A traditional Surinamese costume is the kotomisi. This kotomisi, lady in koto (skirt) and jaki (jacket), is only complete if she is wearing a beautiful starched and folded angisa (headscarf) on her head. Through folding techniques, you will learn to make a beautiful angisa.
The history of angisa is a story in itself; it is not just headgear. In this workshop, you will see how an angisa is created step by step. We show the preparatory work by bringing a sewing machine and demonstrating how the angisa is cut, edged, scalloped and decorated. We can also show how the starch is made and used and leave that cloth hanging there to dry.
You will be taken by the hand to master the folding technique, and, in conclusion, you get to choose a starched cloth to fold a matching angisa with. The special thing is that we only need our own hands and a few sturdy pins for this. At the end, you will go home with a beautiful ‘Let them talk’ angisa.
About the workshop facilitators
Patricia was born and raised in the Netherlands to Surinamese parents. ‘I have always had a curiosity about my roots. That started with a talk about Suriname, through singing in a Surinamese choir, to making my own koto with angisa. And now propagating this cultural heritage so that it is not lost.’
Jane came to the Netherlands in the early 1970s and, out of curiosity about her roots, ended up in the world of kotomisis where she saw and learned a lot. She started working with kotomisis in the Netherlands. It began with making hats with a Surinamese touch to indeed giving the angisa her appreciation and sharing her knowledge and thus also propagating the culture.
Make a sustainable party garland.
Would you like to hang up your homemade garlands every (party) day to celebrate life? Garlands that tell your story or honour the memory of specific people or events. By making a garland with this precious textile, those persons or events will always remain a little bit with you.
During this workshop, you will delve into the art of crafting flags using diverse fabrics. Explore various quilting techniques, master the art of storytelling through textiles, delve into pattern work, practice hand sewing, achieve seamless finishes, and more.
At the end of the workshop, you will go home with the beginnings of your flag line and enough materials and inspiration to continue!
Do you have textiles at home that you want to make flags from? Then bring it along so Rianne can get you started! There will be plenty of saved textiles for all participants anyway.
With Kick Ass Quilts, Rianne brings a new dimension to the craft of quilting: namely, that of ‘Quilting for a sustainable future where everyone has a meaningful and enjoyable life’. For this, quilting’s tradition of reuse, quilting together, creative expression, and storytelling is combined with modern techniques, designs and issues. She believes that quilting has an important role in bringing back the value of textiles and the value of creating with your hands, making meaningful objects that are cherished for a long time. And that, in turn, is good for the planet because sustainability is largely about enjoying more and consuming less.
Kick Ass Quilts is actively developing and sharing a modern, sustainable quilting approach through its studio in Almere at the Upcyclecentrum. This site collects and processes domestic waste separately, providing a substantial stream of household textiles for our creative endeavours. Collaborations with Restore, a circular crafting centre in Ede (NL), and generous donations further enrich our textile sources.
This workshop is for all ages.
Leaves can transfer natural colour to the fabric. In eco-dyeing – also known as plant printing – leaves from different plants are used to print a pattern on fabric. Since India Flint’s books, this dyeing technique has become increasingly common. The trick is that the leaf not only leaves a coloured stain, but even the grain is visible in the print. At Textile Institute Hawar, we know precisely how to achieve this. Teachers Harm and Margriet will teach you about the natural dyes of different leaves and how to make a nice sharp print.
In this workshop, you will print a soft and summery scarf from Etamine de Laine with your own pattern of different leaves. You don’t need to bring anything for the workshop (but you can – read on!). We will provide a wide choice of leaves. Part of the workshop is fixing, which takes an hour. Of course, you don’t need to be present for this but keep in mind that you won’t be able to take the scarf with you immediately after the workshop. If you like to experiment, you can bring your own plant, tree or flower leaves. We do not know exactly which colour each leaf gives off, but we know from experience that the surprise often makes the result even more beautiful!
Harm Harms is a teacher and owner of the family business Hawar Textile Institute, where teachers from home and abroad pass on knowledge and skills in the large and atmospheric workshop. There is also a very extensive shop and an inspiring gallery, making it an incubator where new and old materials and textile techniques are (re)discovered. During the festival, Harm will give workshops together with Floor de Bruijn. She was a designer at Humanoid and teaches reuse and restyling of clothes and fabrics at Hawar.
The minimum age is 12 years.
Language: English.
Got a broken piece of clothing? Let’s extend its life by repairing it. We will teach the participants new skills to mend their clothing during the workshop. We test these new skills on a piece of dead stock test fabric supplied by Makers Unite. The participants will be guided step by step and learn how to sew on a button and repair a seam. When the participants are familiar with basic sewing skills, they can repair their personal items and shift the mindset of discarding towards a mindset of repairing.
We want to offer our participants a repair workshop, where they can acquire basic knowledge on how to repair their clothes and also get some clothes repaired in the learning process. Participants can bring their clothes to repair, and in the workshop, they will learn basic repair techniques.
Our repair workshop is a unique experience where the facilitators are newcomers who become part of our community after graduating from our Makers Unite Creative Lab program. They bring creative talents to the host society and the knowledge to make the repair workshop a unique experience.
Santa, one of our facilitators from Latvia, is creative, passionate about art and craft, and loves nature. Samin, our facilitator from Iran, has worked as a Makeup Artist, fashion designer and journalist for over 20 years. He has a keen eye for detail and is ready to transmit his knowledge about embroidery.
“With everything I make, I aim to connect creativity and function. I put lots of positiveness, care and love in everything I do, and I truly wish that through my work, people can feel my good intentions and love and, in turn, share this with others” (Santa).
Makers Unite’s mission is to support newcomers with access to the job market through the collaborative design and production of sustainable products, in the process shifting narratives around migration globally.
Have you always wanted to know more about the ancient Japanese repair technique Sashiko and what beautiful things you can make with it? This is your chance to get started.
During this workshop, you will learn the basics of the Sashiko technique, and with it, you can turn your jeans (with holes and scuffs) into a wearable and unique work of art! Don’t have a pair of suitable jeans? No problem; you can also make a ready-made patch or a collage of pieces of denim and other woven textiles. You can bring your own or not. Needles and thread will be provided. After the workshop, you will have turned your jeans into a unique piece of art. Or your own ‘unique textile art’, for yourself or to give as a present to someone close to you. For you have made it with love and attention.
Sashiko is an ancient embroidery technique originating from northern Japan. Sashiko (pronounced Sash-ko) is a running stitch and means prick or stitch. Boro refers to rags and worn textiles and is a form of visible repair using the Sashiko basting technique. Sashiko & Boro, perfect and imperfect. There can be Sashiko without Boro, but no Boro without Sashiko.
Sashiko is a sustainable way to repair and upcycle worn-out denim. By using the Sashiko technique, you add value back to worn-out jeans.
By hand sewing, stitch by stitch, patches of fabric over and under worn spots, the textile always gets a unique look. There is no sewing machine involved; everything is done by hand.
For this workshop, you do not need any experience, just an interest and some manual dexterity. Yarn, needles and practice materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own jeans or woven fabrics (no jersey/tricot). You can also make a collage from patches of denim, cotton or linen, to frame or serve as the basis for a bag or other project.
With her company Yukkuri Studio, Helly Coppens focuses mainly on upcycling denim, giving new value to discarded jeans. There is no straightforward translation for many Japanese words. This also applies to Yukkuri. It means something like slow speed, without hurry, at ease, restful. This fits perfectly with her drive to create sustainably, working with textiles, mainly denim. Yukkuri products are unique and handmade as a response to mass and overproduced clothing globally.
Helly enjoys working with tangible materials, with needles and thread. It is mainly old-craft Japanese repair techniques that inspire her, where quality always precedes quantity. This way of working is Slow Design, which is very calming. This is a welcome effect because our world is fast and fleeting. It is always a challenge to make something new out of leftovers. It gives new value to worn-out or discarded clothes. Repairing jeans and reusing denim instead of throwing them away and replacing them. And thus reduce waste. Working with residual materials comes with limitations. It is precisely these limitations that determine her design choices and ensure that her creativity is constantly challenged.
Wall Hanging Sashiko stitches on denim
Sailmaking is one of the oldest professions in the world. Think of the Vikings who set foot all over Europe thanks to their sails or the fishermen who desperately needed sailmakers: ‘no sail, no fishing’.
What will you do? This workshop will introduce you to the materials, tools and techniques a sailmaker uses. Think cotton, hemp, beeswax, the sail hand and corpse rope.
You will go home with a homemade cotton bag in which you will recognize the techniques of the craft.
The Zuiderzeemuseum presents various crafts, one of which is sail-making. There is a master and apprentice, just like in the old days. Both are present to teach a fun and instructive workshop.
Enkhuizen, West Friesland, Netherlands
Teachers of the Zuiderzeemuseum
(Photo by Guillaume Groen )
A rip in your favourite pair of jeans? Your grandmother’s silk blouse with a worn collar? That lovely jumper that, unfortunately, has a hole in it? Bring them along to the GOLDEN JOINERY workshop!
Bring a precious but broken piece of clothing from yourself or a loved one, and together we will repair it with ‘gold’. Instead of hiding the repair, it will become a visible golden scar, celebrating life’s imperfections. You add value yourself. This slowly creates a collection of unique garments.
It is a collective gesture against the throwaway mentality, an excellent way to spend a few hours together and make the world a little bit nicer. Experience with needles and thread is not necessary. Techniques and materials will be provided during the workshop. Do bring a torn / broken piece of garment!
Golden Joinery is based on Kintsugi (= golden joinery), an ancient Japanese technique where broken pottery was visibly repaired with gold. Painted Series translated this craft into repairing broken clothing with gold in a way that is not invisible but adds something special to your precious item. Depending on the hole in the garment brought, we will work with darning, the Japanese Boro technique, needle lace, the festoon stitch or appliqué.
Painted Series is a fashion collective led by fashion designer Saskia van Drimmelen and director Margreet Sweerts in alternating collaborations with like-minded people. Known for sharp contemporary couture in which craft techniques take pride, Painted Series explores new ways of developing and distributing fashion, playing with the boundary between fashion and performance and the idea of what a garment can be. With reciprocity as a guiding principle in every relationship, she aims for a loving, non-exploitative relationship with people and materials. The ‘new’ brand Golden Joinery is about taking care of the clothes you already have. A growing collection of clothing featuring visible, golden repairs appears offline and online.
Dive into the world of the weaver, a world of threads, textures and colours and weave your own fabric for a cushion. A loom with treadles will be ready for each participant. Choose your threads and colours, and get to work. You will experience what it feels like to weave on a standing loom, and while weaving, you will see how the fabric slowly grows under your hands. After the workshop, you can leave the fabric you wove on the loom. We will sew it into a cushion, and a few days later you will receive your fabric as a cushion at home. (The workshop price includes shipping costs.)
Handweaving is an age-old fabric-making technique but an inexhaustible play of patterns, yarns, textures and colours. Eva Klee revives this old craft in her handweaving shop. Exclusive, high-quality custom-made hand-woven fabrics, one-offs and reproductions of fabrics are created here artisanally. The aim of each fabric design is seductive quality with an eye for detail.
As early as the age of 11, Eva Klee took over her mother’s Swedish loom. Partly because of this, weaving feels like a second skin to Eva. She is constantly searching for new fabric designs in her studio, an inexhaustible interplay of patterns, materials and colours. Small changes in the weaving process can result in unexpected and fascinating changes. The ‘discovering along the way’ and critical questioning of technical perfection fuel her continuous research. Great technical skills combined with creativity characterise her work.
Eva Klee trained as a hand weaver for three years in southern Germany. She then studied Monumental Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.
When you think about lace making, you may associate it with lace collars in paintings by the old masters and dresses at your grandmother’s house. But even today, there are lace makers who have the dedication and patience for this craft. And of course, this craft, too, has evolved. The lace making technique is not only used in art, textile art, fashion and jewellery. Even steel fencing has been made using the technique of bobbin lace. So, with bobbin lace, much more can be done.
Once you have mastered the basics, you can make choices in which direction and with which application you want to continue. Maybe you have no idea how to make lace. Perhaps you have been looking at a bobbin lace pillow with bobbins shooting in all directions, and you have wondered how someone knows which bobbin goes in which direction and when… In either case, we challenge you to come and experience what it is like to sit behind a bobbin lace pillow and make something small with bobbins. You will go home with a happy little octopus and an idea of how those experienced lace makers know which bobbin, when, should go where.
We got to know each other at various lace bobbin courses at home and abroad. Meanwhile, Corrie has started teacher training in Germany, and Rit is chairman of a large lace society in the Netherlands. We no longer want to keep our enthusiasm for making lace with bobbins to ourselves but share it with the world. That may seem a bit ambitious, but for the Ambacht in Beeld Festival, we are happy to pull out the lace bobbin pillows, bobbins and pins.
Photos: Kika Booy.
Old2Gold processes beloved pieces of clothing as lining in a bag made from reused leather. For many, garments contain a special memory: the first baby clothes, your wedding dress, a blouse of a deceased loved one or simply a favourite pair of trousers. For many, throwing these kinds of items away is difficult, resulting in a box of clothes sitting unused in the attic for a long time.
Old2Gold makes this memory tangible by incorporating recognisable elements of that special piece of clothing as a lining into a bag. Each bag is made from reused leather from old furniture, trimmings or samples to prevent high-quality, usable material with a special and personal story from ending up in the trash.
You will use recycled materials during this workshop to make your personalised phone bag. This phone bag will be made from reused (furniture) leather and lined with your beloved piece of clothing! This way, we give existing materials a second life, and you go home with a super cute and personalised bag.
During this workshop, Jolien will teach you the basic facets of the bag-making craft. She will take you from the first idea to realisation. How do you design a bag? How do you make the patterns? What tools do you use? Meanwhile, you get to work behind the special sewing machine (single-needle free-arm sewing machine with triple feed) to stitch your bag together yourself. The bag is 20 cm high, 11 cm wide and 2 cm deep, therefore suitable for phones up to 16.4 inches.
Would you like to make this personalised phone bag? Then don’t forget to bring your beloved piece of clothing or another precious piece of textile for the bag’s lining. Please note that you will need at least two pieces of 20×15 cm fabric. It is nice when this fabric is not too thick (like a knitted jumper) or too ‘open’ (like a lace blouse).
This workshop will be run by Jolien Roesthuis, bag designer, memory artist and owner of Old2Gold. “Because of my background in textiles, I constantly came into contact with the many abuses in the textile industry, so I decided I wanted to do something about it. I truly believe that we should no longer see used textiles as waste but as raw material for special products with a personal story. This mission, my interest in fashion and my fascination with craft and workmanship made me open the doors of my studio in 2017. I draw inspiration from timeless classics, existing shapes, textures, and materials. I am creative, conceptual and practical in my designs. After all, a bag from Old2Gold should be something you can wear anytime, anywhere, so you can take your special memory with you every day.”
In collaboration with Andrevo Sewing Machines.
Festival address:
NDSM Loods
NDSM-Plein 85
1033 WC Amsterdam
Postal address:
Stichting Ambacht in Beeld
Kalf 158
1509AH Zaandam
The Netherlands
