Visiting Rasch Tapetenfabrik: A Collaboration for The Restless Wanderer
- 1 dag geleden
- 2 minuten om te lezen
Almost a decade after the special-edition box filled with 100 postcards from the Victoria and Albert Museum, which included Shinkichi Tajiri wallpaper design Louisiana. I finally had the chance to visit the company myself. In 2023, as my brother Shakuru and I prepared The Restless Wanderer exhibition at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, we decided to visit Rasch Tapetenfabrik in Bramsche, Germany, the place where his wallpaper story began.
It was a two and a half hour drive from Kasteel Scheres in Baarlo. Shakuru and I brought along the scale model of the exhibition that we had built together with our mother, Giotta. We thought it would be wonderful to include some of Tajiri’s wallpaper designs in the exhibition to shed light on his time in Paris and this lesser-known chapter of his artistic journey.
When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the receptionist. The factory, founded in 1861, is still run by the Rasch family, something that made the visit feel even more special. Standing in the place where my grandfather had worked and stayed nearly seventy years ago was a moving experience. Hearing stories from the Rasch family, who had known both Tajiri and Ferdi personally, made that connection come alive.
Archive of Rasch Tapetenfabrik with articles, original designs and photos of Shinkichi Tajiri's time at the factory.
In the reception area, the factory’s archive had been laid out across long tables. The collection was extensive, filled with photographs, original designs, and articles about Tajiri’s years in Wuppertal and Bramsche. The former director, Gerrit Rasch, shared his memories. He had been around twelve years old when Tajiri worked at the factory, but he still remembered watching him with curiosity and excitement. He told me how Tajiri once made paper hot air balloons, lit them, and sent them floating into the night sky, an image I could picture vividly as he spoke.
Installation view of exhibition rooms with the wallpapers, The Restless Wanderer, Bonnefanten Museum, The Netherlands, 2023. © Peter Cox
It became clear to me that this was a special and significant part of Tajiri’s oeuvre, one that remains largely unknown to many. Visiting Rasch Tapetenfabrik and learning more about this early period in his career was especially meaningful for me, as I’ve always had a personal interest in interior design. It felt important to both of us to include these wallpaper designs in the exhibition. For The Restless Wanderer exhibition, we collaborated closely with Rasch Tapetenfabrik, who generously helped us digitize the designs and even sponsored their production, allowing us to showcase both the Paris and Louisiana patterns and make this important part of his work visible to a new generation.
