2008-08-08 10:41:41 - The young Viennese textile designer offers creative services of an exceptional nature

At her Viennese knitting workshop, Veronika Persché produces fabrics for use in the creative professions in both Austria and abroad. Her knitting expertise is in demand by both (fashion) designers and artists-these customers select colors, materials and designs in order to create the fabrics with which they themselves want to work. In this respect, the creative process begins one stage

earlier than is usually the case. All the previous designs and works by Veronika Persché are available to stimulate clients' imaginations and demonstrate the technical possibilities inherent in this special 'artistic service.'

In the wake of numerous collaborations with designers from Vienna, fashion designers and artists from abroad also began taking notice of Persché's work. Her materials have recently been seen in fashion shows in places like Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona, as well as in a première at the Zurich Opera. Other public appearances include trade fairs in Berlin and Copenhagen as well as at the Designers' Trail in Brussels.

Persché is open to inspiration anytime and everywhere-it can come from posters, signs, lettering and packaging as well as from façade ornaments and from the colors and patterns of others' clothes. The Viennese textile designer is constantly trying out new materials, patterns and effects, welcoming any material that her computer-driven fine knitting machines will process-be it mohair, polyester, rubber or metal threads. Ever the experimenter, she enjoys knitting together things that at first glance don't seem to belong together at all.

'My working method is somewhat bipolar. First there's the construction-strict, perfect and regularly textured,' explains the designer, who has a firm grounding in art history. 'The opposite pole is the material: this is organic and often imperfect or irregular, making it a good source of surprises, coincidences and accidents.' She discovers inspiring textures in the architecture of the Bauhaus movement, of Viennese public housing and of Italian fascism, as well as in Russian Constructivism and M.C. Escher's drawings. In processing these, she orients herself on the great role models provided by the Wiener Werkstätte and numerous traditional arts and crafts.

About the Designer
Even as a child, Veronika Persché-born into a family of graphic designers, wood sculptors and textile merchants-learned to crochet, knit and sew. She later trained as an artistic embroiderer, during which she also came into contact with historical textile working techniques and art history. Her artistic training at school included such diverse fields as ceramics, silversmithing and drawing. Later on, during her formal training as a textile designer, Persché developed a fascination with machines and the acceleration of work associated therewith-a passion that has carried through to the present day and continues to influence her own creative activity. An even more characterizing influence has probably been her personal love of the color green, something that also goes back to her school days: for years now, she has been an easy-to-spot figure at events of the Viennese fashion scene with her green shoes, green socks, green clothing, green accessories and-in the interest of consistency-green hair.
Veronika Persché conducts workshops at institutions including academies of art and design, events during which she shows fashion design students and other interested participants how to design their own materials. She also helps in these materials' realization and processing-with topics ranging from basic questions of textile and surface design all the way to the quirks and tricks involved with using computer-driven knitting machines. Her knitting seminars are intended to spark excitement for knitting techniques. Above all, however, Persché views them as a way to encourage creativity for its own sake.