We’re just home after a really enjoyable trip to Austria for the European Textile Network conference (and a bit of R & R).
We spent a week staying near Haslach so that I could attend the conference and we could both partake of the interesting ‘extras’, since S enjoys touring linen factories and textile exhibits almost as much as I do. One of the highlights was visiting a factory that weaves fire hoses on circular looms! And we also saw a family printing and dyeing business, which is well into its fourth generation and still using the same indigo vat. In fact the contents of the vat is ‘only’ 22 years old, since the original vessel sprang a leak and the current generation had to line it with stainless steel.
There is an annual Weavers’ Market in Haslach which was taking place just before the conference. The whole village is turned into a giant marketplace for fabric, garments, yarns etc, so there was much to admire. ETN hosted an exhibition called Garden of Eden in the ruins of Castle Neuhaus, which was an incredible venue. The team had done a wonderful job installing the textile exhibits in the different spaces and against the diverse crumbling surfaces. There are lots of photos on the ETN Facebook page.
“ETN 2019” was posted by Cally on 12 August 2019 at https://callybooker.co.uk
