The Clothworkers Centre

A brief snapshot of my visit to the Clothworkers centre, while I was in London, Feb 2019

​While I was a textile student in London, many years ago, the Victoria and Albert Museum was by far the best place to visit, study and draw inspiration from their huge collection of textiles. Back then, they had row upon row of custom made cabinetry that you could slide out to see the various fabrics that had been collected over 100's of years from around the globe.
I was very glad to be reunited with those cabinets, but they are no longer housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum, instead you can find them at the Clothworkers Centre in Hammersmith, London. (The image below shows one of these cabinets)

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In 2013, the V&A museum shifted, not just these cabinets, but its entire collection of 95,000 textile objects to a dedicated space at Blythe House, Hammersmith, London, named the Clothworkers Centre.

This facility offers visitors and researchers a unique opportunity to inspect and study its collections of textiles and fashion, ranging from archaeological fragments to heavy tapestry and carpets, accessories and underwear to embroidered 18th century court dresses and contemporary haute couture.

​The Clothworkers' Centre at Blythe House, Olympia. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

I felt so lucky to be able to book a tour during my short stint in London, in January this year. 
Also, on a seperate visit to the Clothworkers centre, I was able to get up close and have some one-on-one time with some early textile pieces from the Asian collections which I'll also share.

I learnt that the very dedicated team of curators and assistants are currently working hard at digitally archiving every piece so the entire V&A textile collection will be available online. (so yes, just 95,000 objects, no small feat)
And this is to be done, before the collection is on the move again, as part of the big V&A East project, which will be home to be a brand-new museum at Stratford Waterfront, in London, opening in 2023.  Booking my flights now!

THE CLOTHWORKERS TOUR:

At the beginning of the tour, you are greeted by a number of mannequins cloaked in white protective capes. These rows of mysterious figures, represent some of the loans that have been returned from various exhibitions that they have taken part in from around the world.
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And I was very happy when our guide decided to reveal a couple of them to us. I'm sure her choice wasn't random. ;-) 

The first reveal:  A Schiaparelli, evening ensemble, of a lush silk purple velvet and with embroidered sequins.

When I think of Schiaparelli, I think of her shoe hat and her love for pink. I have always been a little in awe of her, sleek and modern, bordering surrealist art with her fashion in the 1930's. Wonderful to see this evening ensemble of hers.
Schiparelli was quite a character, and it has prompted me to look her up again! In the meantime to find out more about this particular design here is the link - collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88472/evening-ensemble-elsa-schiaparelli/

The next reveal, a Bloomsbury group waistcoat, from the Omega Workshop. This textile design was jacquard woven and block printed. I am very fond of Vanessa Bells textiles, who was part of the Bloomsbury group and so happy to have seen this classic up close. 

As the tour proceeded, we are guided down a corridor with huge storage systems to the left and right, some are open for us to peek into, only to find each the collection of pieces meticulously under wraps and carefully labelled. 

So staying close to the tour guide, we excitedly huddle around her, as she pulls open one of the large drawers and lifts away the sheets of tissue. 
Next reveal: A lavish gold and white beaded ivory evening dress worn by Queen Elizabeth II on a state visit to Paris in 1957.
The dress was designed by Sir Norman Hartnell, and is called 'The flowers of the fields of France' and features some rather special Napoleonic bees. Designed to compliment the French nation and draw attention to the Queen.

V & A collections

And the last, but not least, main highlight of the tour, and after much conversation with my fellow textile enthused tourists, we are shown this incredible gown. A 1740's embroidered Court gown. Unpicked to lay flat in storage. 

Photo taken from the website - The V&A collection

So that is a little snap shot of the tour, and guess what, this is the best part, myself and the 5 other people who were on the same tour as me decided to take ourselves to the pub for some lunch. As you do.
But what was really fabulous was we were all textile enthusiasts on one level or another, all from far flung parts of the globe. And all made conversation and connections about textiles that had personal meanings to us.  Chats over a pint are the best. Great to make new friends indeed!

The Clothworkers appointment

At the clothworkers centre It is not only possible to book into regular tours, but it is also possible to book one on one time with your choice of archive fabrics. You need to spend some time researching on their website, which is an almighty task, and then once you have decided, you secure an appointment at the Clothworkers centre, settle yourself by one of the large tables, and they bring out your chosen selection. Being an out of towner, I was lucky to get an appointment, as 3 months notice is generally required. However, they were very kind, seeing I was from NZ and only in London for a few weeks, so as long as I chose something from the Asian collection, I could nip in with only 2 weeks notice. 
I have had a long standing fascination with Ikat weave, so started there. Then I wanted to ogle fabric that was rather ancient, so that was my next choice.

This is called a Patola cloth. It is a double ikat woven sari, made from silk. This one is made in Gurjaret, India and dates back to the early 19th century. It was made for export to Indonesia. They are still made today and are very expensive, once worn only by those belonging to royal and aristocratic families.
Patola-weaving is a closely guarded family tradition and it can take six months to one year to make one sari due to the long process of dying each strand separately before weaving them together. Here is a clip if you want to see the work involved Ikat dyeing and weaving

Detail of the Patola Sari cloth. The warp and weft threads are individually wrapped before the dyeing to create the pattern

Gujarat Ceremonial textile, Cotton. Dated 14th - 15th Century

I loved hovering over this textile piece which dated back the late 14th century, also made in Gujarat, India. It is made from cotton and block printed.
This ceremonial cloth had an intriguing design of a woman carrying a parrot with female attendants holding an umbrella. The design is repeated over two registers. Apparently the motifs mimic those seen in an western Indian manuscript painting of the period 1400-1500 and earlier. 
Cloths like this one served as banner hangings and stage-set backdrops for ceremonies, especially harvest festivals and celebrations of rites of passage. 
It was incredible to see the depth of the Indigo dye, still very bright even after 100s of years.

And that's about it! It was certainly nice to sit with these textiles for an hour and contemplate the craft and skill involved.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse, of a couple of mornings spent at the Clothworkers Collective in London.

Next blog will be about the 'Sustainable Angle' - a textile trade show I visited while in London. Lots to un pack there! Stay tuned.