FAIC Oral History Interview: Session 1
Well, this is day one of our sessions for the AIC oral history file. And the obvious thing to start with is where and when you were born. On a farm in Northern Jutland in Denmark. And do you want…
FAIC Oral History Interview: Session 2
Well, this is day two, it’s July 17th, 1985, and this is an interview with Karen Finch. Actually, I wanted to pick up on what we were talking about yesterday, and the Royal School of Needlework. I was wondering if…
FAIC Oral History Interview: Session 3
Where did we get to yesterday? Well, yesterday we got to when the committee was set up to get the palace. No, the committee was set up to get charitable status for a National Institute for Textile Conservation. That’s right,…
FAIC Oral History Interview: Session 4
Well, this is our last session, and I’m going to change the subject from last week’s adventure on the roads, to the Centre’s moderate position on the use of adhesives. I was wondering how you felt, because in conferences, the…
Tribute to Karen Finch from Philip Sykas
An enormous curiosity about textiles led Karen Finch, who died this year aged 96, on an unusual life journey as a weaver, textile conservator and educator. Born the eldest daughter in a Danish farming family, her presumed fate was marriage,…
The history and the techniques of the spinning of gold thread
Abstracted in free translation by Karen Finch (1998) from: Sofus Larsen. (1939) Nordisk Guldspinding og Guldbroderi i den tidlige Middelalder. København: Ejnar Munksgaard. Note on the translation: I wish to stress that the information abstracted relates mainly to the practical…
The United Nations curtain restoration
On this page Eva-Louise Svensson’s account of the restoration project The following account is written by Eva‐Louise Svensson and lightly edited by Katrina Finch to accomodate additional information from the newspaper clippings, which were printed over the course of the…
Report on the Reference Collection of the Textile Conservation Centre
Organisation The work on cataloguing the Collection began in 1975 when it was moved from 7 Western Gardens, Ealing to Hampton Court Palace. There were many difficulties to overcome because of the lack of space and inadequate facilities and progress…
The education of textile restorers
At present, in England, we have no accepted course of training for anyone who wishes to work at the conservation of textiles. Indeed there is hardly anyone outside a museum, or without some personal contact with the work, who would…
Note on the Library & Reference Collection
A knowledge of materials used in Textile objects and their history is the basis of sound conservation and is essential to Textile Historians and Conservators alike. This knowledge may be gained in part from tutors and colleagues but in the…
Tribute to Karen Finch on the relocation of the TCC to Winchester
Mr. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, There is a moment in all our lives when the door opens and lets the future in. For Karen Finch that moment probably came when, as a young girl in Denmark, she stood in the Village church…
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the TCC
Part One: Karen Finch – A Tribute Karen was born and raised in Denmark and she has often written and spoken about her early awareness of history through carvings and needlework in the local parish church. Her long-term interest in…
