Category: Textiles

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week a curated playlist of audio is made on the streaming platform Spotify. The playlist can be heard on the player above or by searching Spotify online or in the app for “Music to read a blog by”. Each of the entries has something to do with the blog. Sometimes the reference is obvious;…

  • Racoons… in Europe?

    The North American racoon, cute as it may be, is classed as an invasive species. Brought to Europe, in particular Germany, in the 1930s to boost the fur trade, these mammals have now spread across large parts of the continent. They are omnivorous and adaptable, competing with, and preying on, small native animals and birds,…

  • Brocade

    Collection: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Apparently brocade, that opulent and maximalist fabric, is making a comeback… This article from Architectural Digest explains how the fabric, once the exclusive property of royalty, nobility and the extremely wealthy, is being used in fashion and interiors, and there are new innovations being trialled…

  • Horst in the library

    A new book has been added to the textile library: Horst, Photographer of Style. Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann was born on August 14, 1906 in Weißenfels-an-der-Saale in Germany. He studied design and carpentry, and architecture in Paris where he met he met George Hoyningen-Huene, the preeminent photographer at French Vogue. Huene became Horst’s mentor, inviting…

  • A tartan to remember

    In February this year a new tartan was registered in Scotland: Witches of Scotland. Designed to commemorate those women who were persecuted as witches due to The Witchcraft Act 1563 to 1736 in Scotland, this cloth is registered to the Witches of Scotland Ltd. The design stands as a living memorial to those who suffered.…

  • The Spotify playlist

    The blog is accompanied most weeks by a curated Spotify playlist. The entries on the list have something to do with the blog articles. Half the fun is finding out what that link could be! Top hear the list click on the player above or head to Spotify.com and search for “Music to read a…

  • A winter window

    The studio window display has been changed for winter. This season woollen blankets feature with pride of place being given to a 1974 Commonwealth Games blanket in red, white and blue. Alongside that are three other blankets, all from the United States. They are from the middle of the last century and feature skiers and…

  • The Women’s History Museum of Zambia

    Zambia, a land-locked country that shares borders with Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi, has a rich history and the place of women in that history is celebrated in a virtual museum. The Women’s History Museum of Zambia brings together artefacts, stories, recordings and research to propose and explore ways in…

  • Reader contributions

    This week there are links from the United States, Australia and New Zealand. A festival of joyful celebration was held in New York: The Pinkster Stroll. Reviving an old custom that enabled enslaved people to come together in one of the country’s oldest African American holidays, The Pinkster Stroll is an uplifting occasion to dress-up…

  • Articles from elsewhere

    Most weeks, the blog receives contributions from readers to share. A new section has been introduced as part of the revamp of the week’s newsletter: Reader contributions. This section will be short summaries of those links that readers have sent in so others can explore ideas and events from elsewhere. Anyone can send in suggestions…