The first ETN field trip took place between May 29th and June 1st, 2024, and took us to Belgium and Northern France.

Together with the great Belgian weaver, ETN member Esther Van Schuylenbergh, who is well remembered for her impressive jacquard fabrics developed at the Textile Centre Haslach, we came up with the idea of ​​organizing this field trip on the topic of flax and linen. Thanks to Esther, we came in contact with Marie-Anne Van der Plaetsen, a textile enthusiast and connoisseur of the Belgian and French textile scenes. Marie-Anne was a great help to us from the start in organizing the trip and even more so as a fantastic guide on our tour.

In a group of 37 textile enthusiasts from all over the planet, we experienced a memorable journey that took us to various production sites, studios, workshops and even farms. The group size was good for getting in touch with everyone, exchanging ideas and networking during the sometimes longer bus journeys. The idea of ​​organizing this smaller format in addition to the somewhat larger ETN conferences has proven successful and we are looking forward to more ETN field trip experiences in the years to come!

Thankfully, Beatrijs Sterk, founder of ETN, has written a detailed report about our trip, which we are herewith happy to share with you. We have attached some reactions from fellow travellers, also giving an insight into this special ETN field trip.

Enjoy reading, best wishes,
Christina and Andreas

The Museum of Industry tells the story of the Industrial Revolution and how steam and electricity revolutionised industrial life. The museum is housed in an old cotton mill and has two other exhibitions with working machinery.

Visit B &T Textilia in Waarschoot, a mill for "high-quality jacquard and plain fabrics of uncompromising quality". The company has a long history, but its current name started in the 90s and it now works for this very high quality, very handcrafted sector. We were greeted in a room where the company's hand-weaver, Hélène Borchers, had laid out her linen samples on the table, just like in the textile departments of universities. Our wonderful guide, Marie-Anne van der Plaetsen, who used to work for this company, explained to us how this company works with its clients (mainly high-end international brands) to find new solutions for interior fabrics or fashion. There are about 8 designers working in this company, all looking for new ideas and techniques to create exciting fabrics. Their showroom was a dream and we were lucky enough to buy some of the sample fabrics.

The next stop was in Kortrijk at the Flax Museum, now called "Texture", where we had dinner and were able to see the flax craftsmanship of the past, as well as some very fine flax products (household linen and lace) in the treasure room. The museum is located in the former flax dispatch house on the banks of the river Leie, which played an important role in the retting of flax in the past (today only field retting is used).

The next day we visited Deltracon in Ingelmunster, Belgium. Deltracon is a family owned weaving mill producing high quality linen fabrics. It was founded in 1990 by Rudy & Kathleen Delchambre. In 2013, their daughter Darline joined the company. This weaving mill was again specialised in craftsmanship, flexibility, creativity and innovation in all kinds of linen products, mainly for interior textiles. We were greeted by the owner himself, who was very honest in answering our questions: He told us that there were not enough designers coming out of the Belgian textile departments (KASK Academy, Luca School of Art, both in Ghent, and La Cambre in Brussels) and that the clients' demands were not always realistic. Fortunately, he is able to work with one of the best Belgian designers trained at KASK, Esther Van Schuylenbergh, who then showed us around in the studio. As with B &T, we were allowed to visit the weaving mill and take as many pictures as we wanted, but our guide was not allowed in because she was from a competing company.

What was new for me in both weaving mills: The amount of work that goes into developing new fabrics in these high-end mills, which can sometimes take months and is paid for by the customer. The final weaving does not take that long!

Our group then travelled to Crecit in Tournai, where we were shown around the tapestry activities and the laboratory. Crecit (Centre for Research and Scientific and Technical Control for the Textile Industry) currently has two main tasks:

1. Cultural and artistic activities through its "Tournai Tapestry Workshops", such as the restoration and conservation of old tapestries and textiles, but also the production of contemporary tapestries.
2. More scientific activities through its testing laboratory.

Our next visit was to TAMAT, also in Tournai, once the centre of tapestry weaving and also famous for the Tournai Tapestry Triennials (the 5th Triennial was held in 2005). TAMAT is a centre for textile arts created by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. In 1990, TAMAT moved to a beautiful neoclassical mansion, the Tapestry Museum in the city of Tournai. In addition to collections ranging from ancient tapestries dating from the 15th century to the most contemporary works, TAMAT also houses research workshops. Each year, these allow scholarship holders to explore, in complete artistic freedom, the infinite possibilities offered by textiles. A restoration and conservation workshop and a documentation centre complete the centre's wide range of activities. We were able to view the museum's tapestries and talk to the four current fellows.

After dinner, we were invited to visit the Daniel Henry design studio, which amazed us with its creativity and ingenuity. He said of his work: "For the last ten years or so, I have devoted all my time to research, away from my clients, with the sacred as a central theme.  The sacred is expressed in my creations through the search for the absolute and the light of gold". He was a real artist-craftsman and not just a designer!

On day 3 of our flax tour we travelled to Bethune in France to visit the Safilin flax and hemp spinning mill, originally based in Poland but re-opened in France in 2002 to offer 100% French linen after a 20-year break. The company's CEO, Olivier Guillaume, took the time to tell us how and why this small mill was set up with state aid, clearly demonstrating his dedication and enthusiasm for his goal: to supply the best possible fibre to the European customer.

In the afternoon of the same day, we travelled to St Pierre le Viger, also in France, to visit the Terre Du Lin flax cooperative. Here we saw the farmers bringing in their bales of flax, with the field where the flax was grown marked on the bale. Then the processing of the flax, the scutching and hackling, done by modern machinery in a huge hall. I had never seen this done on an industrial scale before, and I doubt if any of our group had, so it was again very interesting.

Dinner was at the hotel with a charming French-English talk by Catherine Sauvage, an expert in organic flax.

The last day of the tour took us to Saint-Vaast-Dieppedalle in France, to an organic flax and hemp farm called "Les Près D'Artemare". Here we learnt about the seven-year rotation of flax crops and the additional problems organic farmers face after the CVO, as consumers have less money to spend. Flax is also affected by climate change due to the warm summers! This was a real farm visit with cows and other animals and I felt very awkward as I did not dare to walk back through the two rows of cows on my own while the farm owner was still answering questions.

The last visit was to the Lace Museum of Calais, still in France. Set in an authentic nineteenth century lace factory, the Lace and Fashion Museum is a specialist museum dedicated to the famous lace woven on looms. It presents the techniques, lingerie and haute couture associated with lace, as well as its contemporary aspects.

Derived from a technique invented in England in the nineteenth century, Leaver's loom lace is now produced mainly in northern France. Unlike the Jacquard loom, the Leaver's loom has not yet been digitised, as this would be too time-consuming and complicated, so the Leaver's loom still works the old-fashioned way with punched cards, a fascinating machine that is still in use in Calais, where people know the details of this marvel of human ingenuity!

Our last visit was far too short, but all in all we saw more than we expected and could digest! For my part, I will remember above all the enthusiasm and commitment of all those who showed us around their museums and businesses! This was the first study trip organised by ETN and it was well planned and very informative. More such study trips to special places and textile themes would be wonderful!

I really enjoyed the variety of the visits we made and I was surprised of the warm welcome we received at all of the stops. I also loved the variety of the participants, they came from all kind of backgrounds; artists, designers, makers, researchers, textile lovers and this made the conversations and discussions at the organisations we visited, but also in the group extremely interesting.
Kitty van den Heuvel

We were guided trough flax Paradies by passionate people: form artist to weaving mill - everybody spread positive words about their work with this divers fiber. Our Field trip was an outstanding experience. Thank‘s a lot for sharing all this!
Klara Neuber

I feel that no words can explain what incredible and exciting this trip experience was.
Before starting this travel, I expected that ETN field trip will be something extremely special, a unique opportunity to visit places you would never be able to see in normal life. I had no doubts that I need to participate in it. And this trip truly exceeded my expectations.
During the ETN trip each place we visited was like a gate to a deep, and meaningful textile universe. In each place I felt how important is it and I was impressed how logically smart is prepared this storytelling travelling plan.
I want to say big THANK YOU to the organizers team! You did truly a great work to organize so intensive and full filed professional trip.
I want to deeply thank all organizations that gave us the opportunity to look behind the scenes of their textile business and cultural processes. Each talk, presentation, discussion, guiding tour at the production factory, museum, art studio, and flax farm was like a precious diamond for me. We all had a unique opportunity to see in life all stages how flax plant is becoming a linen textile material with different functional and cultural meanings. And we realized how deeply everything and everyone are connected with each other.
Many thanks to our wonderful group of 30 people in the bus - all unique professionals in so many different textile fields. I was honored and blessed to share this wonderful trip with you all. Textile talks were never stoping and this was so wonderful!
This trip filled me with many new meanings, ideas and conclusions.  Without a doubt, I will remember our unique experience for the rest of my life.
Khristina Vysotskaya

It was a great pleasure to get to know these places and exchange ideas with so many textile enthusiasts from a wide variety of fields.
We were guided everywhere with an open mind and great trust in archives, exhibitions, productions and developments.
Countless conversations and, last but not least, the interviews on the bus were a wonderful opportunity to learn about the work of the members.
Many thanks to you and everyone who gave us an insight for this wonderful, varied and well-organised trip to the textile treasures of Flanders and Normandy.
Annette Weber

Details on the trip:
https://etn-net.org/2024-belgium-north-france.html

all photos in this report by Khrystina Vysotskaya, Beatrijs Sterk, Emily Halvorsen, Kitty van den Heuvel and Christina Leitner