Of course, we talk with Trix Haussmann, the trained architect who also worked extensively in urban planning, about furniture, lamps, fabrics, carpets—more the specialty area of her late husband. "A carpet is a must, always," she says, something she learned early on from her first mentor, Rudolf Oligati. "Even just for the acoustics."
The "Allgemeine Entwurfsanstalt" has worked a lot with and for hotels, also for banks, on business interiors: "A carpet is still indispensable there today, there's no need to even discuss it." This is how the designs for Stripes, Dégradé, and especially Atlantis came about, the carpet collection that Ruckstuhl is currently reissuing: "Already at the end of the 1960s, we developed a furnishing concept for the Hotel Atlantis in Zurich, designing the lobby and the bar. In 1986, we were allowed to redesign the entrance area, for which we also designed new carpets that both emphasized and simultaneously broke through the strict architecture of the building."
Stripes? "Oh, like tossed into the air in a game, a delicately flowing black-and-white striped silk scarf becomes a fold." Dégradé? "For Robert, it was more about his color-theoretical thinking, with which he wanted to explore the sensual effect of materials and the expressive power of craftsmanship techniques."
