Sonnhild Kestler
Sonnhild Kestler (born 1963 in Germany, grew up in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss textile designer. She was awarded the Schweizer Grand Prix Design in 2010 for her life's work. Her work was exhibited at the Museum of Design, Zurich in 2011.
Sonnhild Kestler
- Born
- 1963 · Germany.
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- designer
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wikidata · Q109480078 · wikipedia · Sonnhild Kestler
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Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Life and work
Life and work
Between 1981 and 1985, Sonnhild Kestler studied textile design at the Schule für Gestaltung Zürich, the school for applied arts in Zurich. Since 1985, she has been working as an independent designer, for labels such as «Pink Flamingo», «Apropos» und «Sourire enSoie». Temporarily, she also worked as an illustrator and set designer for films. In 1988, together with Karin Wälchli, she opened her own studio, with a fabric printing shop. At the same time she opened the store Georg Couture with designer Matthias Georg in Zürich, where she sold her first pieces. To this day, she runs a one-woman textile manufacturing company. Kestler manufactures her products at the block printing company and design label she founded in 1996: S.K. Hand-Druck, Zurich. Her products mainly consist of shawls, scarves, foulards, but also include terry linen, woven wool, and cotton scarves and accessories. Her works are inspired by folk art, the folklore of Eastern Europe, Asian art, traditional Indian textiles, and everyday culture. The designs are created in a collage technique: individual pictorial elements printed on paper, combined in variations over and over again before the images are manually screen-printed onto fabric. Her products are mostly made in Switzerland: for example, her scarves and foulards are spun in Appenzell. Only the embroideries are made in India and the crochet lace in Turkey. The textile designer creates small series that are sold exclusively at «Thema Selection».
Documentary record
Sonnhild Kestler (born 1963) is recorded as a designer. Sonnhild Kestler was born in 1963.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1963
Sonnhild Kestler born at Germany.
Awards
In 2010, Kestler was awarded the Grand Prix Design, which is endowed with 40'000 CHF. The Federal Office of Culture has been awarding this prize since 2007 to recognize Swiss designers or design studios that make a significant contribution to the reputation of Swiss design at national and international levels.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Sonnhild Kestler, revision 1348927417 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sonnhild Kestler-about.
- 2.Objekte – Sonnhild Kestler – Biografien – eMuseum Museum für Gestaltung Zürich Archiv Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK.
- 3.Marianne Kohler Nizamuddin. Im Atelier der Textildesignerin Sonnhild Kestler. 2011-01-26.
- 4.Bundesamt für Kultur. Sonnhild Kestler.
- 5.eMuseum Museum für Gestaltung Zürich – Archiv Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK. Sonnhild Kestler.
- 6.Sonnhild Kestler-about.
- 7.Marianne Kohler Nizamuddin. Sweet Home: Weihnachtsgeschenke – Schenken Sie Schweizer Handwerk und Design. Tages-Anzeiger. 2020-12-06.
- 8.Bundesamt für Kultur. Sonnhild Kestler.
- 9.Sonnhild Kestler-about.
- 10.Thema Selection.
- 11.Bundesamt für Kultur. Sonnhild Kestler. Schweizer Grand Prix Design 2010.
- 12.Bundesamt für Kultur BAK. Design.
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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