Karen Finch founded the Centre in 1975. Her early training in textile design and conservation at Kunsthåndværkerskolen, Copenhagen, her work with the Royal School of Needlework, and later, from 1954 to 1959, in the Textile Conservation Department at the Victoria…
The retirement of Karen Finch as Principal of the Textile Conservation Centre is a good moment to reflect on her achievement. Her innate talents, fostered by her training in Copenhagen, by her work at the Royal School of Needlework and…
November 3rd 1976 was an investiture day for some of those honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The weather was bright and sunny but it was rather cold. We had been told to be at Buckingham Palace by 10am…
In 1974 Rutherford John Gettens, one of America’s pioneer conservation scientists who worked at the original technical laboratory of the Fogg Art Museum, spoke at the American Institute for Conservation meetings in Cooperstown, New York: “To come to the point…
So Katrina, can you tell us some of your earliest memories of your mother? Yes, I think so, I think so. I think that the first memory, and I think it is a real memory, is of when I was…
This (Figure 1) is a dress that was made one of the winter afternoons that we sat round the dining room table. One of the maids did the embroidery and my aunt made it into a dress. I’m not sure…
So tell us about the picture we’re looking at now. This is Meldgaard. Well yes, it’s been in the family for a while and as you can see I lived in the part of Jutland that’s known as moraine country….
So Karen, looking back on your long life, in Denmark and here, what would you say your greatest achievements have been? What are you most proud of? My daughter, because she is really wonderful. And also she married the nicest…
I wanted to ask you about the time you were at home with Katrina round about 1948, and you started working at home. Can you tell us about that? When Katrina was born I still wanted to be involved with…
So Karen in the last interview, you told us that it was the most marvellous experience to go to the Copenhagen Art school. Yes. Well I think I loved every minute of being there even though it was wartime and…
Today I thought we could talk about your education, and first of all I thought I’d ask you about your education in Jutland, from when you were a little girl. Well, my family have always been great believers in the…
So tell us about the church and how important it is to you. The church is 11th, 12th century when a good many of the village churches in Denmark were built and of course the tower was added later and…