Textile Tourism | Sweden, pt. 1
I had the absolute great fortune recently to travel to Sweden. The impetus for the trip was an event that my husband wanted to attend (Nordic Timber Framers Conference), and there were plenty of sights to see that I’ve been calling "textile tourism.” I want to share a little about some of the attractions in this post. In another post I will tell you about the shopping opportunities for all things textile.
The Almgren Silk Mill Museum, Stockholm
Exhibits, including original designs are in the attic and a workroom is on the floor below. The art historian staffer gave us an introduction to the museum and told us they are between weavers—but will soon have looms and other equipment back in operation. This mill produced jacquard silk scarves, which were quite popular and could be worn various ways.
Army Museum, Stockholm
I was pleasantly surprised by the exhibits and building. Textile sights included some textiles that the Swedish army acquired through battles as well as uniforms. This jacket was mended after its wearer was shot.
Skansen & Handarbetets Vänner
We spent the afternoon at Skansen, an open air museum that’s said to be the first ever. If you’ve visited a museum interpreting life at a different time, it is a descendent of Skansen. Being winter, a lot of it, including the flax mill and fulling mill was closed. Very close to Skansen was Handarbetets Vänner, which is a school, gallery, and laboratory for textile research. It wasn’t open during our visit but we peeked in the window and saw this great jacket.
Vasa
Our research told us this museum is the most visited museum in Scandinavia and having visited I can see why. It’s a museum for a war ship that was built in 1727 and sank on its maiden voyage, sailing just 1300 meters. That’s about 8/10 of a mile. There are so many things that make the story of this ship an interesting one and I will leave that to you to read up on if you’re interested—or, if you get to visit Stockholm, don’t miss this. Wow. The ship remained 32 meters below the surface of Stockholm Harbor until 1961, with the museum opening in 1990.
Fore topgallant sail of Vasa
Textile Museum, Borås
This was a definite highlight for me and my favorite exhibits were the one showing fashion through the ages at a Stockholm department store and “Retro Mania - Swedish Textile Design 1920s-90s” If I’m being honest, I should say it was kind of overstimulating, and I bought the companion book because I could not get enough! Also interesting was the permanent exhibit on history of the textile industry.
