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We are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding for further collaboration with the LDE Centre for Global Heritage and Development. CGHD is a collaborative enterprise of Delft University of Technology, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Leiden University. It focuses on the question how heritage relates to cultural, social and environmental developments and decisions.

Woman's mola (blouse) from Panama, with a large appliqué with the number 25, marking the San Blas uprising of the Kuna people, in February 1925 (TRC 2014.0458).

In general terms, cooperation will cover the following fields: the setting up of joint research projects and joint publications; organising joint educational and cultural activities; exchange and support of students; exchange of faculty and/or other staff.

The MoU reflects a growing interest from the side of various academic centres for museum and heritage studies in the practical opportunities offered by the TRC for training students and others and for working 'hands on' with actual objects from the extensive TRC Collection.

The MoU was signed on behalf of the TRC by Dr Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director, and on behalf of CGHD by Prof. Pieter ter Keurs, Director.

Two other reviews of the TRC-supported Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of World Embroidery, namely the Encyclopedia of Embropdiery from Central Asia, the Iran Plateau and the Indian Subcontinent (London 2021). One of them has just been published by the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, the Netherlands and was written by Linda Hanssen, former curator for textiles at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam.. You can download the review here.

Another review was published in June 2022 by the Zai Initiative (Abu Dhabi).

Purchase of the volume against a reduced price: Click here.

The next volume in the series, on African embroideries, has been submitted, and work on the fourth volume, on embroidery from Scandinavia and western Europe, is advancing rapidly. The first volume appeared in 2016 and covered embroidery from the Arab World.

7 August 2022

Dr Monica Klasing Chen is assistant-professor in Chinese art history at Heidelberg University, Germany. She attended the 5-day TRC Intensive Textile Course in April. She wrote a blog about her experiences and how the course has affected her work and her interests in textiles. A second blog that she wrote about the course, and which will focus on her personal highlights during the week, will be published shortly.

Satin bag, China, late 19th century (TRC 2010.0138).

Large silk 'cloud' collar for a woman, with embroidered panels and open areas, China, early 20th century (TRC 2004.0108).

The 9th May is Europe Day within the Leiden City of Science 2022 programme. Se we decided to illustrate various waistcoats, from different parts of Europe. Some of them are for men, others for women, and others we are not really sure of.

The TRC is happy to welcome everyone tomorrow 9th May between 10.00 and 16.00.

Woman's waistcoat from North Macedonia, c. 1920 (TRC 2021.3007d).

Hand embroidered waistcoat from Romania/Ukraine, 20th century (TRC 2022.0390).

The last few days have been busy and exciting at the TRC and beyond! So what is new? We have been working hard on the Arizona collection and nearly 400 items are now online. Then via the post came five garments from Socotra, an island just south of Yemen, thanks to Julian Jansen van Rensburg from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

Embroidered woman's blouse (huipil) from Guatemala, 1930s ? (TRC 2022.1243).

It is estimated that traditional Ukrainian embroidery utilises at least 200 different stitches. While there is wide regional variety as to stitches, thread colours and motifs, one motif is found across the entire country: a red geometric star (sometimes called a rose), done in a running stitch.

Detail of Romanian/Ukrainian Hutsul shirt, late 20th century (TRC 2022.0366).

YouTube film, Open Day at the TRC, 24 April 2022Thanks to Kelly Wong, a new TRC intern from Amsterdam University (Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture), we present a short film about the open afternoon on Sunday 24th April 2022.

More specifically the film is about a pop-up exhibition that she and other TRC colleagues made to celebrate the arrival of two large donations of central and southeastern European textiles and dress.

Most of the garments derive from Albania, Hungary and Romania, as well as from Georgia in the Caucausus, and numerous other countries and cultures.

The film can be viewed by pressing here.

The exhibition will be on display until the end of May 2022. More short films about people, items, exhibitions and projects at the TRC will soon be coming online on the TRC YouTube channel.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director, 30 April 2022

Woman's outfit from the Kalocsa region, Hungary, mid-20th century, TRC pop-up exhibition, from 24 April until the end of May 2022.After the successful opening of the TRC pop-up exhibition on Sunday, April 24th, it was clear that one particular outfit was catching a lot of attention, due to its brilliant colours and floral patterns. This was one of the women’s outfits from the Kalocsa region in Hungary, which greeted visitors to the TRC as they came in. Several of the items from the Amsel Collection, which arrived at the TRC earlier this year, build up this outfit, which was so incredibly popular both in-person and online.

Both men and women from Kalocsa wear clothing adorned with a characteristic floral pattern, which can be seen both in the outfit on display as well as in several other pieces in the collection (e.g. the man's shirt, TRC 2022.0798). For the women it is most common that a white blouse with short sleeves was worn underneath a waistcoat with significantly more embroidery. The heavily pleated skirts, such as the red one pictured, could be layered over up to a dozen underskirts for added volume and flair, which would look incredible while dancing.

The aprons also often include a lace cutwork known as Richelieu and would have coloured ribbons woven throughout the lace. Most often the ribbon would be blue, although I have found that examples of other colours do exist. It was even common for ribbons to be woven through cutwork in the blouses and caps as well!

What makes the floral pattern of Kalocsa, just south of Budapest, so iconic is not only its use for clothing, but also for many other aspects of daily life. Florals can be found on everything, from dinnerware, to wallpaper, bedding, tablecloths, as well as decorated eggshells! Designs are also known to include the famous Kalocsa paprika that I look forward to spotting on a garment some day. It’s no wonder this outfit was catching everyone’s eye. This is part of what makes exhibitions at the TRC so unique, namely that visitors are able to view the embroidery very closely in order to fully appreciate the detailed patterns (see detail of TRC 2022.0450).