Fabric Woven with Dornier P2 Rapier Weaving Machine Turns into Artwork
Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude had the idea for this mammoth project as early as the 1960s: The Arc de Triomphe, one of the most historic monuments of the French capital, located in the middle of the famous roundabout at the Place de l’Etoile, was to be transformed into one of those spectacular wrapping artworks through which Christo achieved world fame. In May 2020, however, the “Master of wrapping” died. His nephew, Vladimir Yavachev, has now accomplished the final artwork of his famous uncle according to Christo’s original plans.
The Dornier P2 rapier weaving machine: A flexible tool
25,000 square metres of silver-blue fabric cover the 50 meter-high Arc de Triomphe, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 in honour of his victories, completed in 1836. The work was presented to art lovers between September 18 – October 3, 2021. The coated fabric used, made from recycled polypropylene, was provided by the traditional weaving mill Setex Textil in Greven, Germany. It took one year to produce this fabric especially for this work of art on a Dornier P2 rapier weaving machine. “Only one weaving machine came into question for this demanding fabric” reports Konrad Schröer, owner and managing director of the North Rhine-Westphalian family business. Schröer continues „The ideal solution is the P2 with its new shed geometry and increased performance in combination with our experienced weavers and their textile know-how”.
Furthermore, Setex manufactures on the P2 fabrics of the highest quality made of glass, polyester and polypropylene fibers – used as coating carriers as well as for filtration.
Dornier technologies were also used in Christo’s previous works
Technology from Lindau on Lake Constance played already a part in earlier works by Christo, who always chose his “wrapping materials” very carefully. Thus, the polypropylene fabric that spectacularly covered the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995 and the material for Christo’s project “The Gates” in Manhattan’s Central Park were also produced on rapier weaving machines from Dornier.
The technical properties of the textiles used for these art performances are anything but trivial: In addition to sufficient resistance to wind loads, artistic criteria such as light reflection or fall of the folds are important influencing factors. The fabric developed for this purpose must therefore have a texture optimized in terms of lightness and stability. Economic and recycling aspects also play a role.