The Werkraum Bregenzerwald is the meeting point of an innovative, design-oriented group of craftspeople. It is also a place to showcase the local crafts and design culture. Numerous craftspeople exhibit their visionary ideas here. During a visit, you’ll quickly see which ingenious ideas originated in this region.
by Marsa Kindl-Omuse and Katja Guttmann
The knowledge of local woodworking techniques has been passed down through generations, which opens up room for innovation. “When you work with wood, there are no limits to your imagination,” says Bernhard Domig. Proudly, the carpenter from Langenegg opens the creaking wood door of the mill-display cabinet to present his best-seller: pepper and salt mills - and a newly added one for chilli peppers. Each piece is unique, with a clean form and a different wood pattern. You can’t help but touch them.
There are many other examples of Bregenzerwald craftsmanship on display that you simply have to touch: perfectly designed furniture and household gadgets are showcased at the Werkraum Haus. About 100 manufacturers of all sorts have joined the association to present their daring creations and inspire each other. 40 % of the businesses work with wood.
The carpenters have set very high standards for themselves: Anton Mohr from Andelsbuch, for example, says that his drawers are made with such precision, that they won’t get stuck for at least a hundred years, and even then only a tiny bit. And in his wooden butter-dish, made from solid acorn with a finely polished surface, butter remains spreadable because the wood can regulate humidity. Only someone who has been working with local wood varieties for many years has this kind of know-how.
„The people of the Bregenzerwald are at once very traditional and very progressive. I knew that I would encounter progress here, but they keep surprising me time and again.“
Pritzker-Prize winner Peter Zumthor created a fitting new home for the multitude of design ideas: the glass building of the Werkraum Haus with its sweeping, dark, wooden roof is discreetly minimalistic. And yet it exudes friendly hospitality: at the long wooden tables at the Werkraum kitchen, anyone who is hungry can enjoy lunch, coffee, and cake. Simply stop by and dive into the creative world of craftsmanship, since the Werkraum Haus and its workshops and exhibitions are open for visitors.
Markus Faißt, a carpenter in Vorarlberg’s Hittisau, invites you to join a tour of his premises: cupboards, tables, chairs, and dressers - the products of Faißt’s Holz Werkstatt are all made by hand according to the strictest ecological criteria. Equally high ecological as well as technical demands are standard at Bernhard Domig’s workshop in Langenegg.
Faißt and Domig are among numerous wood craftspeople at the Bregenzerwald who continue and newly interpret the centuries-old craft and building tradition of the region. Nowhere else in Europe can you find a similar density of highest quality wood craftsmanship as in the Bregenzerwald.
„Craftsmanship is in our blood: We have crafts in our thoughts, in our talented, practiced hands. Most importantly: We embraced crafts in our hearts.”
Traditional crafts developed in such a way as to leave plenty of room for creativity when it comes to designing living spaces. Architects, craftsmen and builders get both inspiration and materials directly from nature. A combination that is hard to beat.
A glass pavilion, a jumbled wood pile, a forest of sticks with stairs: the bus stops in Krumbach are delightful surprises.
