Blaudruck: Intangible Heritage of European Blueprint

03 Sep 2025

Reflections on Gutau’s Blaudruck-Fest, always the first Sunday in May

On the first Sunday in May the small Mühlviertel village of Gutau (Upper Austria) wakes up feeling blue. Market stalls spill out from the main square, block-printed table linens flutter on washing lines, and the smell of a fresh indigo vat drifts from the old Zeugfärberei workshop. This is the Färbermarkt—Europe’s liveliest celebration of Blaudruck (resist block printing with indigo). In 2025 it fell on 4 May and promised more than 100 exhibitors, fifteen working Blaudruck studios and makers from five countries—all squeezed into a tiny village of barely 2,000. I went with a fiber friend to see this in person, and we were not disappointed!

From local idea to European rendez-vous

The market began in 2000 as a handful of stalls outside the Färbermuseum; today it draws 5,000–7,000 visitors and is recognized as one of Austria’s most beautiful craft fairs, celebrating this UNESCO Intangible Heritage

Its growth mirrors a wider renewed interest in naturally dyed textiles: demonstrations now include live printing with wooden Modeln, guided tours of the museum (home to the last 19th-century dyehouse equipment in situ), folklore music on the church steps, and even a chance to climb the baroque tower for a bird’s-eye view of waving blue cloth.

Why Blaudruck matters

Blaudruck travelled along monastic trade routes from Asia to Central Europe in the 17th century, flourishing wherever flax and hemp were spun into linen. By the mid-1800s thousands of workshops dotted Austria-Hungary and Germany, printing everything from peasant aprons to wedding linens.

The process is deceptively simple:

Reserve. A clay-like paste of gum arabic, lime and alum called Papp, is stamped onto white cloth with hand-carved pear-wood blocks (Modeln). The precise recipe is a well-guarded secret, and I will do some tryouts to see if I can repeat it.
Dry. The fabric is then dried for four weeks. The old buildings still reflect this by having open upper floors that allow ventilation of the fabrics.
Dye. The cloth is dipped repeatedly into an indigo vat and the printed, protected areas resist the dye. The old vats were urine vats with woad, later substituted by imported indigo. In the morning the night urine would be collected in buckets to be brought to the dyery. In the (now museum) dye shop you could very well see how the fabric was attached to a spiral shape with small metal hooks, so it could fit easily into the (still really large) indigo vat.
Reveal. After rinsing and oxidation the reserved motifs—stars, sprigs, Catholic symbols—glow white against deep blue. The fabric is now calendered (= passed between calender rollers at high temperatures and pressures) for a smooth sheen finish.

Indigo’s extraordinary wash-fastness gave rural communities a hard-wearing, colour-fast fabric that could compete with much costlier woven brocades. Local printers developed region-specific block patterns—stars in Saxony, tulips in Moravia, Edelweiss in the Alps—so a skirt could declare both craft pride and regional identity. The technique also allowed thrifty re-dyeing: a well-loved apron could be over-printed and sent back through the vat for a second life.Fun fact: 'On a blue Monday' refers to the dyers who would dye on Mondays, and in between dips, had to wait out the oxidation process. So it seemed like they had nothing to do.

In 2018 the craft was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a joint nomination by Austria, Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. The Gutau festival has become a yearly ‘family reunion’ for these remaining European blauprinters, offering an informal forum to swap recipes, mordant tricks, and market realities.

The market

15 Blaudruck artisans await you, as well as plenty of other stalls with handwoven, eco-printed, and hand-knit goods. There is also a food corner with local delicacies, coffee, and beer. There are fabrics by the yard on cotton and even vintage linen, and many gorgeous accessories. I managed to 'not' buy fabrics because honestly I still have a pile from Indonesia waiting to become something. But I did get some gifts for back home and I bought a lovely hand-knit cardigan from Emma which served me very well for the remaining days of my stay.

Planning your visit

Arrive early: tour buses start rolling in by mid-morning.
We took two trains from Vienna to Pregarten, and then a free shuttle to Gutau. A long trip, but comfortable. Train tickets are about 90 euros for a return ticket and should be purchased via the internet up front (purchasing at the station is much more expensive!)
The entrance fee to the festival is 4 euro per person.
Start at the museum to understand the mechanics before you shop.
Watch a vat demo in the Zeugfärberei—the color change from yellow-green to blue never gets old.
Browse with questions: every printer is happy to explain whether their blue comes from plant-grown indigo or a synthetic vat, hand blocks or rotary screens.
Take a detour: this year’s special exhibition pairs Austrian indigo with Korean notan blueprints—an inspired east-meets-west dialogue.
Check for all information faerbermarkt.at