Poster for the Andy Warhol exhibition, now extended until 8 November. Museum Cobra, Sandbergplein 1, Amstelveen.Until Sunday, 8 November 2026, Museum Cobra in Amstelveen in The Netherlands presents an exhibition with the title 'Andy Warhol, The Textiles'. TRC friend and volunteer, Loren Mealey, went to see the exhibition in Amstelveen and she wrote the following blog:

When we think of Andy Warhol, we think of Campbell’s Soup Cans, Coca-Cola bottles, Marilyn Monroe and the bright, bold world of Pop Art. Before all of that, though, Warhol was illustrating something quite different: textiles.

Left: “Happy Butterfly Day”. Printed silk, circa 1955-56. Manufacturer unknown; Right: “Large Butterflies”. Printed cotton, circa 1955-56. D. B. Fuller & Co., Inc.In the 1950s and early 1960s, long before he became one of the most recognisable artists of the twentieth century, Warhol was a successful commercial illustrator and graphic designer in New York City. He created playful textile patterns filled with ice-cream cones, candy apples, lemons, butterflies, flowers, pretzels, shoes, buttons and even circus clowns. They are cheerful, whimsical and unmistakably of their time. If observed closely, you can already see the beginnings of the Warhol we know today.

What is particularly appealing about these designs is their colourful combination of simplicity and repetition. Warhol took an ordinary object, reduced it to its essential shape, and then repeated it across the fabric. The same butterfly might appear again and again, but each one will show a tiny difference. A line shifts. A shape changes slightly. A colour lands differently.

Then there is the line. Warhol had developed his distinctive “blotted line” technique while still a student and refined it during his years as a commercial illustrator. The process was quite simple. He traced an image in ink on a non-absorbent sheet and then pressed it against another sheet of paper, transferring the ink. The result was a broken, slightly uneven line: part drawing, part print.

Fig. 1. Late-19th century, silk, knitted socks from Iran (TRC 2002.0078a b).(Nader Sayadi, 5 August 2026) The Textile Research Centre (TRC) holds a significant and growing collection of textiles from the Islamic world. In June 2026, I had the chance to study a few examples from its Iranian Regional Dress collection, a large group of specimens that the TRC collected in Iran between 1998 and 2001.

This collection showcases some of the attire commonly worn in Iran at the turn of the millennium. Many of the garments are an adaptation of older styles, and therefore often known as living “folk” or “traditional” attire.

Other Iranian textiles and garments that are housed at the TRC, such as the donated Bayani Family Collection, include garments and accessories from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century (Fig. 1).

While a few museums have collected nineteenth-century textiles and garments, there has generally been little interest in acquiring, studying, and interpreting recently made textiles and attire in “folk” style. As a result, such textiles are not easily accessible to researchers outside of Iran.

Fig. 1. Distribution of the Hmong–Mien language family. The Hmongic branch (Miao people) is shown in red. Retrieved from: https://tinyurl.com/bp92pmb8.(Frieda Chen, 1 August 2026) The TRC houses a collection of more than 280 objects related to the Miao people of China. As part of a recent mini exhibition at the TRC, a selection of these objects was brought together to explore Miao dress traditions. The following blog article introduces both the exhibition objects and additional Miao-related objects from the TRC collection, together with an overview of Miao’s textile traditions.

Introduction of Miao people and Miao sartorial traditions

The Miao are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in China and are also distributed across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand (Fig. 1). Repeated migrations in history have caused numerous Miao communities living in different regions. As a result, many local styles of dress developed. Although the exact number of Miao clothing styles remains uncertain, previous studies have recorded at least 173 distinct styles of Miao clothing in China, reflecting the diversity of regional Miao communities (Wu et al., 2000; Zhang, 2004).

Fig. 2. Pleated, cotton and silk skirt with batik-dyed decoration. Guizhou, Ertang Miao, China, 20th century (TRC 2024.2742).

Fig. 3. Dyed skirt length, bast fibre with hand-woven batik decoration. Miao, China, 20th century (TRC 2024.2719).

Fig. 1. Observing the micro-structure of different textile fibers during a TRC course. Photograph by author.(Frieda Chen, 11 July 2026) This February, I started my internship at the Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden. I am a Master’s student in Asian Studies at Leiden University. Coming from a background in anthropology and heritage studies, I was excited to gain hands-on experience in museum practice and to learn how textile collections are researched, documented, and presented to the public.

Learning through courses and workshops

During my internship, I participated in a variety of workshops and courses organised by the TRC. These activities introduced me to different aspects of textile studies, from textile production techniques to museum collections. Unlike university lectures, these sessions emphasise hands-on learning and allow participants to experience different textile techniques firsthand.

Fig. 2. Learning how to card raw wool before spinning it into yarn. Photograph by author.For example, during one of the courses, I had the chance to observe the microstructure of different textile fibres (Fig. 1). By observing cotton, wool, and other fibres under a microscope, I learned how their physical characteristics differ and how these differences influence the appearance, texture, and properties of textiles. This experience also helped me better understand how fibre identification is carried out in textile research.

Another memorable experience was wool processing. I learned how raw wool is prepared to align the fibres before being spined into yarn (Fig.  2). Although the process required patience and practice, it gave me a much deeper understanding of how wool textiles are made, from raw fibre to finished yarn.

I also had the opportunity to learn basic weaving techniques using a small tabletop loom (Fig.  3). Through the weaving process, I came to understand how factors such as the tension of the threads, the density of the weave, and even the smallest adjustments can affect the appearance and texture of the final textile.

(Gillian Vogelsang, 16 June 2026) The TRC recently received a substantial subsidy from the Overvoorde – Gordon Stichting / het Pauwhof Fonds, for a series of gatherings that are aimed at strengthening relationships and stimulating collaboration with a broad group of stakeholders in the (inter)national museum, science, art, and heritage fields of textiles and dress.

First round-table of textile studies stakeholders, TRC, 1 June 2026.

Fig. 1. Boerhaavelaan 6 as seen from the garden. TRC plans to use part of the garden to grow textile-related plants, in cooperation with the Leiden University Botanical Gardens. Photograph Willem Vogelsang, 2025.by Willem Vogelsang, 3 June 2026.

In April 2026, the Textile Research Centre (TRC) moved from its former address along the Hogewoerd in the centre of Leiden, into a new 'home'. It is an early-twentieth century urban villa just behind the main Leiden railway station (Fig. 1). The house, at  Boerhaavelaan 6, was occupied by the same family for more than one hundred years.

The last resident, Mrs Hélène Nauta-Barge, lived there for her entire life, almost uninterruptedly, until she died in 2023, aged 99. Since then it has become the property of the Stichting Monumentenbezit, which now rents it out to the TRC upon the recommendation of Leiden City Council,

The house has a fascinating background and reflects the rich, and sometimes turbulent history of Leiden.

Fig. 1. Kasuri cloth sample (TRC 2017.1478-23). Japan, 20th century.This April, I began my research fellowship at the TRC Leiden as the first junior fellow in the TRC Fellowship Programme, sponsored by the Gieskes-Strijbis Foundation, Amsterdam. My project, Thread, Dye, and Pattern: A Historical Study of Japanese Kasuri Techniques in the TRC Leiden Ikat Cloth Sample Collection (Pepin Collection), focuses on the extraordinary technical and artistic complexity of Japanese kasuri textiles preserved in the TRC collection.

Japanese kasuri — a form of ikat in which yarns are resist-dyed before weaving — is one of those textile traditions that becomes more fascinating the closer one looks. At first glance, the fabrics may appear deceptively simple: indigo blues, geometric forms, softened edges (compare TRC 2017.1478-23; Fig. 1). Yet under magnification, entire worlds of technical decision-making emerge. Tiny variations in binding, dye penetration, thread tension, and weave alignment all contribute to the final pattern.

During these first months, much of my work has focused on developing methods for closely analysing the kasuri samples in the TRC collection. Through this research, I aim to better understand which dyeing and weaving techniques are represented in the samples, how yarn structure and resist methods interact to create patterns, and whether particular textiles can be linked to regional Japanese kasuri traditions such as Kurume kasuri from Fukuoka, Iyo kasuri from Ehime, or Ryukyu kasuri from Okinawa.

Charly Sajjad Baumann and Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 15 May 2026This year I am completing my Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design at the University of Applied Sciences HTW Berlin. For my bachelor’s thesis, I am focusing on Afghan embroidery, with a special emphasis on traditional Hazara embroidery. As this topic is personally very important to me, I wanted to approach my work not only creatively but also in a well-founded academic way. Therefore, I began searching online for information, sources, and research institutions that deal with traditional textiles.

During my research, I discovered the Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden, in the Netherlands. This centre is dedicated to the study of traditional textiles, crafts, and embroidery from various cultures around the world. I found it particularly fascinating that it also holds information and textile collections from Afghanistan.

After a short time, I knew that I absolutely wanted to visit this place to learn more about Afghan embroidery and its cultural significance. So I traveled from Berlin to Leiden. The journey was very exciting for me because I knew it would be highly important for my bachelor’s thesis.