In the new studio in Māwhera (Greymouth) there is enough storage space for the textile collection.
Over the many years that the collection has been growing it has been increasingly difficult to find ways to store and display the pieces. They need to be accessible for research, easily findable because they are useful for explaining the finer points of garments or cloth construction, and must be clean and stored out of the light. Luckily the studio has a storage space that is in the interior of the building, away from sunlight, and with good shelving. The space was the old museum for the town and so the shelving and furniture is good quality and fit-for-purpose.
This week many of the items have come down from the rooms up the stairs where they have been in storage. In the move there have been some surprising rediscoveries. Antique cloth with Viking longships printed onto it, 1950s designed napkins from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, patchwork quilts, textile art and much more besides. Over the next little while some of these will be featured on the blog.
The photographs below show the gloriously untidy, colourful space where the collection will be slowly catalogued and packed into boxes. Visitors to the studio will be able to access the collection by appointment once that is done. What a lovely job to do on the wet, cold winter days.
