Any of you on Orkney walking holidays at the moment are in for a real treat if you make your way to the Kirkwall Library and Archives on November 16th, as a new exhibition is being put on celebrating the history of Orkney tweed - apparently a legacy of none other than our friends the Vikings!
The Get Your Tweed Out event, part of the Being
Human Festival (the UK’s only national festival of the humanities), is just one
of ten days’ worth of goings-on that aim to champion the excellence of
humanities research, while demonstrating the relevance and vitality of this in
the world of today, and showcasing how the humanities can help us understand
ourselves, our relationships and the challenges presented in an ever-changing
world.
Local people are now being called on by the event organisers
to bring their own garments in and share stories of their own, with those
involved eager to hear from anyone who may have had tweed in their families for
decades so they can discover the stories of who wore it, where it was made and
so on.
The aim is to build a picture of the wardrobe of Orcadians
in the years before synthetic ready-to-wear garments arrived.
Organiser professor Sarah Pedersen, from Robert Gordon
Unviersity’s School of Creative and Cultural Business, explained that Orkney
tweed won acclaim during the 20th century for its softness and lightness.
Although its production nearly died out in the local area by
the end of the first world war, two businesses - R Garden’s and Sclater’s -
revitalised the industry by the middle of the century.
“By the mid-1970s both Sclaters and Argarden mills had
closed on Orkney. The advent of ready-to-wear garments made of cheap synthetic
fabrics and the decline of traditional tailoring meant that sales were
insufficient to sustain the Orkney tweed industry.
“In recent years, there has been an attempt to re-establish
Orkney tweed as an internationally recognised brand. Huge cruise ships now
arrive in Orkney throughout the summer, bringing over 130,000 tourists - six
times the population of the entire Orkney archipelago - all potential
purchasers of tweed souvenirs. A trademark for Orkney tweed was registered for
the first time in 2015,” Ms Pedersen went on to say.
The Being Human Festival is running from today (November
14th) and will be coming to an end on the 23rd, with events taking place all
over the UK so even if you’re not lucky enough to be enjoying walking tours of
Orkney at the moment, you may still be able to join in all the fun.
There’s a map of all events on the festival website that could be worth
looking at if you’re keen to get involved and see what it’s all about.
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