Tales of Hoffmann

Jen DeRose -- Interior Design, 3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Stopped in her tracks by a fabric sketch in the Neue Galerie New York's "Dagobert Peche and the Wiener Werkstätte," Maharam's vice president of design, Mary Murphy, embarked on what has become a three-year exploration of textiles from the Austrian workshop. Part of the company's Textiles of the 20th Century line, the 34 patterns now include a 1913 woven by Josef Hoffmann, known for his shift from representation to early modernist abstraction.

Never produced before, this pattern is being offered under its archival name, Design 9297. Originally a tapestry construction, the fabric now blends cotton and rayon in a satin weave that imparts a subtle sheen. Colorways remain as true as possible: scarlet, magenta, ash, olive, ocher, Lake, Peacock, and Umbra, all reworked based on other designs by Hoffmann.

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