SPARK CONVERSATIONS
Taking Measures: The Art of Tailoring
In Conversation with Rudolf Niedersüss
By Mark Alexander Grübbeling
November 19, 2025
Oscar Kokoschka paid for his suits with paintings, and Marlene Dietrich had her tailcoats made here. Since 1858, KNIZE has been synonymous with the art of tailoring. And since 1976, Rudolf Niedersüss has been running the shop on Graben. His bespoke tailcoats are part of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage. The salon was designed by Adolf Loos and remains almost unchanged to this day. Here, you can buy a piece of art and cultural history. Andone gasps when the grand seigneur Rudolf Niedersüss start to talk about his life, between salon and atelier. A manwho knows everyone who´s anyone yet has always remained true to his art. In conversation about style, Viennese balls and the art of tailoring.
SPARK Art Fair: Mr Niedersüß, I remember it as if it were yesterday. When I decided to move to Vienna, I knew I needed a tailcoat – from KNIZE. So when I arrived here on a grey November day, I went straight to you and placed an order. It was a magical experience and a memory that I wrote down and kept in my golden book of sunny days. You run a company whose tailoring of tailcoats has been listed as intangible UNESCO culturalheritage since 2021. Where does craftsmanship end and art begin for you?
Rudolf Niedersüss: Neither ends. What we do is both craft and art. The art of tailoring, so to speak.
SPARK Art Fair: Art often addresses questions of the unfinished, the fleeting, the fragile, the provocative. Yourclaim is the opposite: perfection and permanence. Is this a contradiction?
Rudolf Niedersüss: Contemporary art is art that does not reveal itself immediately, but rather has to be worked onand learned to understand. What we do is art that does not have to be worked on by the viewer or wearer, but is obvious.
SPARK Art Fair: What makes a good tailor and tailcoat?
Rudolf Niedersüss: If he really knows how a tailcoat should be and can put that into practice. Incidentally, a tailcoat isnot just about the garment itself, but also about the culture of how and when to wear it, about the whole trappings.
SPARK Art Fair: Vienna is a city of culture. What are the must-see sights?
Rudolf Niedersüss: In my opinion, you should definitely see the four most important churches: St. Stephen’s Cathedral, St. Charles’s Church, St. Peter’s Church and my favourite church, where I married my (same) wife againand again, the Jesuit Church, which is really particularly beautiful.
SPARK Art Fair: Congratulations again on your wedding anniversary! For the hopeless romantics among our readers: What do you think makes an elegant gentleman?
Rudolf Niedersüss: An elegant gentleman is well dressed, but not flashy.
SPARK Art Fair: KNIZE is inextricably linked to the name Adolf Loos, whose purist aesthetic characterises theshop on Graben. Loos was a fierce critic of ornamentation. How does this influence your work?
Rudolf Niedersüss: The suit simply has to fit the customer. We don’t use any extra pins. It has to fit properly and suit the wearer.
SPARK Art Fair: Many artists work with limited materials, with found objects, with simplicity. You work withthe finest, most luxurious materials. Is that a necessity for the art of tailoring?
Rudolf Niedersüss: Many people think that a suit from Knize is unaffordable for them, but that’s not true. We do indeed have valuable materials, but we also have high-quality, inexpensive fabrics. One of our most affordable fabrics is used to make our best-selling suit, the Fresco suit.
SPARK Art Fair: Does the cultural and artisanal significance of your tailcoat make it a wearable work of art?
Rudolf Niedersüss: The tailcoat is not just a suit, it is also a cultural asset. It shows respect for the event and itsguests. From a craftsmanship point of view, it is incredibly challenging to tailor a perfect made-to-measure tailcoat. It is not without reason that our made-to-measure tailcoat was added to the Austrian list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022. If you ask me about the total work of art, yes, it may even merge into a total work of art with its wearer.
SPARK Art Fair: You were just talking about the culture surrounding tailcoats and how and when to wear them. I wear mine to balls. As a Hamburger, I have danced at many balls over the last two years, because I had to get mymoney’s worth. Which ball is your favourite in Vienna?
Rudolf Niedersüss: It’s the Techniker Cercle at the Musikverein. It’s not over the top, the people at this ball are extremely nice, and I meet many of our customers there.
SPARK Art Fair: And what is your favourite museum in Vienna?
Rudolf Niedersüss: My favourite museum in Vienna is the Kunsthistorisches Museum. I like the imposing building, the spacious rooms and the art on display.
SPARK Art Fair: I always find a lot of inspiration in museums. Where do you find your inspiration?
Rudolf Niedersüss: I find my inspiration in the customer himself and his anatomy. That tells me straight away what the suit should be like. I don’t need fashions or trends because we make very classic clothing that still looks good even after years and suits the wearer. This type of clothing is therefore also, as they say today, very sustainable. But that’s just the way it is with quality.
SPARK Art Fair: But the suit, especially the classic tailcoat, is also a symbol of convention. Do you see yourcompany as the guardian of this convention or as its secret avant-garde?
Rudolf Niedersüss: I think you are actually somewhat divided. On the one hand, there is the preservation of convention with the tailcoat, because you are bound by it, you celebrate tradition and cannot or do not want to deviate from it. On the other hand, with suits, you can sometimes respond to the wearer’s special wishes and implement them for them. However, I don’t see myself as a pioneer of intellectual development. Nor do I see myself as someone who crosses boundaries. Our suits are so good, though, that they are special and can berecognised from a distance, even though they are not conspicuous.
Sponsored by Bank Gutmann and Kniže & Comp
Rudolf Niedersüss
Owner Kniže & Comp
Mark Alexander Grübbeling
Communcation & Social Media SPARK Art Fair Vienna
Dania Kwizda-Dejanoff
International Relations SPARK Art Fair Vienna