The blog is a place for Karen’s family and friends to post news and updates relating to her legacy and the textile world.
Please feel free to join the discussion by using the comments section at the bottom of each blog post.
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Karen's centenary
Last year we announced that we would be marking Karen’s centenary on May 8 2021 by publishing new material on the site. We haven’t published as much as we would have liked but the arrival of what would have been Karen’s 101st has acted as a spur. We are pleased to draw attention to: A new essay by Philip Sykas… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
Katrina Finch suggested this article for the website and I will take on the task. In the beginning of the 1990s, I met Karen Finch for the first time, and in the years to come we met once or twice a year in Denmark or elsewhere, for instance in 1997 the memorable conference for the 50th anniversary of Platt Hall… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
In many ways my auntie Karen was like a female Peter Pan. Very modern and with the capacity for seizing the right moment in her own very visionary, clever way. What she believed in, she aimed for, and turned into reality. And like Peter Pan her arena was the whole world, with all the people who believed in her and… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
The warp and woof On the 100th birthday of my aunt Karen Finch née Sinding Møller, I would like to honour her achievements and independent spirit. I was fortunate to have Aunt Karen in London, and more so because she shared her home with family and friends. To me, these sentences still resound with the magic of holidays, a sense… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
To: Karen; Alan; Ellen-May and Ayesha (who is celebrating her 40th birthday). 8th May is a magical date in our family calendar, believing as we do that sharing a birthday date confers a special relationship between people and families. Despite not being with us, Karen remains at the heart of this day of celebration. Happy birthdays! [Read more]
Karen's centenary
Karen’s vision of textile conservation always had a very strong international dimension. As part of Karen’s Centenary, we are publishing an interactive map showing the global reach of Karen’s teaching at the Textile Conservation Centre. The map shows the country of origin of many of her students, and provides some information about their later careers. We would welcome updates and… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
“The folk custom of hanging funeral garlands in churches was one of many topics that would have been raised in the wide-ranging discussions that generally followed Karen Finch’s weekly lectures to first year students on the Textile Conservation course in 1980/81. Customs involving textile objects that connect our lives to a more distant past formed a persistent undercurrent to our… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
My mormor (mother’s mother in Danish) would have been 100 years old today. How she would have loved to get a letter from the Queen on her birthday! We joked about it many times, especially after she turned 90. She knew that she and I held very different views about the royal family and that was part of the joke.… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
It was just by chance in 2017 that I came across a reference to the Oral History Project of the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC) in an issue of the IIC’s (International Institute for Conservation) journal. It mentioned undertaking an oral history with Karen. Dr Joyce Hill Stoner was mentioned as leading the project. With remarkable efficiency… [Read more]
Karen's centenary
My sister would have been a hundred years old, had she still lived on May the 8th 2021. She was born at our farm in Jutland, Meldgaard, situated near a village, Rødding, to the north east of Viborg. She was the eldest of eight children and a beautiful child. My father said that he did not mind that she was… [Read more]