ZTC had the pleasure of working on a double sided polychrome silk embroidered Chinese wall hanging (86cm x 460cm) from Alphonse Mucha’s studio, which we conserved and for provided a storage and travelling mount and box.
Portcullis House was opened in 2001 to provide additional office space and public Committee rooms for members of parliament and their staff. A number of contemporary artworks were commissioned for the building and it now houses one of the UK’s largest contemporary textile collections. Many of the early works were consigned by the architect as …
Continue reading “Order in the House: students stitch up Parliament”
Treatment is now complete on a decadent aubergine silk man’s smoking jacket from Manchester Art Gallery for their exhibition Dandy Style opening on 4th February 2021. The conservation was undertaken by Jamie Robinson and was generously funded by the Costume Society’s own Elizabeth Hammond Conservation Grant to ensure the jacket’s longevity on and after display. …
Continue reading “Conservation of the Manchester smoking jacket”
The Doggett’s Race, a four mile race on the Thames passing under 11 bridges began in 1715 and is believed to be the oldest continually competed sporting event in the world. Started by Thomas Doggett, manager of the Drury Lane Theatre the race taken over by the Fishmongers’ Livery Company after his death in 1722. …
In 2012 four iconic David Bowie costumes chosen for the V&A Bowie exhibition were conserved by ZTC. The exhibition went on to be one of the museums most successful shows and toured overseas. My favourite was the incredible suit that Bowie wore during “The Man Who Sold the World” tour which was based on the …
This article by our former administrator Victoria Haddock was first published in the Costume Society Newsletter, Autumn 2019 – you can follow our progress on Instagram @legallydressed_rcj. In 2018, Zenzie Tinker was delighted to be appointed as the Advisor for Conservation and Display of the Legal Costume Collection at the Royal Courts of Justice in …
Continue reading “Royal Courts of Justice Legal and Judicial Costume Collection”
I was first asked by the National Trust to assess the conservation needs of the curtains on the Onlsow State bed at Clandon Park in 2010. They were principally concerned about pieces of a strange plastic like film that were dropping out of the hems of the curtains. Very intrigued I discovered it was the …
Charleston’s inaugural exhibition held in the Wolfson Galleries opened in September 2018 with ‘Orlando at the Present Time’, marking the 90 years since the first publication of Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography. The exhibition included contemporary interpretations alongside rarely seen letters, photographs and objects connected to the original publication of the novel. Also on …
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery has a truly exceptional world cultures collection. Following the success of the multi-platformed Fashioning Africa project, a national programme aimed at supporting community partners to research and explore museum collections, the museum has continued to work cross-continent to display objects from the collection within in their indigenous communities. The ZTC …
We have now treated a total of ten panels of embroidery for the Dubai Cultural & Arts Authority Collection in the United Arab Emirates. The panels once formed part of a number of 19th Century Kiswa made for the holy Ka’ba at Mecca. Each year a new Kiswa is embroidered in the traditional manner and …