Lint op rol, gestreept, groen met magenta, zwart, grijs en oranje before 1926

This striped roll of ribbon in green, magenta, black, gray, and orange was made by Gustav Schnitzler, but we don’t know when. I love to think of the act of making something that is itself then used to make. What was Schnitzler thinking as he printed those stripes? Was he methodical or wild? Did he consider the ways someone might use it? The roll is so tight, so controlled, but the colors are fun, almost childlike. It's neat yet energetic. That magenta next to the green makes my eyes hum. I imagine Schnitzler considering color combinations, playing with combinations of stripes. What happens when you put magenta next to green? It's like they vibrate, you know? Then that gray stabilizes it, like a break in the visual rhythm. The stripes are also so parallel, they evoke a whole history of textiles and painting. It makes me think of the American minimalist Agnes Martin. We all borrow from each other, whether we know it or not. Painting, like design, is just an ongoing conversation. We see, we respond, and we add our own little stripe to the roll.