The Textile Research Centre: Help for a New Home is Needed

Since 1991, the Textile Research Centre (TRC) in Leiden has been quietly building one of the most remarkable collections of textiles and dress anywhere in the world. What began as a small independent foundation now holds over 42,000 objects: quilts and quilt tops from the 1830s, Dutch regional dress, Coptic liturgical garments, Middle Eastern embroidery, hand-knitted socks, flour sack dresses, and countless other pieces that map the way textiles connect to culture, identity, and survival.

Kilim sample, mid-20th century, handwoven wool, cotton. Image courtesy of the TRC archives.

The TRC is not a museum in the traditional sense. It is a working centre of knowledge: a place where a lace sample might be examined next to the tool that made it, where embroidery is researched both as art and as anthropology, where a student from Tokyo might share a workroom table with a forensic specialist studying fibres. Its library of 6,500 volumes, its open-access online catalogue, and its encyclopaedia of embroidery, TRC Needles, make it an extraordinary resource for designers, makers, historians, and anyone drawn to the story of cloth...

(...)

Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog. 

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT

Or, to continue reading….


Magazine subscribers automatically get free access to all our online content. We send the access code by email with the publication of each issue. You will also find it on the envelope containing your magazine. Please note the access code changes every issue.

-

Image Credits:

Lead: Hungarian Garment as featured in the exhibition From Sweden to Sardinia: European Embroidery, 2017 at The Textile Research Centre, Leiden.

All other images as credited in photo captions.