the lupines and the red poppy that are now blooming on INTERFLORAL. The design team took very different models and combined them in a new, contemporary pattern. In it, the blossoms seem to grow in two directions – and thus to follow the fabric’s every turn. This new designed convinced the German Design Award jury, which singled it out for a prize. ‘The way the shimmer of the cloth changes from gold to silver is fascinating and gives it an incredibly noble and valuable appearance,’ the jury said.

INTERACTION, on the other hand, celebrates traditional fine craftsmanship. Few firms still have a mastery of the art of pressing two layers of cloth together such that the special radiance of a moiré results. ‘That gives the fabric something uncommonly vibrant and luminous,’ says Camilla Fischbacher. ‘With their versatility, INTERACTION and INTERFLORAL perfectly fit our times.’

INTERACTION is available in four colour combinations: gold/silver, red gold/Britannia silver, copper/sterling silver and steel/platinum. INTERFLORAL comes in the gold/silver combination. Both products are well-suited for curtains.