GERLIND MARTIN Isabel Bürgin has been plying her craft ever since she began training to become a textile designer and hand weaver in 1981. Her bright, highceilinged workshop in a rear building located in the Klybeck district of Basel has been well used in the past. Bürgin’s grandfather and an uncle of hers used to run a confectionery business there. Confectionery and weaving are traditional crafts, says Bürgin. “I am continuing the family tradition.” Her workshop contains three looms and also acts as an office and showroom. Visitors can come and see and feel her colourful rugs, blankets and scarves for themselves. And Bürgin can talk to her customers face to face. She would never sit in a shop and wait for people to walk in. No, she has to work and move at the same time. “I love walking.” Bürgin wanted to become a dancer when she was younger. She has an agile physique. Her daily walks are a form of stimulation. “It could be a noise. Or a woman might pass me with an interesting colour combination on her clothes. Or it could be nature itself. Or the light. Inspiration can’t just be plucked like an apple from a tree. But you need to be receptive to it.” Bürgin creates her designs at the loom. She tries out different patterns and experiments with colours and yarns, constantly checking, discarding and changing. She gradually comes up with a blueprint that she can refine on her computer. “My ideas come from doing,” she explains. “And I translate my ideas into pictures.” Fascinating – but too difficult Isabel Bürgin learned how to weave in her textiles class at the Basel School of Design. However, she initially had trouble understanding the technical ins and outs. “It was fascinating, but I couldn’t get my head around it.” Everything changed when she and her five fellow students managed to get the curriculum reorganised into teaching blocks. This gave her the time she needed to focus on every element of the course. Bürgin gained a better grasp of the subject and was able to conceptualise what she was doing. “I was smitten. I finally understood textiles.” Bürgin explored the following question in her thesis: how would I like a tactile walkway to feel if I were Isabel Bürgin – a weaver inspired by her craft Weaving is one of the oldest forms of textile production. There are several hundred practising weavers in Switzerland. One of them is Isabel Bürgin. blind? “I wove my first-ever carpet back then. It was a runner.” Little did she know that she would be weaving carpets for 37 years and probably longer. “It has become a real passion.” No fear of failure Bürgin set up her own business in 1986 at the age of 24, armed with a hand weaving apprenticeship, a degree in textile design, and the worthwhile experience of doing an internship at Ulf Moritz’s design studio in Amsterdam. The “Dutch approach” of Isabel Bürgin displays one of her creations: a soft and voluminous carpet made from sheep’s wool. Photo: Lisa Schäublin Swiss Review / January 2025 / No.1 10 Profile
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