The Tea Towel

Vera Roggli

ISBN 10: 3039422812 / ISBN 13: 9783039422814

Published by Scheidegger & Spiess Dez 2025, 2025

About this Item

Neuware -The dishwasher has robbed the good old kitchen towel of some of its practical significance. Nevertheless, it remains present in many households, hand-woven or industrially produced, lint-free or absorbent, dirty or clean, inherited or replaceable. In some kitchens, special attention is also required, as there is one for the hands and one for the dishes. For a long time, specially made kitchen towels were a luxury and reserved for the upper classes. Industrial mass production has changed this, and today two developments can be observed: while kitchen towels are displayed as design objects in museum stores and craft stores, they are also standardized cheap goods. In The Tea Towel: Perspectives on an Everyday Item, 13 authors, artists, and designers enter into a dialogue with the object and examine it from a literary, journalistic, artistic, technical, and sociopolitical perspective. The contributions of very different tones complement each other and create new references. In text and images, the book encourages a rediscovery of the everyday kitchen towel as a sensual object with which many socially relevant topics are associated. ; Der Geschirrspüler hat dem guten alten Küchentuch einiges an praktischer Bedeutung geraubt. Dennoch bleibt dieses in vielen Haushalten gegenwärtig: handgewoben oder industriell produziert, fusselfrei oder saugfähig, schmutzig oder sauber, geerbt oder austauschbar. Als Textilie und Alltagsgegenstand steht das Küchentuch stellvertretend für viele gesellschaftlich relevante Themen wie unbezahlte Hausarbeit, Kolonialismus und Gleichberechtigung. Zudem weckt es vielfältige Assoziationen und ist Träger von Erinnerungen, Erlebnissen und Anekdoten. Lange Zeit waren speziell angefertigte Küchentücher ein Luxus und den oberen Klassen vorbehalten. Industrielle Massenproduktion hat das geändert und heute lassen sich zwei Entwicklungen feststellen: Während Küchentücher als Designobjekte in Museumsshops und Handwerksläden ausliegen, sind sie zugleich standardisierte Billigware. In dem englischsprachigen Buch The Tea Towel. Perspectives on an Everyday Item treten dreizehn Autor:innen, Künstler:innen und Designer:innen in Dialog mit dem Objekt und untersuchen es journalistisch, künstlerisch, kulturgeschichtlich und technisch. Die Beiträge ergänzen sich und bringen neue Bezüge hervor. In Text und Bild regt das Buch dazu an das Küchentuch neu zu entdecken, als sinnliches Objekt, das weit mehr in sich trägt als ein Gebrauchsgegenstand. 304 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9783039422814

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Tea Towel
• Publisher: Scheidegger & Spiess Dez 2025
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3039422812
• ISBN 13: 9783039422814
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 186W x 119H x 20D millimeters 186 millimeters width by 119 millimeters height by 20 millimeters depth
• Weight: 294 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The meaning and history behind the humble tea towel. 

The dishwasher has robbed the good old kitchen towel of some of its practical significance. Nevertheless, it remains present in many households, hand-woven or industrially produced, lint-free or absorbent, dirty or clean, inherited or replaceable. As a textile and as an everyday item, it is emblematic of topical social issues, such as unpaid care work, colonialism, and equality. Moreover, a tea towel evokes manifold associations and is linked to countless personal memories, experiences, and anecdotes.

For a long time, specially-made kitchen towels were a luxury and reserved for the upper classes. Industrial mass production has changed this, and today two developments can be observed: while kitchen towels are displayed as design objects in museum stores and craft stores, they are also standardized, cheap goods.

In The Tea Towel: Perspectives on an Everyday Item, thirteen authors, artists, and designers enter into a dialogue with the object and examine it from a journalistic, artistic, technical, and cultural-historical perspective. The contributions of very different tones complement each other and create new references. Texts and images invite a rediscovery of the everyday kitchen towel as a sensual object that carries much more depth beneath its seemingly ordinary surface.

About the Authors

Vera Roggli is a textile designer living and working between Italy, Switzerland, and Belgium.

Eva Wolf is a graphic designer and illustrator;Basil Linder is a graphic designer and typeface designer. They jointly run the Bern-based design firm Studio Eva Basil.

Basil Linder is a graphic designer and typeface designer; Eva Wolf is a graphic designer and illustrator. They jointly run the Bern-based design firm Studio Eva Basil.