Kunstgewerbemuseum: The False Flower

The False Flower. A Design Fairy Tale by Hermann August Weizenegger

This show by the well-known Berlin product designer is an act of homage to Saxony’s earlier artificial flower tradition. Ever since the nineteenth century, Sebnitz, situated on the border to Bohemia, was pre-eminent as the centre of European silk flower production. The Dresden Museum of Decorative Arts, ensconced in the impressive Baroque palace and park complex of Pillnitz on the Elbe, provides the perfect background for this sensuous show.

Exhibition Site Schloss Pillnitz

DATES 27/06/2015—13/09/2015

For the exhibition Hermann August Weizenegger (HAW) turned his attention to so-called “blümeln” – “flowering” – the craft of making artificial flowers. In collaboration with the Deutsche Kunstblume Sebnitz he has developed two contemporary flower variants. With the two flowers as leitmotif, he is creating a scenario in numerous scenes based on the saga of Lore, a flower maker, who is said to have lived near Sebnitz. As so often in Hermann August Weizenegger’s works, it remains ambiguous as to what is genuine in Lore’s story and what he has dreamed up. One thing is certain: Weizenegger is deeply impressed by the art of the Sebnitz craftswomen. “’Blümeln’ demands enormous skill, particularly cutting and dying the petals. It would be such a pity if this century-old craft and special feature of an entire region died out.”

eine lila Kunstblume — **Die falsche Blume, Blume "Sebnitzer Flussteufel"**

But this involves more than just flowers and petals. The designer has invited porcelain and cloth manufacturers, also various craftspeople and artists to invest their talents in the “false flower”, including such resounding names as the renowned manufacturers Theresienthal, Curt Bauer, Welter, Weissfee and Meissen, also talented craftsmen like chair-maker Stefan Heinz, parquet-layer Gunter Ludwig, the trimmings manufacture Jende, the upholsterer Robert Krebes and the glass engineer Gotthard Petrick. Thus the two flowers now adorn all kinds of superbly handcrafted products – wallpaper, furniture, plates, glasses, Jacquard fabrics, also napkins and covers decorated with Plauen lace. “The False Flower” is nothing other than the endeavour to produce a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art.