In this episode we travel to Moss in Norway to visit Vibeke Vestby, who founded Digital Weaving Norway in 1995. We trace the development of their TC looms from Vibeke’s early experience as a hand weaver to where the company is today. Thanks to an innovation grant from the Norwegian state, as well as a close collaboration with Tronrud Engineering, Digital Weaving Norway has been able to cater not only to craft interested handweavers but also work closely with institutions and researchers working in the field of technical innovation. 

During our visit in Norway, we had the opportunity to visit the production sites of Digital Weaving Norway as well as their close collaborators Tronrud Engineering. We interviewed Vibeke Vestby who also invited us into her personal weaving workshop to see her archive of handwoven fabrics and collection of weaving books. To watch the interview in full please visit: https://youtu.be/E4DIU1GIjvA 

In this podcast series we are exploring loom production in the Nordic region over the past 150 years and up until today. Weaving is known as a tool-heavy craft and most weavers are aware that there exists different kinds of looms, but little attention has been paid to loom design and its influence on the craft of textile making.

Fabric of Society is a collaboration between PhD in Crafts Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann. The Nordic Looms series is funded by The Danish Arts Foundation. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

Relevant links for this episode:

Digital Weaving Norway: https://digitalweaving.no/

Rosa Tolnov Clausen https://rosatolnovclausen.com/

Stine Linnemann https://www.stinelinnemann.com/

Marco Madia https://www.marcomadia.com/

In this episode we visit the loom manufacturer Toika, based in Toijala in Finland. The company has existed for almost 130 years, starting with reed production and later transitioning to making hand looms, which is still their main business to this day.

Technical innovation and changing conditions for manufacturing has influenced Toika’s operations across the decades from industrialisation to the emergence of computers.

We spent a couple of days in Toijala, where we met the family that runs Toika to this day. Here we had the opportunity to interview the current owner Jukka Yrjölä and his wife Mona, who also showed us around the production sites and shared their company archives with us. To watch the interview in full please visit: https://youtu.be/enBvBMmbjnI 

In this podcast series we are exploring loom production in the Nordic region over the past 150 years and up until today. Weaving is known as a tool-heavy craft and most weavers are aware that there exists different kinds of looms, but little attention has been paid to loom design and its influence on the craft of textile making.

Fabric of Society is a collaboration between PhD in Crafts Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann. The Nordic Looms series is funded by The Danish Arts Foundation. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

Relevant links for this episode:

Toika https://www.toika.com/en/home/

Rosa Tolnov Clausen https://rosatolnovclausen.com/

Stine Linnemann https://www.stinelinnemann.com/

Marco Madia https://www.marcomadia.com/ 

In this first episode we are visiting the archives of the Danish loom manufacturer Lervad in Vejen, Denmark. They made looms for hand weaving from 1895 until around the 1980s.

In the late 1800s we see a reemergence of weaving in Denmark, particularly at the folk high school Askov, which leads to the founding of Lervad. We look at how social changes and reforms during this time influences the craft of weaving and loom-making specifically. 

While we were in Vejen we attended a talk about Lervad by textile archeologist Kathrine Vestergaard Brandstrup, who was kind enough to give us an exclusive interview afterwards. To watch the interview in full please visit: https://youtu.be/CVN59mu1Vjs 

In this podcast series we are exploring loom production in the Nordic region over the past 150 years and up until today. Weaving is known as a tool-heavy craft and most weavers are aware that there exists different kinds of looms, but little attention has been paid to loom design and its influence on the craft of textile making.

Fabric of Society is a collaboration between PhD in Crafts Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann. The Nordic Looms series is funded by The Danish Arts Foundation. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

Relevant links for this episode:

Kathrine Vestergaard Brandstrup: https://textilarkeolog.dk/

Vejen Local Archive: https://sonderskov.dk/vejen-lokalarkiv/om-vejen-lokalarkiv

Rosa Tolnov Clausen: https://rosatolnovclausen.com/

Stine Linnemann: https://www.stinelinnemann.com/

Marco Madia: https://www.marcomadia.com/

In this first part, Rosa speaks to PhD Eliza Kraateri about cottage industry in Finland and Stine speaks to Kristine Holm-Jensen from the Textile Museum in Herning about the history is Danish textile manufacturying.

In this pilot episode, we explore the handmaking of textiles in the Nordic countries. This is a podcast by PhD student Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann, who are both trained weavers and textile enthusiasts.

A special thanks to Nordic Culture Fund for their "Opstart" funding, which made this pilot episode possible. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

www.elizakraatari.com

www.museummidtjylland.dk/tekstilmuseet

www.rosatolnovclausen.com

www.stinelinnemann.com

www.nordiskkulturfond.org

www.marcomadia.com

In this second part of the pilot, Rosa speaks to Annika Nyberg-Frankenhaeuser from Friends of Finnish Handicraft (FoFH) and Stine speaks to Laura Dalgaard, an independent knitwear designer based in Copenhagen. Both FoFH and Dalgaard combine selling finished products with selling patterns, allowing their customers to create their products themselves.

In this pilot episode, we explore the handmaking of textiles in the Nordic countries. This is a podcast by PhD student Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann, who are both trained weavers and textile enthusiasts.

A special thanks to Nordic Culture Fund for their "Opstart" funding, which made this pilot episode possible. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

www.suomenkasityonystavat.fi

www.lauradalgaard.com

www.rosatolnovclausen.com

www.stinelinnemann.com

www.nordiskkulturfond.org

www.marcomadia.com

In this third and last part, Rosa speaks to Ritva Kurittu-Kalaja who is a weaving facilitator from Tyeväinopisto at Omnia and Reetaleena Laine who is one of the weavers who use this public weaving space. Stine speaks with designer Liv Beier Heckmann from I Tråd Med Verden, a social enterprise in Copenhagen. Both the weaving space and the social enterprise, have a shared understanding of the social and almost therapeutic effects of making textiles with your hands. At the end of this last part of the episode, Rosa and Stine touch up on what we've learned and discuss handmade textiles in a broader context.

In this pilot episode, we explore the handmaking of textiles in the Nordic countries. This is a podcast by PhD student Rosa Tolnov Clausen and artist Stine Linnemann, who are both trained weavers and textile enthusiasts.

A special thanks to Nordic Culture Fund for their "Opstart" funding, which made this pilot episode possible. Soundscape by Marco Madia.

www.omnia.fi

www.itmv.dk

www.rosatolnovclausen.com

www.stinelinnemann.com

www.nordiskkulturfond.org

www.marcomadia.com