For the Love of Textiles

Last Friday afternoon I went with a very good friend to the craft-fair in Zwolle because I had booked for the both of us a little workshop Bohus knitting . I didn't know much about it so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it had nothing to do with traditional Scandinavian knitting but that their was a lot of influence of fashion , art and design in the knitted garments.The colour combinations are really wonderful as can be seen on this cap Marja did show us which is knitted with the original yarn and nothing can beat that. You can't buy the pattern or the yarn. It can only be bought as a kit through the website from Solsilke . After we got a little info from Marja , we did start with a little wrist-warmer in which we could see the effect from Bohus knitting. I haven't finished it yet, but will and probable knit it a little longer to make fingerless mitts from this sample. I didn't spend much at the fair (have plenty of yarns at home) but I couldn'...

This afternoon I went again to my studio to start making a knitting bag from old Dutch Postbags combined with Blue Print Fabric as lining. As always I start and at the end of the process I find out how it should have been done. F.e. I should have done the zippers first and not at a later stage. This is not something new to me...In the past I did find out about myself that I am a person who starts with something and during the process I learn because of making mistakes..I remember making my first outfits for a fashion-show at Art-school based on Medieval times... after bleaching, dyeing and embroidering 25 metres of fabric I made the mistake not turning the pattern so I ended up with 2 left front parts and 2 right back parts...Never made that mistake again...and the result of making new fabric was this.. So this afternoon..plenty of mistakes..I just discovered that because I placed the flap at last I did sew a pocket together from the lining.. Will fix that later or by making the same...

This afternoon I went for a few hours to my (our) studio. I haven't been there for months. No time, busy with other things, no creativity, no exhibition and of-course the visits to the hospital with Bram which needed to be done on Wednesday. But I had a great afternoon and I am happy that I took the step to go again. Wednesday is my day of during the week. I work 75% almost all of my career but there have been years that I worked more. Ofcourse the salary is higher when you work 100%, but I have always wanted time to work on my own artistic work. So this afternoon I spend some enjoyable hours there. I hadn't used the sewing-machine for ages.. so I thought it would be a good idea to start the machine running. It's an old Singer, semi industry from the fifties. I bought it 2nd hand the year before I went to Art-school which is more than 25 years ago now. The machine has done a lot for me during all those years. Worked his (or is it her)through loads of different fabrics from ...

No, don't worry.. I am not a single man myself...(been together for 27 years and still happy together) But this morning I went to see the film : A Single Man directed by Tom Ford with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore (2 of my favourite actors). It was a breath taking experience. The story is by Christopher Isherwood and situated in LA in 1962. It tells the story of 1 day in the life of a 52 year old professor who lost his lover in a car accident. I am not going to tell details but this film is really worth seeing.For me this movie is already one of the best from 2010! Not because the whole film looks amazing virtually (we couldn't expect less from Tom Ford who used to be the designer who made Gucci famous again) but all actors gave me the feeling that it was a real story which need to be told. In those years being openly gay was not accepted and 2 men living openly together was not something you would speak about. Everything changed (more or less) in the 70's and after watc...

A week before I went to Púchov got a mail from my Slovakian Friend Miro in which he wrote that Mr.Stanislav Trnka has passed away aged 75 year old. One of the first times I was visiting Púchov I met this man who was the last Blue Print producer of Slovakia. He could talk very passionate about his work and his wife sold the fabric in the little souvenir shop in town which I always visited when I was in Púchov. This time I bought I think one of the last fabric he made and a little doll dressed in a blueprint fabric which hangs now above my desk in my workroom. From a colleague I got as a gift the last calendar he did print for the coming year. Unfortunately this will be the last calendar he printed and we have to miss it for the coming years. I hope someone, or an museum or organisation will take care of this little factory because it would be so sad if this firm will forgotten. In my opinion it is very important for a country to take care of cultural heritage because it tell...

Yesterday evening I came home after a great 5 day trip to Slovakia. We -my colleague Annemiek and six 1st year students from Fashion Management- went on Tuesday with a flight to Vienna and there we were picked up by a minibus who took us to Púchov. The main goal for the trip was to work on the International Textile-project "Red Thread" together with Cardonald College from Glasgow and the hosting school in Puchov. We, as colleagues have known each other for many years already from previous projects and in the meantime we also have become friends. It is always great to meet up and this project hopefully will be exited as were the 2 days we have worked on it last week. The idea is to set up a Textile Brand designed and managed by students from the schools involved and coached by the involved teachers. We want to go as far as we can get and hopefully this Brand will be reality in the future. It is for me a great challenge to coordinate this project. I have been in Púchov many tim...