Activities
In September, the Save the Loom team had a demonstration and hands-on session in Marie-Louise Nosch’s history course on Clothing and Identity in Ancient Greece. During this session, we presented two types of looms from three different time periods: a prehistoric warp-weighted loom, a 100-year-old table loom with handle operated shafts (a Lervad loom), and a modern loom from the Belgian company Louët, which has further refined the Lervad principle of handle operated shafts. Our colleague from Køng Museum, Karis Rasmussen, brought and demonstrated the modern looms.
One of the main purposes of the project is to share knowledge about various types of looms. As the project progresses, we increasingly receive more requires for demonstrations. A demonstration of different loom types are good examples of illustration and are highly effective for demonstrating for educational purposes, whether in lectures, talks or student demonstrations. Please contact the project, Kathrine Brandstrup on kathrine@textilarkeolog.dk for more information on demonstrations and loom types.
Loom demonstrations in classes at Copenhagen University
In June 2024, Kathrine Brandstrup visited the Danish Naval Historical Collection. The collection contacted the project regarding two unusual and old looms recently relocated to their storage facility in Korsør. Kathrine did not expect the appearance of these looms. The looms were disassembled, and the individual components appeared unfamiliar, unlike any loom Kathrine had previously seen. The loom parts were unusually large and heavy: one loom was wide, approximately 1,5 to 2 meters in weaving width, while the other was notably narrow, consisting only of a front and back piece without side gables and with a gap in between. These front and back pieces were also over 2 meters tall and constructed from solid timber.
The primary challenge lay in determining what these looms had once produced. The narrower loom still held remnants of woven fabric on the cloth beam, resembling straps. The wider loom, equipped with sets of shafts containing metal heddles and the warp seemed to be made from cord or rope, although its final product could not be determined. Given the size and mass of these looms, it is likely that they could produce extremely dense textiles.
The Danish Naval Historical collection had no information about the purpose of these looms, or the reason for their inclusion in their collection. Unfortunately, the project group was also unable to provide answers. Therefore, if anyone has knowledge about these types of looms and their connection to naval collection, please reach out with any relevant information.
Looms from the Danish Naval Historical Collection
Two trips abroad with loom studies
In June 2024, Kathrine Brandstrup joined the Silk Ribbon Project excursion to Lyon. The primary purpose of the trip was to visit the silk ribbon museum in Saint Etienne, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de la ville de Saint-Étienne. The group received a tour of the museum’s exhibition and a peek in the archive, which houses thousands of silk ribbon objects and sample books. Of particular interest to the Save the Loom project was the opportunity to view the museum’s silk ribbon looms. The exhibition houses several historically looms that are still operational and continue to produce ribbons. A recently trained young man operates these electrically powered, fully mechanical looms, which are over 100 years old, and the pattern mechanism was of course a Jacquard machine.
The rest of the trip involved more Jacquard looms – both electrically powered and manually operated – these were seen on visits to additional workshops in the city of Lyon. Lyon was both the European center for silk textiles since the 16th century and the birthplace of the Jacquard mechanism.
In October 2024, the Save the Loom project team along with colleagues from CTR, went on a trip to Tuscany, Italy. This time the primary purpose of the trip was to visit a modern hand-weaving workshop started by Danish colleague, Karin Haldrup. The workshop Palazzo della Lana is an old wool building in the little village of Roccalbegna, southern Tuscany. Karin Haldrup has restored and equipped the building with Scandinavian looms. The CTR team participated in a seminar in the village, which should kick start the promotion of Palazzo della Lana as a center for traditional textile craft.
The remainder of the trip was spent in the northern part of Tuscany. The team visited Palazzo Mansi in Lucca, which houses a wonderful collection of silk textiles. The team also visited the textile museum Museo del Tessuto in Prato, which houses the story of Tuscany’s medieval wool industry. The last visit was at the Arte della Seta Lisio Foundation, a 20th century founded textile manufacturing institution, with the main focus to preserve the traditional craft of hand-weaving in silk, silver, and gold – handed on to the future. The Lisio workshop consisted of 100 years old Jacquard looms in full function, that continue to be used both for educational activities as well for the production of new brocades and velvets in silk.
Looms at the Textilemuseum in Herning, Museum Midtjylland
In the beginning of october 2024 the Save the Loom team visited the Textile Museum in Herning, where a guided tour was given by museum inspector Anne Julie Tscherning Bibby. The main purpose of the visit was to gain a thorough understanding of the museum's loom collection and its approaches to preserving and deaccessioning looms. The museum houses a nice collection of Lervad looms, alongside industrial textile machinery. This visit highlighted the difficulties museums can face in preserving looms and demonstrated how this project can help raise awareness and share knowledge about looms.
New intern at Save the loom project
In the fall of 2024, Emma Grarup joined the Save the Loom team as our newest member. Emma is an intern at CTR and is contributing to the development of an updated loom typology. Additionally, she is assisting in the digitization of textile glossary leaflets and regularly updating the website with the latest project news. Emma is also accompanying Kathrine on various museum visits.
Emma is a student of prehistoric archaeology with a strong interest in weaving and textile materiality, exploring the tangled narratives and sensory dimensions inherent in each textile artifact. She looks forward to be a part of the team and acquiring new perspectives of looms and textile practices.
ERGANE – Early carrer Researcher GArment and textile NEtwork
A network has been established for young or early-career researchers focused on textile and garment research, specifically within connection of Danish museums, archives, and other historical collections. Kathrine Brandstrup and Ditte Kröner from Save the Loom have joined this network, which has been held three times in 2024. The second meeting was hosted at CTR by Morten Grymer-Hansen and Camilla Cziffery Nielsen from the Silk Ribbon-project.
During this meeting, Kathrine and Ditte presented two looms from Den Gamle By in Aarhus. In their collection of a posset workshop, some of which have been exhibited for some years. Among these tools and appliances for posset making tools for ribbon production are included. The two looms registered in the Save the Loom project are: (1) a narrow, machine-operated band loom with a Jacquard mechanism as the pattern operated, and (2) a narrow, manually operated band loom with a plain and simple shaft mechanism.
Meeting and workshop in the project group
The 13th of June Flemming Lundholm hosted the team for a day of lengthy discussions about jacquard looms and the like in his house of the many looms. It was a lovely meet up, where four members of the team travelled from Copenhagen to Ribe, to be further educated on how these types of looms work. Seeing them in working condition gives a whole other perspective on the looms that we normally see in disassembled condition at various museums across the country.
On the foto from fra left Flemming Lundholm, Karis Rasmussen from Køng, Ulrikka Mokdad from the Silk Ribbon project and Ditte Kröner, newest member of the Save the Loom Team.
Welcome to the Newest Member of the Save the Loom Team!
Ditte Kröner is both a textile archaeologist and industrial historian. She joined the team this Winter and went on both loom registrations trips together with Flemming Lundholm and Kathrine Brandstrup and joined us at the visit to Vejen Archive. Reed Ditte's introduction here.
Lectures by Save the loom team
As part of the Save the Loom project, we offer two different lectures on the importance of reserving looms.
The Danish loom through 4000 years
Loom researcher Kathrine Vestergaard Brandstrup takes us on a journey through the world of the loom from the oldest bronze-age loom to the Lervad loom of today.
At the Center for Textile Research (CTR), researchers have for the last 10-15 years been documenting the long and eventful journey of the loom - especially focused on the bronze-age and the viking age.
Lecture at Skals Folk High School
In March, Kathrine Brandstrup, visited the Folk High School in Skals to give a lecture on the Save the Loom project.
As part of the project, we offer lectures on the importance of preserving looms. We offer two different lectures, both in Danish and in English, you can read more about the Danish ones here!
After the lecture in Skals, Kathrine went to visit the home of poet Jeppe Aakjær in Jenle (north of Skive). The municipality of Skive is in the process of renovating the house and the decor is to be set in the 1920s. The Save the Loom team have been asked to advise them on recreating the textiles for draperies and furnishings in the home, that weavers from a local weaving association have offered to help with.
For a third visit of the day, Kathrine went with weaver Inger-Lene to the Museum of Wood in Oddense, where a few local weavers have their workshop. It was a nice visit where we got to photograph another couple of Lervad looms.
A New Collaboration in Køng
Save the Loom has now officially started collaborating with the Museum of Køng! The weaving and spinning expert of the museum, Karis Rasmussen has sent an application to the Fund of Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik, for a pilot project in order to catalog the collection of damask table cloths in the collection at the Museum of Køng.
Save the Loom is part of the advisory board of the project and Karis Rasmussen will be instructed in the research methods for textile and fiberanalysis, that we use at the CTR. We hope to start this project this fall!
You can read more about the Museum of Køng here! The website is unfortunately in Danish.
Archives in Vejen
In March, the Save the Loom Team, visited the archive in Vejen in order to view the many boxes of records that catalog the Lervad company. With the help of Ditte Kröner, who ruled the copy machine, we were able to scan all of the loom manuals in various languages. They are available here!
The Boxes at the archive contained great information about the Lervad production and sales of looms. Original drawings, correspondance with distributors such as CUM and Julis Koch, as well as special orders for very large looms, jacquard looms, and carpet looms. In the months to come, Linda Klitmøller will meticulously comb through the boxes and collect all the information relevant to our project.
Visit at the Open Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet) in February
The Team was granted access to register the eight looms on display in the houses at The Open Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet). We were furthermore, allowed to take a look at the old index cards, and here, we found even more looms in their collection. However, further funding would be required in order to be able to see the looms in their storage facilities, as the looms have to be located and moved to a location where we will be allowed to view and register them. This is costly both in time and personnel - we will hope for this to be possible in a future installment of the project.
Among the index cards, we did however find something of interest. A very special loom that reminded Flemming of a loom he saved from destruction at the Museum of Agriculture in 2013. The index card had beautiful black and white images of it , that showed the loom was a damask loom with a jacquard machine. The information on the card, told ud that it was a loom the Open Air Museum had inherited from the Muesum of Agriculture and that it was originally collected from the school of agriculture in Dalum on Funen. The loom came from Otterup, a town in an area on Funen also known as "The Plain", famous for its many weavers. The reason it reminded Flemming so much of the loom from 2013, was that it also was a damask loom with a jacquard machine, and with it came a bunch of punched cards that he could see wouldn't fit. This loom on the Open Air Museum's index card, would however, be a perfect fit for the punched cards. Both looms came from the school of agriculture in Dalum, but whether they both originated from Otterup, we have no idea. We will have do some more digging.
Unfortunately, the Open Air Museum could inform us, that this particular loom from Otterup had been disposed of and destroyed. What a shame. This story just goes to show how important our work is. This loom would have been an important piece of the puzzle in understanding the weaving culture in the Plain on Funen.
A Trip to Southern Denmark and a Puzzle in Røde Kro
In the beginning of January, Flemming and Kathrine visited the Museum of Southwest Jutland in Ribe and Esbjerg. The number of looms was a bit lacklustre; only two looms in storage in Esbjerg, were added to the database. One was a home loom from Lervad and the other was an older loom, with some very interesting details that Flemming pored over for a while. The storage facility in Ribe had no looms. They did however, have some interesting records on a student who attended Jenny la Cour's weaving school in Askov in 1893. One of the looms from the collection in Ribe is exhibited on Mandø, thus we will have to take a trip there in the spring.
In the end of january, Flemming and Kathrine were aided by a new member of the Save the Loom team; Ditte Kröner. She organized a visit to Den Gamle By in Århus where we went to investigate their storage facility. We gained a better understanding of which looms they have in storage and of the records in their database, so that we can be ready to record some time in April. The same week, we also visited the Museum of Southern Denmark's new center of conservation and restoration in Røde Kro. Here, Flemming, Kathrine, and Ditte were presented with a huge puzzle of putting together six to seven looms that were all sorted by the type of loom part on pallets. Consequently, all the looms had to be put together again, in order for us to be able to see what types of looms they belonged to. Fortunately, they had lots of floor space at the new center. The image on the right shows what the puzzle looked like.
Save the Loom Hosted a Debate Day at the Flax Weaving Museum
On November 4th, 2023, the Save the Loom team led a debate day on disposal of looms from museum collections. The debate day was held at The Flax Weaving Museum in Krengerup, in collaboration with their evening school, which holds a host of classes, some of which are in weaving.
Besides the Save the Loom team, Nils Valdersdorf Jensen, from Svendborg Museum also held a talk on the disposal of looms within the past few years in museum collections.
The panel for the debate consisted of Flemming Lundholm, Linda Klitmøller, Ellen Warring, and Nils Valdersdorf Jensen. They debated the preservation and collection of looms in Danish museums.
The day also consisted of lunch, a tour of the Flax Weaving Museum, a talk on Lervad looms and a final discussion, where the volunteers of the Flax weaving museum, contributed their knowledge on why handweaving is still important today.
Thank you to the Flax Weaving Museum and everyone who participated for this wonderful day!
We went on a field trip to Svenska VävstolsMuseet in Glimåkra!
Save the Loom went to visit the Svenska VävstolsMuseet in Glimåkra. We met the chair of the association that runs the loom museum, Eva Persson, who told us about the background for the museum and their activities.
The Save the Loom project aims for a future, where Denmark will have its own museum of looms and weaving and that is the reason for going to the Swedish version of what would be a Lervad museum in Denmark - a museum in Glimåkra, where the Glimåkra loom was produced.
We had a wonderful day with interesting looms we hadn't seen before. Thank you Svenska VävstolsMuseet in Glimåkra!
Welcome to the Newest Member of the Save the Loom Team!
In the fall of 2023, Helene Lilja Jensen became our newest member of the Save the Loom team! She started as an intern at CTR, where she participated in putting together an old Lervad loom, proofread news for the website and accompanied Kathrine on a trip to The Open Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet).
We Visited the Looms at The Open Air Museum (Frilandsmuseet)
Save the Loom went on a field trip to The Open Air Museum. where we toured the houses containing looms. The volunteer weavers of the museum, told us about the looms
The volunteer weavers of the museum graciously took us on a tour of the houses containing looms and told us their stories. We have decided to include the eight looms of The Open Air Museum in our upcoming pilot project, and in February/March, we will revisit the looms in order to register and photograph them. Thank you to the volunteers of The Open Air Museum!
We Invite You to a Debate at The Flax Weaving Museum
The Save the Loom team is hosting a day of debate at The Flax Weaving museum in Krængerup.
The day will start with presentations by the Save the Loom team, curator of Svendborg Museum Nils Valdersdorf Jensen, ethnologist Linda Klitmøller, and textile teacher Anne Marie Nielsen. Afterwards, there will be a debate where everyone is welcome to participate.
Funding Received From the Beckett Fund and the Louis Hansen Fund
The Danish Loom from the 17th to 20th century – how can it be described, documented and preserved?
Eva Andersson Strand, head of Centre for Textile Research, and Save the Loom has received funding from the Louis-Hansen Fund and the Beckett-Fund to undertake a pilot project with registrating and defining loom types in Danish museum collections that will be running until the summer of 2024.
In Denmark, looms, weavers, and the way craft knowledge was passed on in the period from the 17th to 20th century underwent a huge development. Before the industrialisation, weaving was conducted as both a professional craft in market towns and as household production on smaller farms in rural villages. During the industrialisation, the automization of looms made handweavers and handlooms redundant. In the late 19th century, a new era for handweaving began with the organisation for handicraft and crafting at the Folk High School institutions. New types of looms were developed, new ways of teaching weaving were established, and new styles of woven textiles were introduced. This handweaving tradition co-existed with the powered machine looms of the textile industry. For several reasons, the handweaving tradition suffered a setback and there have been no new looms produced in Denmark since the 1980s. Now, there are only a few schools that offer an education in handweaving, and it is not a common subject in public schools any more. It has become a rare and unique handicraft, practiced by a small and often elderly part of the population. The goal of the Save the loom project is to obtain new knowledge about looms, weavers, and the passing on of craft knowledge in the past, so that history can build a bridge from the present to revive handweaving in the future. The project can be followed on https://ctr.hum.ku.dk/research-programmes-and-projects/save-the-loom/
Annual Meeting of The Clothing and Textile Network, 7.-8.09.2023
The Save the Loom Project Group hosted the annual meeting of The Clothing and Textile Network under the Association of Danish Museums. The meeting took place on Thursday the 7th of September and Friday the 8th, at The Danish Art Workshops.
On the first day, the Save the Loom Project Group held lectures on the status of collections of looms in Danish museums and on the terminology regarding registration of looms.
Afterwards, there were lectures by Ditte Kröner, textile archeologist, and cand. Mag. in history, who talked about how knowledge on looms and weaving workshops are presented in museums. She was followed by Ane Kirstine Preisler Skovgaard, University of Aarhus, who talked about a research project at The Art Museum of Holstebro on how the loom is used to make pictures. Kirsten Toftegaard finished the day off with talking about the exhibiton, Powerful Patterns at Design Museum Danmark, and then there was a trip to the museum to see the exhibition.
Friday started with the annual meeting of The Clothing and Textile Network followed by a group discussion. Then there was a tour of the Danish Art Workshops by their in-house weaver Gitte-Annette Knudsen. Afterwards, Ellen Warring, from The Flax Weaving Museum held a lecture on two weaving workshops in the same Parish. Followed by Karis Rasmussen, from Køng Museum, who talked about The Køng Factory. The annual meeting finished with a group discussion on the subjects presented over the last two days.
Trip to Askov and Flemming Lundholm's workshop, 25.-26.03.2023
In March the project group will host an excursion to Askov and visit Flemming Lundholm’s own weaving workshop.
The Danish Society of Textile History will host their annual general meeting Saturday 25th and members are invited on a walking tour in the town of Askov about the story of Anders Lervad’s school of handicrafts og weaving production. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Askov set the scene for many activities and personalities that had an tremendous impact on the development of the modern Danish weaving tradition. The walking tour will be guided by Linda Klitmøller, Kathrine Brandstrup, and Susanne Lervad. The next day will be followed by a visit for the members to Flemming Lundholm’s private home and workshop.
You can read more about the event (in Danish) here
The weaving workshop in Smallegade, Copenhagen, 6.11.2021
On Saturday the 6th of November, we visited a weaving workshop in Copenhagen. The workshop is a community of four independent weavers Berthe Forcchammer, Amelie Tillgren, Ida Kornerup og Pia Jensen who take on weaving tasks independently and together. We were first met by the very talented Berthe who showed us her work on a John Becker draw loom. She is currently working on a chasuble with a beautiful gold design. Pia also talked to us about her artistic inspiration for her weaving project and showed us a Lervad foot-powered loom they had set up for making colorful scarfs.
We would highly recommend visiting their workshop - they are open the first Saturday of every month from 10-16 - and check out their Facebook page!
Presentation at "Old Textiles - More Possibilies", June 2021
In connection with the CTR conference "Old Textiles - More Possibilities" in June 2021, we presented a short 5-minute presentation. It shortly presents some of the themes and goals of the Save the Loom project. You can view the presentation here.
Plans for future trips
This spring we hope to put together a trip to the Open Air Museum in Sorgenfri (Frilandsmuseet). The museum houses more than 60 old farms, mills, and houses from the period 1650-1940 with interiors historically decorated. Mathilde, our student assistant for the Save the Loom project, works there as a guide and will give a presentation of the museum and take us around the houses that have old looms displayed.
We also hope to go to Museum Amager in the nearest future - also with a focus on their display of textile history.
