Monday, June 23, 2008

Handwoven Silks in Stockholm

The Nov/Dec issue of Selvedge magazine last year ran an article on the Almgren Silk Mill in Stockholm, which was founded in 1833. Sadly, it closed in the 1970's but was turned into a museum. I visited the museum last year and had a lovely few hours wandering around the old mill.






loom with silk being woven



Jacquard Loom


Nothing has been changed, apart from the top floor, which is now the actual museum, and you can walk around and see all the machinery as it would have been up until it closed. Weaver, Sonja Enbuske, talked me through the whole process of weaving from the winding of the silk onto the skeins to showing me how she worked the 140 year old loom. The silk she produces is stunning -





handwoven silks - love the purple & yellow




reels of silk for the ribbons

I opened up drawers and found all these beautiful ribbons,







mouthwatering colours




more ribbons!





I especially like this one


I had to show you this photo of some traditional Swedish boots which were part of an exhibition on at the Nordiska Museum - they are so gorgeous!





3 comments:

Alkemie said...

WOW, that silk fabric is to die for! The colors are absolutely wonderful. I wish we could find fabrics like that today.

Karen Barbé said...

The pictures are so beautiful! I think I'll have to pay a visit to this museum ;)

Karen Barbé said...

Well, I finally did it! Yesterday I visited the mill, took some pictures and had to post about it. It's an awesome place and a perfect location for photographs. Every single corner could make it for a great shot. Thanks for letting me know about it.