Lauren P.
Google
As a fan of textiles and handicraft, I’ve been to a lot of museums and laboratories, but this one, though small and specific, was particularly evocative and informative. I’ve seen countless handlooms and jacquard looms, but never in action or explained in such loving detail.
Our guide took us through the history of her craft in the Perugia area and the story of founder of the museum, her mission, and how her family has carried on and expanded this work and research. The evocative deconsecrated church itself was resplendent today in the Umbrian late summer sun.
One handloom in particular still runs on its original family’s encoded designs. Every warp thread that passes through it has been knotted to the one that came before it (far more efficient and less vulnerable to error than re-threading the loom). That’s impressive enough when considered literally, the working history of every warp thread connecting back to another textile through time. But it’s all the more touching when taken as a metaphor for the umbilical connection of daughter to mother to grandmother and beyond.
Overall, I was in awe of this monument to women and their work. (PS I cannot wait to see the documentary on the recreation of the Perugino tablecloth immortalized in Da Vinci’s Last Supper.)