history
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Francesco, Niccolo and Agnolo
The building may look a little in need of some repair, but you can see it has had status! I adore this building in the city of Prato, Italy. It was built back in the 14th Century by a gentleman called Francesco di Marco Datini. All it’s history is still within the building – the open doorway takes you inside the Palace … The artwork on the walls is fabulous – imagine what it must have looked like back in the late 1300’s when all was beautiful and new. The display boards at the side tell you about the man who had the palace built and his work. So, why…
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The Colour of War
In 2013 I started researching Khaki ready for the commemorations of World War 1. I wanted to know how they were producing the colour – was it natural or synthetic? Here’s a summary of my research, originally written to be an article for the Journal in 2016, they wanted to make too many changes so I’m sharing it here. On the 4th August 1914 war was declared and thus a requirement to clothe over 6 million soldiers in British Army Uniform began. The story begins by looking back to the Victorian era and changes in Industry and the army uniform. The British Army was famous for its red coats (dyed…
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Roubaix – a textile town
As lock down is gradually being relaxed we are allowing ourselves 1 day a week to go out and visit “somewhere”. We take a picnic and are avoiding mixing with people, but this week museums have been allowed to open, so we thought it would be a good time to see some we have wanted to go to for quite some time! So we headed for Roubaix – now a kind of suburb of Lille, this town is known for it’s textiles. In the 18th and 19th C they were big linen and wool producers, now it’s the super high technical fabrics. The first visit was to La Piscine –…
