mischer'traxler

Katharina Mischer (Austria, 1982) and Thomas Traxler (Austria, 1981) met whilst studying. After graduating from the IM-masters department at the Design Academy Eindhoven and several years of collaboration, they founded mischer’traxler studio in Vienna, in 2009. They develop and design objects, furniture, processes and installations, focusing on experimentation and conceptual thinking, within a given context. Balancing between handcraft and technology, they envision whole systems, new production methods and kinetic or interactive installations that question topics, tell stories or open up new ways of doing things. Their results are poetic records that interact with the viewer and evoke unexpected reactions. Through their projects, the studio shows that design can be functional, good and beautiful, not just as an objects but also as the ideas it represents. Their works have been displayed in numerous museums and at international festivals and fairs. Projects by mischer’traxler are to be found in the permanent collections of the Art institute Chicago, the Vitra Design Museum and the MAK Vienna. As a studio, mischer’traxler was also honoured with the ‘W-hotels designer of the future award’ by Design Miami/Basel and W-hotels in 2011 and recently with the ‘Young Talent Award’ by the Be-open foundation.

Isochrone 

A multilayered tabletop, representing the various layers of Schloss Hollenegg's history, is made by carefully piling colourful strata of pigments, glue, sawdust and paper onto each other. Once dried, the finished tabletop is placed underneath a big pendulum. Slow and constant, the pendulum swings circularly back and forth, abrading a section of the tabletop. Through the monotonous, steady and continuous movement, a bowl is formed on the tabletop, and the layers of which the surface is made of, are unveiled. Isochrone tries to capture time and pace within a process and an object. It is a constant movement representing time and continuity, to be observed in a calm meditative manner. The finished object is a hybrid between a flat surface table, and a bowl; it enriches and complements perfectly the collection of special, unusual and occasionally strange objects, that decorate the rooms of Schloss Hollenegg. 


project-development mischer'traxler: Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler, Maria Bauhofer
material development: Eva Ohrhallinger