My first Instagram post of the year, 2nd January 2020 showed a photo of a clean, tidy, empty studio and said, “Happy New Year and new decade to all our followers. It feels like the lull before the storm – we look forward to sharing some of it with you this year”. Of course at …
At the ZTC Studio we are lucky to have two very experienced paper conservators as part of our team. This obviously gives us a huge advantage when treating objects combining textiles and paper – which are numerous. As well as mixed media objects like textile sample books many items of costume and even state beds …
Two incredibly fragile early 20th Century Indian phulkari embroidered cotton curtains from Rudyard Kipling’s study at National Trust property Bateman’s were recently conserved at our studio. It is fascinating to think that Kipling wrote many of his most famous works in this study with his beautiful Sussex countryside view framed by these curtains. The curtains …
A new display at Smallhythe House, Ellen Terry’s Tudor cottage now in the care of the National Trust, opened just before the whole world stopped because of the pandemic. Even though it has not been possible for visitors to see the new season’s display yet we we would like to share some of our insights …
Over the years we have had to answer several disaster calls most often involving water or pest outbreak. Sometimes the disaster is so big that the emergency services are the only ones allowed on the scene (The Clandon Park fire for example) and we have become involved after the event. Read more about our involvement …
The 16th century Flemish (?) tapestry fragment colloquially known as the Gladiator was bought by Rudyard Kipling to furnish his family home Bateman’s, now owned by the National Trust. Prior to conservation at the ZTC Studio it was in poor condition with weak and missing areas of silk and wool weft. As is common with …
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 …
By Caterina Celada Prior, Intern at ZTC Summer 2019. This summer I moved from the Scottish Glasgow rain to the sunny Brighton to spend an excellent time as intern at Zenzie Tinker Conservation studio, following the first year of the MPhil in Textile Conservation from the University of Glasgow. I have enjoyed my time working …
We keep thinking things can not get any busier or more exciting work wise and then they do – 2018 has been no exception! This year we have been particularly challenged space-wise as our long term site work teams from Westminster Abbey and Knole came home to roost bringing mountains of equipment back with them …
The main themes of this last busy year seem to have been dust and BIG, complex, dirty textiles. Oh and scaffolding. We bought our own scaffold tower this year and then had to buy extensions to make it even taller. The new equipment is great but what makes these big projects possible is the amazing …