Ruth Adler Schnee's Textiles

Ruth Adler Schnee’s upbringing features a cast of design icons. Her mother studied at the Bauhaus, a revolutionary German design college, and she played in the studio of artist Paul Klee as a child. After fleeing Nazi Germany, Adler Schnee attended the Rhode Island School of Design and Cranbrook Art Academy. She even worked in Raymond Loewy’s office, where her desk was sandwiched between architect Minoru Yamasaki and designer Warren Plattner.

Trained as an interior architect, Adler Schnee made her foray into textile design while competing in the Chicago Tribune’s “Better Rooms for Better Living” competition. Unable to find appropriate fabrics to furnish the award-winning residence she designed, she created her own. Shaw, Ness & Murphy, an architectural firm, noticed the textiles and placed an order for them, effectively jump-starting Adler Schnee’s textile business.

With the funds for this initial order, Ruth Adler Schnee set up shop on 12th Street in Detroit. There, she taught herself how to screen print. She soon met Eddie Schnee, who became her husband and lifelong business partner. Eddie helped print Ruth’s textile designs and even invented whimsical names for them. They later opened Adler-Schnee Contemporary Home Furnishings in Detroit, which sold Ruth’s textiles as well as other contemporary wares.

Pins strewn about her sewing table. Snowflakes under a microscope. A stack of firewood. Adler Schnee took inspiration from the world around her, both the fantastic and the mundane. She created strikingly modern abstract and often organic forms. For this design, aptly named “Seedy Weeds” by her husband Eddie, Adler Schnee was motivated by – you guessed it – her personal garden.

Adler Schnee’s designs imbue a sense of joy. She once remarked, “I love clear, clean color. I find it uplifting. It gives people a feeling of well-being.” This love and appreciation for bold color shines through in her textiles, which are now fixtures in prominent museums across the globe and still enjoy commercial success through contemporary manufacturers.