Collar and neck opening of a recently acquired men's jacket from Indonesia, late 20th century (TRC 2021.2940).I have been asked about a typical day or week at the TRC. I am no longer sure I can give a relatively coherent reply! What I do know is that things just happen and often, what I expected to be a quiet day, changed quickly via an email, phone call or personal visit into yet another exciting experience.
Over the next few days we are organising workshops on bobbin lace making and Palestinian embroidery – as part of TRC’s active policy of developing a varied programme of workshops and courses on a range of artisan textile skills.
On Saturday we are the venue for the annual meeting of OIDFA (Organisation Internationale de la Dentelle au Fuseau et à l'Aiguille) Nederland, an international lace making group. It will be interesting to hear about lace, how it is made and about the various lace collections in the Netherlands. And I suspect there will also be a discussion about some of the problems and challenges faced by lace makers in various communities.
During the last few days we have been offered a collection of Indonesian batiks and if all goes well, we are going to have a book presentation and pop-up exhibition at the TRC about these items in December 2021.
Print depicting a 'Moorish' woman, probably from Algeria, from a Dutch publication in 1840 (TRC 2021.2864).Yesterday (19th October) I talked with H.E. Riaz Hamidullah, the Ambassador of Bangladesh to the Netherlands, about organising an exhibition on the theme of hand-crafted textiles from his country, including woven, embroidered and dyed forms. This will take place in 2022 as part of the celebrations to commemorate 50 years of Dutch-Bangladeshi relations.
And on the same day I was talking with a Leiden character, a ‘sailor tailor’ who makes the thick woollen garments for boat crews and who is retiring and closing his business after three generations. He is going to make a textile collection for the TRC of the different types of materials he, and his father and grandfather have used, such as the “Leidse Zeeduffel” with the stories behind these pieces.
A little while ago we were given a collection of clothing from the 1980s worn by a career woman from Leiden who needed professional clothing, but found it very difficult to find suitable garments in her petite size. What was acceptable, but with a difference? She developed an interesting solution – she copied the clothing worn by Princess Diana. If a princess could wear these garments in public so could she! These items will appear online within a week and we are planning an Instagram report about them.
And that is the wonderful thing about the TRC, we can go from dainty lace and business clothing to sailor’s trousers, Bangladeshi embroidery and Indonesian batiks in the blink of an eye, with no pauses or complaints. It is never dull here, and as everyone observes, flexibility is important for anyone working at or with the TRC Leiden.
And now to find larger premises and funding, and yes, we are talking with various people about these subjects as well. I think 2022 is going to be a very interesting year for the TRC!
Dr Gillian Vogelsang, 20 October 2021
