Textil Museet

I took a visit to the Textile Museet (Textile Museum) to see the exhibition from the final year students, which was really interesting to see. The context in which they were placed I think really made a difference to the effect of each piece. Of course, like always, not everything struck me, but there was an overall impressive feeling to seeing the work in a Museum, surrounded by the history of the town.

The museum itself is a former cotton mill, with one of the largest collections of fully working textile machines in Europe. During our visit we were invited down to the basement to see the vast archives they hold - Obviously I was not permitted to take photographs, but I was able to see tapestries and embroideries from Egypt dating as far back as 500 and 800AD. I knew textiles has always existed in our world - but to actually see something so precious was amazing. They also keep hundreds of ancient artefacts, such as carpets, as well as fashion collections from the 60's, and even work from post-grad students. Upstairs they have a 'Study Room' where you can arrange to have any of the artefacts brought up for you to study, along with a huge range of magazines and articles dating back hundreds of years, and a textile library, full of books from all over the world and on all aspects of textiles, and design.

Another exhibition in the Textile museum was that of Swedish designer, and legend, Karin Larsson. There was a display of the history of her work, alongside an exhibition from the third years at Högskolan, who created and dedicated work inspired by her designs.

Karin Larsson's work;

...And the students interpretations;