Buttondesign by Ulli Taferner

"I can't believe how small you can paint!" These were my mother's words 36 years ago when I first painted a miniature using a brush. My mother was a craft teacher who taught me everything she could about art. Despite her teaching, I always struggled to meet her high standards. During a lesson on silk jewelry, I used a hairdryer and a brush to paint a landscape at sunset. My mother was fascinated by my talent, and this moment planted a seed in my heart. Unfortunately, I forgot about my talent for many years. In 2015, my family and I moved to Bad Aussee in Salzkammergut due to several circumstances and coincidences. Recently, my husband asked me to design the temples of glasses frames he was making out of deer horn. This request brought back my love for miniature painting. This delicate art form still fascinates me to this day. Since Bad Aussee calls itself the “traditional costume capital of Europe” and almost everything related to dirndls was already available, I came up with the idea of painting buttons. This idea and my talent for miniature painting should be my “destination”. In 2017 I opened the “Ausseer Knopferl” in the heart of the traditional costume capital.