Materials Matter

A review of the unique London Antique Textile Fair, Sunday 2nd October 2016 by Lucinda Merriman.

Stepping off a bustling King’s Road into Chelsea’s Victorian Town Hall and The Textile Society’s London Antique Textile Fair is like entering an Aladdin’s Cave – cool and calming and once your eyes have adjusted to the dazzle of the display; the outside world recedes for a few hours while you immerse yourself in everything material.

Threading your way between the multitude of stands bursting at the seams with fascinating fabrics in every form from all around The World, your senses are assailed with colour, form and texture – certainly a system is needed to make sure that nothing is left out or forgotten. 

For those ‘in the know’ and serious textile collectors, this show is simply one you can’t afford to miss – where else would you find such a diverse collection of fabric from the 18^th Century through to the 1970’s, pictorial embroidery, hats, preposterous Indonesian headdresses, shawls, exquisite vintage clothing, rugs, lovingly made quilts, bags, ribbons and fans? The choice is breathtaking!

Sue Richardson's stand

It’s not just the wide array of exhibitors that seduces but the experience and passion that feels palpable around the room - dealers don’t just sell but also share their knowledge, as there’s usually a back-story or history to their pieces.

Sue Richardson from gallery 196 explains: “I’ve been going to India for 30 years. Originally I was sent over as a weave designer and became interested and started to buy beautiful old textiles that I could afford. Now I sell vintage textiles from Gujarat in India, Syria, Pakistan and Peru. People there don't have very much and can't afford expensive fabrics, so they tend to use whatever comes to hand - thread-bare saris, different coloured threads - there's an amazing amount of creativity and lack of inhibition, which creates a freedom to lovingly create beautiful objects."

But it’s Liz Evans from repropattern who sells mid-Century British textiles from the 1950 – 1970’s who most succinctly sums up a textile dealers take on things: “We are the warp and weft of life.”

Liz Evan's stand

Established in 1982 as an educational charity, The Textile Society raises money through this event and their Manchester Fair in April to help fund the Society’s awards and bursaries for students, museums, archives, historians, PhD candidates, craft workers, designers, curators and conservators.

Dr Brenda King, Chair of The Textile Society for 7 years concisely distills the Society’s work: “Supporting students through our bursary awards is extremely important to us, the money we make from this and the Manchester event helps us support the future through the past.”

Centre stage, fittingly raised above the stallholders, were some of this year’s bursary award winners and Bath Spa University graduate Charlotte Street who took The Lucienne Day Award for innovative interior textiles with her stunning trompe-l'oeil imagery. 

Lucienne Day award winner Charlotte Street

A shell-shocked but delighted Charlotte told me: “I was amazed to receive this completely unexpected award – it’s wonderful to receive this recognition of a job well done, it means a lot to me that people like it and the award will open doors for this collection and my future.” 

There were 7 bursary student winners: Lorna Jewitt, Anna Duthie, Sally Cooke, Antonio Castro, Katy Welsh, Alice Richardson-Payne and Jemma Pratt.

Lorna Jewitt from the Leeds College of Art received a post-graduate student award for her artworks inspired by her part-time work cataloguing at the Sunny Bank Mills’ Archive in West Yorkshire. Central to her theme seems to be the humble paperclip and Lorna explains why:

“Through cleaning and cataloguing cards, we remove and throw away hundreds of paperclips and other detritus, which made me wonder about the person who originally clipped them onto the card and how we decide which items are preserved while others are being brushed away. I wanted to make a connection or memory to that person and place – to try and capture that ephemeral moment. This award is very exciting, surprising and lovely and will help me with the material costs for my final M.A. show.”

Whatever you were looking for, this show was sure to have it and more besides - amateur or professional, student or designer - there is something for everyone.  

With business brisk and collectors happy; there’s sure to be many more shows to come, but before that next year’s Antique Textile Fair in Manchester on Sunday 30^th April is set to be a very special event as it celebrates its 25^th Anniversary while coinciding with the Centenary of Lucienne Day’s birth who was the Society’s first president and created the prestigious Lucienne Day Award.

The Textile Society has lots of exciting things planned to celebrate these two momentous occasions in collaboration with Lucienne’s daughter Paula Day and the Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.textilesociety.org.uk/events/ and http://www.textilesociety.org.uk/