Schönstaub is a young design-team based in Zurich producing machine woven carpets of high quality for people who love to walk barefoot. The most characteristic thing about their textiles is the nebula pattern that they fortunately used first, before we saw it on almost every piece of clothing or any other decorative piece. The carpets are made by a unique machine that enables the designers to actually weave the pattern and not just print it.
Nadja Stäubli, the cofounder and head designer of the company, wanted their clients to take a piece of this intergalactic fantasy along with them on their trips, so they came up with bath towels as well. We talked with her about the idea behind Schönstaub and discovered a few useful tips on how to clean our rugs.
I studied Photography at the University of Fine Arts and I didn’t feel like displaying a photo project as my bachelor work. David Schönen, cofounder and former coworker, and me, had a workshop themed around art and technology at the time, which inspired us to produce a carpet. It was close to when the BP oil spilled in the waters and the media was constantly talking about 'oil carpets'. That's when the idea came up first. Adding to our core business which are carpets, we wanted to offer our clients a product to carry with them on their journeys since our motto is: “The journey begins at home”. So, that's how we decided to make bath towels too.
Hard to say! Our towels have been to Brazil, Thailand, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Florida, Panama, Hong Kong, England.
We were very lucky to have the idea with the galaxy pattern much before the trend came up. I would say we were one of the first companies to use this image for home goods. Since we work with the only machine worldwide that can weave in a density of over 1, 5 million knots per square meter, we were drawn to the technique of it, the opportunity to weave high resolution images and not just print them.
Yes, the names of the carpets are actually the galaxies' names.
We do have some well-known athletes in our client list already, you can check those out on our social media.
There are many places I would love to see my work in. The house of Marina Abramovic, Pharell, Karl Lagerfeld, Ann Wintour, Roger Federer... you name it!
Of course. I have had one laying in my living room for four years now. They are super, super soft and feel cool in summer and warm in winter. Perfect for people who like to walk barefoot.
Yes, I do. I just recently spilled a whole can of hummus on it. The Nebula Collection is super easy to clean because of all the stars, so you can't really distinguish any stains. The black and white ones are a bit more sensitive as you can imagine. And yes, people need to take their shoes off in my crib, no matter the carpet.
A brush and soap are an effective way to clean the small spills. For bigger stains I suggest going to the cleaners though.
We are still looking into the next limited artist collection. We are very open when it comes to proposals. Of course we need an artist that fits our aesthetics. The next collaboration will be with a traditional Swiss fashion brand, it's planned to be launched by Easter 2015. We are hoping on working with an international fashion brand soon, developing a capsule collection for the home. We have some wishes but it's hard to get in touch with the right people at times.
I would love to work together with great minds and creators in general. It's always a great medium for artists and there are not so many opportunities like this out there.
Just keep on looking! A new bath towel collection will be launched in spring, they are already in production.
