Jacquard white
Jacquard white
Jacquard white
Jacquard white
Jacquard white
Jacquard white
Jacquard white

Jacquard white

ab 80 CHF

The delicate algae motifs woven into the fabric appear very lively, floating vaguely in the water as the different weaves reflect the light in ever-changing ways.
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Material and info
  • white jacquard fabric, 100% cotton, 140 gr/m2, 300 TC
  • duvet covers with zip
  • pillowcases with envelope fastening
  • 60° washable
  • calender finish
  • made in Northern Italy
  • other sizes are made to order
  • photographs: Katharina Lütscher
Delivery

Free delivery for orders over CHF 200.
More info: Refund Policy.

Project description

Estelle Gassmann’s interest in seaweed, in all of its forms and features, goes back to March 2017. While visiting the Museu Marítimo de Ilhavo in Portugal, she discovered the work of Américo Teles (1893-1983), the founder of the museum and a passionate algologist. There she bought the book Guia Prático de Preparação de Algas Marinas, a practical guide to preparing seaweed, published by his granddaughter Sónia Teles.

Estelle Gassmann decides to learn how to prepare algae and attends a workshop in March 2018 with Sónia Teles, an architect who lives in Porto and manages her grandfather’s estate.

In July 2018, Gassmann joined an excursion of biology students from the University and the ETH in Zurich to Roscoff in Brittany. She worked at the Station Biologique de Roscoff, selecting and collecting seaweed at low tide. She prepared and pressed some of her finds; others she left to dry in the sun. She took all of them home again on her return to Switzerland.

That winter she placed the specimens from Roscoff in an illuminated bowl of water, one after the other, where they rehydrated and regained all of their colours. She examined their shapes and features – and she discovered traces. Gently, she spread them out on dampened paper using a straw of piassava fibre, occasionally cutting off one or two overlapping twigs. For hours, days, evenings. The specimens stuck to the paper. Having covered them with a layer of gauze, placed between newspapers and books, she spent the next few months making scans and isolating the specimens with Photoshop.

Pictured against a white background, they were now ready to be used for her new collection of bed linens: algas marinhas.

Gassmann enlarged them. Sometimes she found tiny snails sticking to them – and visible traces of salt. Some of the seaweed was already decaying when she collected them so that their colours ranged from old rose to pink. The fork weed shines light green. The palmaria palmata or red dulse lies aubergine-coloured on the table.

Work on the Text: Sibylle Carloni

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