Collections

Over the years my collections have grown along three interconnected lines: my research on textile structures, my interest for history and geography, and indeed anthropology, and my private life, with the textile objects I was given as presents and a regular exchange of postcards with textile subjects. Children collect and swap cards with footballers on them, I do much the same, with postcards representing looms and weavers, lace and lace makers, Medieval tapestries and Amazon hammocks, miniature models of textile workshops found in ancient Egyptian tombs, Pinturicchio's improbable Penelope weaving on a Renaissance loom and lots of other things, so that a thousand worlds sit side by side in eight big ring binders, and every now and then they yield fresh ideas. Since the end of the 1960s I've been researching and studying textile structures including those not created on a loom ranging from those that use only one thread, such as knitting, netting, looping, wrapping, crocheting, etc., to the more complex ones. An essential guidebook to cataloging the fabrics and objects I've been collecting has been The Primary Structures of Fabric by Irene Emery, whom I had met at the textile Museum in Washington when she was still involved in the research that went into that monumental work. Other important books have been those by Annemarie Seiler-Baldinger, Peter Collingwood, Jack Lenor Larsen, Noémi Speiser and others, all of which can be freely consulted in my studio. The seven images below are examples of progressively more complex structures and added decorative embroidery or appliqué needlework. Into this section, which is still under construction, I'm going to add detailed descriptions of my other collections, some of which were started as a result of my trips. It will include:
- textiles, textile structures and looms from Peru, Bolivia, Mexico and Colombia;
- European embroidery and lace
- ikat and tie-and-dye textiles made with various techniques;
- ethnic costumes;
- hats and textile jewelry.