Ropes

Vienna Design Week, 2026

Together with Haanl, Anna Paul liberates the rope from its usual function and uses its structure, texture, and sculptural presence as the starting point for a series of oversized objects.

© Sophie Kirchner

Since 1889, everything at the Vienna-based company Haanl has revolved around ropes. Founded in Erdberg and based in Floridsdorf since 1912, the family-owned business is now run by the fifth generation. Over more than 130 years, materials and applications have changed fundamentally: in addition to ropes for agriculture, the company now produces industrial and steel ropes, nets, sports and playground equipment, and custom-made solutions. The expertise in the rope-making craft has endured – even though the apprenticeship program for rope makers was discontinued in Austria as early as 1975.

For Passionswege artist Anna Paul takes up this long thread – and at the same time takes it in a different direction. Together with Haanl, she creates short, oversized rope objects that defy the functions we typically attribute to the material: connecting, lashing, fastening, securing, lifting, or pulling. The focus is not on what a rope can do, but on what it is.

Structure, texture, weight, and volume become design elements in their own right. Too short to hold anything together, yet large enough to interact with the human body, the ropes become sculptural objects. In the lobby of the Festival Headquarters, they invite visitors to sit, linger, and play – and make use of a centuries-old craft in a way one might least expect.