Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/32301
From left: Pieces from mischer’traxler’s Idea of a Tree project; the solar-powered machine used to create the color-thread-wrapped pieces; the playful Relumine lamp; below, Thomas Traxler and Katharina Mischer. mischer’traxler Organic forms are explored as a visual metaphor of production in de- signs from Viennese duo Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler of mischer’traxler. For their Idea of a Tree project, they used a solar- powered contraption to wrap a series of benches and chairs in col- ored thread, resulting in a striated pattern that poetically mimics the variegated lines of a tree’s growth rings through various seasons of the year. In other projects, mischer’traxler re-conceptualize forms with a smart examination of familiar visual tropes. Lamp heads bookend flu- orescent rods as if transmitting a beam of light between one another, while bookshelves made of salvaged wood ends are joined with cloth bandages, in a tongue-in-cheek nod to the rescue and reuse of ragtag odds and ends. Graduates of Design Academy Eindhoven, Mischer and Traxler explain that their conceptualization of each project is often more intensive than its execution. “We see the outcome also as a mean of communication to raise questions or to make a statement.” Of their current Conversation Piece under way, the designers offer a curious working title—“It needs more than one”—but are hesitant to divulge further. As with the others, we’ll just have to wait and see. 46 CULTURED