Marianne Straub workshop at the School of Textiles, Coggeshall

This workshop was given by Mary Schoeser and Kate Wigley.  All images are from the Marianne Straub Collection,  courtesy of Mary Schoeser, and the School of Textiles.  

Marianne Straub lived 1909-1984.  She was brought up in Switzerland but had polio from the age of 4-8.  This left her with a shortened leg, and she wore a built-up shoe.  When she was hospitalised and in bed, she was given an inkle loom to keep her occupied, by her father, who was a textile designer.  At 17 she commenced fabric design.  She was part of a handworking school of the Bauhaus tradition. There were many schools of this tradition, but 'The Bauhaus' was martyred and became famous due to the mythology of those in exodus.  So, as Mary said -  No, Marianne Straub was not Bauhaus trained.  

Women were excluded from further training in Switzerland, so Straub applied to Bradford, UK, to learn specialised weaving techniques.  She applied as M. Straub, so became the third woman to be accepted on the course, from 1934-36.  Having completed her training, she moved to Hollywell Mill in Wales, where they were keen to work with her.  Her interest lay in designing for their equipment and yarns - Welsh wool.  She celebrated the qualities of the wool and worked to maximise it.  She understood wool as an elastic fibre.  Softly spun, wool is elastic; hard spun it is butch and hard.  She used yarn and weave structure to upholster curves - this meant less stress on the corners.  She became a specialist in madder dyeing.  She because known for her 'language of British modern furniture' - in wool, whereas the Europeans used leather (Corbusier).  

From 37-49 she moved to Helios.  This textile manufacturer produced fabrics for shops, not for decorators.  Her bias designs worked well with the elasticity of wood.  This was design led by use - upholstery was different from curtaining.  During the war years she continued experimenting - and became adept at using left over yarns for her samples.  

During the wartime years, she developed a lot of double sided weaves.  These were expensive as a single piece of fabric, but because they did not need a lining which reduced curtaining costs. These fabrics were effective as curtaining because they were thick and warm due to the double layer of weave.   Examples were Brisbane and Adelaide - possibly for the British Government buildings - she named fabrics for the location either where she was or for the client's location.

Marianne Straub, Brisbane fabric, 1949
Courtesy of V&A museum

Marianne Sträub was designing in line with Government design intentions - using natural forms that had been designed using the new microscopes developed during wartime.    The Afwillite design was used for the restaurant at the Festival of Britain.  It had a huge pattern repeat - about 36".  It drapes beautifully and, being a double weave, was designed to be used unlined.

Afwillite fabric sample, with Marianne Straub's writing on the background.

Marianne Straub hand trialled all designs.  Her original samples are at Warners Textile Archive.  She transferred the feeling of hand weaving into power loom weaving.  She put a lot of effort into getting the warp threads right, so the weft wove quickly.  Yarns relax after being removed from the loom.  She knew that because of the texture achieved by hand weaving, texture read as luxury.  She produced 1000s of designs for multiple companies.  Her designs were informed by wear tests and flammability tests.  Her numbering system (e.g. 2975/1) meant the warp design number, followed by the colour trail number.

Helios fabric sample, note the bias weave for upholstery and variation of colour ways.

She sometimes used uneven spacing on the warp to give a textured weave.  The Ministry of Works commissioned many fabrics for Government buildings which kept the Braintree mills running.

Marian Straub, Silvertown sample.  Woven with a silver lurex fleck.

Marianne Straub textile sample, with her labelling system on a Warners label.

Marianne Straub, experimental cloth High Voltage Cable Suits.
 She designed the fabric for safety suits for people working on high voltage cables.
The dark line is a stainless steel thread, woven at quarter inch spacing
to give protection, along with enough flexibility for wear.

 She was part of the Great Bardfield group of artists.  There were photos of her with this set of people, although she told Mary Schoeser that she preferred some of the artists to others.  There was a photo of the prototype of the Antelope chair, designed by Charles Race, which he kept in his garden (all rusted in the photo) which he left to Marianne Straub in his will.

Straub designed for the cruise liners.  Also designed the Piccadilly and Victoria line mocquette (for train seats).  Also the District line colour way.  Straub believed the role of the designer was to keep weavers in employment.

Marianne Straub, experimental sample to give varied translucency.

Marianne Straub, experiemental sample showing different ways of using float threads

Section of Embroidered Cape, showing label from Mrs L Pilkington

Sleeve from garment woven by Marianne Straub

Weave was very loose,
so a beautifully fine binding has been added to the hem of the sleeve

Raw edge from sleeve seam.  

Marianne Straub went to Gospels for 9 months to learn how to improve her colour weaving.  She conducted many weave tests and introduced Gospels to double cloth weaving.  She used natural dyes for colour work.  The weave sample on the left below, is woven in the style of Gospels.  The centre, and right sample show how she adapted their colour work into her textured weave styles.

Weave samples

Textured sample with varied weight of threads

Textured sample with varied weight of threads

Gospels style weave with one yarn dyed in assorted colours.

Weave sample using coloured threads available post war.  

Strong, flexible upholstery fabric

Natural dyed weave, used as curtains by Marianne Straub and left to  Mary Schoeser

Diamond weave fabric for upholstery, showing front and rear.

Weave sample

Textured weave sample

Aprons woven by and used by Marianne Straub

Detail of above, diamonds about 1" long

"Norwich" Double weave cloth, slashed on one side.

Alec Hunter, key designer at Warners, was the Squire of the Morris Ring in (Braintree?) and asked Marianne Straub to design fabric for the dancers waistcoats.

Double sided weave Burdale, showing both sides.

Corner of Mrs L Pilkington cape.  Astonishing detail around the entire front edges, neck and hem.
All hand stitched.

Experimental sample - Look closely at the weft thread to see how it tracks to and fro.

This sample was worked with overspun weft yarn,
so the thread bobbles up when the tension is released as it is cut off the loom. 

I am not a weaver so I don't really understand the technical details, but her work was way ahead of its time.

Marianne Staub was multi-lingual.  She enjoyed how language was used - terms such as 'use the dye bath to exhaustion.  She worked extensively with symbolism - and considered the ravages of time on cloth.  She saw parallels in the frailty of textiles and people.  She was very self effacing.  She matched knitting yarns and tweedy fabrics.  She understood how dyes worked on different fabrics.

Mary Schoeser's first book proposal was to Marianne Straub about writing a book about her, along with an exhibition at the V&A.

When Mary applied for a job at the V&A, she was asked what exhibition would she like to research and run - she replied it would be about Marianne Straub.  Mary believes this is what got her the job!  So when she approached Marianne Straub, she was surprised at the diffidence with which MS took the approach.  Nothing further was heard from MS - Mary put this down to lack of ego.  The a couple of months later, Mary gave a presentation on another subject at the V&A, and sort of noticed a late entrant to the darkened presentation room - she thought no more about it.  Then Mary had a meeting with MS to discuss the proposal further and was instructed to bring her own dye samples. MS was busy prior to start of discussions and in a rush, said 'Just warp up that loom so I can show you how I work'.  Mary warped the loom in the complex way she had been taught as a student.  MS looked at it, and said "I see you warp in .... style - good!'.   Mary now realises MS had been evaluating Mary's skills as a speaker and her technical skills before giving her consent to allow Mary to write a book about her.  The exhibition took place, and the book was written.

Part of Mary's philosophy now, is about her obligation to pass knowledge forward, which is what she is doing to work with the School of Textiles.

It was a great day at the workshop on Marianne Straub.