Spielraum

Research, Product Design, Crafts

Prix Paille 2026

Spielraum is my contribution to the Prix Paille 2026 at the Strohmuseum in Wohlen. The project translates historical straw ornaments into play equipment for today’s children: a climbing rope and a set of rings. The starting point was the agréments of the Aargau straw industry, tiny straw buttons and ornaments made with remarkable precision. During a guided tour of the museum I learned that many of these miniatures were probably made by children, which led me to research the widespread child labour in the Swiss straw industry around 1900.

The agréments fascinate me for their craftsmanship and aesthetic quality. At the same time, they quietly bear witness to an era in which children worked under harsh conditions. That is a stark contrast to today’s idea of childhood, shaped by play, leisure and voluntary learning.

In Spielraum I deliberately reverse their scale. The filigree miniatures become large, physical structures: straw cords grow into ropes, Knöpfli and Pfanne-Rugeli into loops and forms you can grab. Once enlarged, the technique becomes legible and takes on a new function. Objects once made by small hands become part of a playground, for climbing, swinging and free play.

The prototype consists of two play objects, a Knöpfli climbing rope and a set of Pfanne-Rugeli rings. A Pfanne-Rugeli, originally about 15 mm in straw, becomes a ring of around 15 cm. The Knöpfli grow from about 1 cm to 12 cm in diameter. Both are made by hand from red and yellow polypropylene rope, with cork balls inside the Knöpfli and stainless-steel carabiners for mounting.

Only at second glance does their history reveal itself: forms once tied to child labour now stand for children’s play. The project honours a craft heritage while making social change visible.

Exhibited at Prix Paille 2026, Strohmuseum im Park, Wohlen. On view until April 2027.

Left: Collage – the Schnürli-Knöpfli climbing rope and Pfanne-Rugeli rings in use on a playground. Right: A Knöpfli of the climbing rope.

Pfanne-Rugeli rings made of yellow polypropylene rope.

The Schnürli-Knöpfli climbing rope and two Pfanne-Rugeli rings.

Model: possible ways of transferring the ornaments into a new context – the playground. Pfanne-Rugeli as loops and as a swing, Schnürli-Knöpfli as a climbing rope.

Left: Sample card with a selection of straw ornaments. Source: Strohzeiten, Geschichte und Geschichten der aargauischen Strohindustrie (p. 95). Right: Pfanne-Rugeli and Schnürli-Knöpfli made of straw cord (source: Zauberhaftes Stroh, Herstelltechniken aus dem Freiamt, Veronica Main), next to their enlarged versions made of rope.

Making the Schnürli-Knöpfli climbing rope: the doubled rope is pulled through an 80 mm cork ball, then wound tightly around it and fixed with pins until the ball is fully covered. The rope ends are finished with lock stitching and rope seizing.

Making the Pfanne-Rugeli rings: the rope is threaded through an oversized 3D-printed needle, wound around its tip and pulled through. The loops are then compressed into a stable, rigid ring.

© Katharina Sauter 2023
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