White Bag with Sewn-on Black Textile Bands from the Estate of Emilie Flöge, c. 1910

The White Bag with Sewn-on Black Textile Bands is part of an ensemble of different textiles encompassing various objects in recurring color combinations. The bag also exists in an opposite version – as Black Bag with Sewn-on White Textile Bands.
The slightly transparent white fabric of the small bag contrasts with the sewn-on solid textile bands. Josef Hoffmann (1870–1956), who had worked with textiles of the Wiener Werkstätte as early as 1898, preferred using simple black and white – he also used this combination in the Schwestern Flöge fashion salon, which he decorated in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte with matching furniture. The sisters Pauline (1866–1917), Helene (1871–1936) and Emilie Flöge (1874–1952) founded this exquisite fashion boutique in 1904; it was located at Mariahilferstraße 1b, not far from today’s Leopold Museum.

AT, 2023