The textile research collection at the studio has, amongst its treasures, a skirt that features indigo dyeing, skilful pleating, and painstaking embroidery.

Given to the collection a few years ago by a local family from Greymouth Māwhera, this piece has been waiting to be catalogued and researched. It is now on the website as item number T0001, although this will change when we get to labelling it and storing it correctly. For the moment it is the only item on the Collections part of the website while we look at the amount of information and detail that is needed to make the catalogue a meaningful record.

The skirt has over five metres of cloth, compressed by pleating into just over a metre at the waist. It has unique characteristics that have allowed it to be identified as from the Hmong people of mainland South East Asia and southern China, including the indigo dyed and stencilled panel.

The plan is to make the collection accessible so that it inspires and encourages exploration. As this record is the prototype and will form the template for all other items in the collection it would be very useful to know what readers think of the layout, content and detail. If you have a view or advice please email or comment below this post.