An the beginning it is always the same for Laurids Gallée. “I run in circles and I’m stressed out,” says the 34-year-old designer. In this case he was at Hollenegg Castle in Austria, invited by Alice Stori Liechtenstein. The Italian founded a cultural association there in 2015. In search of inspiration, Gallée wandered through the rooms of the castle for several days – looking for an answer to the question: “How do I manage to work with this and bring something contemporary into it?” Gallée discovers a painting showing Ladislaus von Fraunberg , the last Earl of Hague. The lord of the castle, Alfred Liechtenstein, tells him the story of the man. It clicks at Gallée.
The result is the Ladislaus tapestry, measuring nine square meters in the larger version. The colors and the motif leave you speechless. A red leopard is bathed in light blue flames, it seems to be falling. He wears a yellow collar with a leash that wraps around his body. A cloudy moon hangs in the dark rainy sky. A leopard is said to have once lived in the castle with Count Ladislaus von Fraunberg.
“Feeling of helplessness and sadness”
“All his love affairs have ended in disaster,” says Gallée. A woman died, another bride ran away from him. Her brother gave him the animal as a farewell gift: “They were inseparable.” The count died without heirs. “I thought it was nice that the animal is so symbolic that its love affairs are manifested in it.” Does the carpet show the animal’s arrival at the castle or its death? “I deliberately left open what happens before or after that,” says Gallée. The leopard fascinated him. “I wanted to focus on the exotic, which we love in the West but which has no place in our culture.” The tapestry is currently being shown at Hollenegg Castle in the “East to West” exhibition.
The collaboration with Reuber Henning, a label for handmade carpets, was new for the designer. “We chose you,” says Franziska Reuber to Gallée and laughs. “We were excited about making a tapestry and were totally smitten with the leopard, a strong animal that falls.” For Gallée, the leopard conveys a “sense of helplessness and sadness.” He only had one concern: “Leopard patterns are often synonymous with trashy, cheap items.” That’s why he decided on the unusual red color of the fur.
Reuber Henning wants to produce carpets “close to people”. “We work with understatement,” says Reuber. “Anyone who wants to show that they have spent a lot of money buys other carpets.” The tapestry is made in a very classic way, the limited edition is hand-woven in India from New Zealand wool. He was pleased that Gallée did not have to be responsible for this part of the process. It took several weeks for the team to agree on a final draft. The first drafts of the leopard were even more colourful. But Gallée and Reuber Henning had to bow to the limits of technology. It does not detract from the radiance of the motif: the tapestry is still dyed in 26 tones.
