This fabulous foxy pair of embroidered slippers were recently donated to the ZTC study collection. They are possibly 19th century and are very well worn and a little moth eaten. Their fox faces are full of character and the sides of slippers are even embellished with beautiful fox tails. The story of where they came …
We recently carried out a last minute tricky job for The Mucha Foundation supporting a badly damaged original poster prior to framing for exhibition. These posters seem to be characterised by poor quality paper, touchy gold ink and fugitive colours, combined with gorgeous art nouveau Alphonse Mucha designs too, of course, and really complex printing …
Over the summer we worked to conserve two extraordinarily rare and ephemeral textiles known as Illuminations or Transparencies. Privately owned, they were conserved for the exhibition ‘Georgian Illuminations’, currently showing at the Sir John Soane’s Museum until 7th January 2024. Dating from the early 19th C these hand painted cloths were temporarily tacked inside the …
We’re currently working on three gorgeous 1580’s Brussels hunting tapestries for a private client. Our latest new team member, Rhianne Deaves, has been working with Hazel to clean and minimally repair broken slits and then folding the edges in to neaten them and reduce their size as the client remit was to make the tapestries …
We’re looking forward to what promises to be a feast for the eyes, Brighton Museum’s exhibition Lee Miller: Dressed. We’ve spent the summer conserving and mounting the costumes and are now building up to the final days. In 2021 we worked with Farleys House & Gallery to help them condition check and store their newly-discovered collection …
Double Weave – Bourne and Allen’s Modernist Textiles opened at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft last Friday evening (15th September) and we were thrilled and proud to do much of the conservation and mounting for this fabulous exhibition! Hilary Bourne and Barbara Allen were an extraordinary powerhouse of a couple, quietly designing and …
Continue reading “‘Double Weave’: a celebration of Hilary Bourne & Barbara Allen”
Introducing our most recent placement student from the Curating Collections & Heritage MA at Brighton Humanities – lovely Lilia Federico. Lilia read anthropology and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies at College of Wooster, Ohio prior to her current MA and comes with a keen interest in historical dress research. Lilia is heading in the curatorial …
Continue reading “From the ZTC collection: early Victorian bodice & jacket”
Those of you who follow us on Instagram might have seen our updates over 18 months from late 2021 – early 2023 as we worked on a rather special project. The Manx Museum on The Isle of Man, home to the world famous (and arguably most dangerous) TT motorcycle race, had already spent months planning …
It was a pleasure to return the beautiful Anglo-German tapestries designed by weaver Ursula Benker Schirmer to Chichester Cathedral this week after new linings and a thorough surface clean. The tapestries have a vertical warp so after freezing for a slight moth infestation, a deep clean and new linings, we rolled them bottom to top …
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Brighton University MA Curating Collections and Heritage student Harriet Brown reflects on her work placement in our studio For the placement module of the MA Curating Collections and Heritage, I worked at Zenzie Tinker Conservation (ZTC). This was an incredibly varied placement where I supported a wide variety of projects. Over 150 hours, I helped with …
Continue reading “Conservation work placement: a patchwork of skills”