Weavers
Combining traditional weaving techniques and a deep understanding of antique textiles with the latest loom technology, the weavers with whom Soane works beautifully recreate the feel and quality of the originals on which they are based.
Lace Weavers
It has been particularly thrilling to work with the last patterned lace weavers in Scotland to breathe new life into three of Soane’s most enduring designs. Founder Lulu Lytle has always loved lace for its delicacy and romance, as well as the way it gently diffuses light and creates shadows. Soane’s lace is woven on vast Nottingham Lace Looms, some as wide as 1220cm, and nearly as old as the mill itself, established in Ayrshire in 1900. Serendipitously, the original mid-century fragment of Madras Lace that inspired Soane’s lace collection is now understood to have been woven in the very mill that weaves Soane’s lace today!
The lace industry’s roots in Ayrshire date back to 1876. Once the largest employer in the area, this corner of Scotland was home to around 32 mills at its peak. By the 1980s less than half were still in operation, as cheaper imports became readily available and training for succession dwindled. MYB Textiles is now the only mill designing and weaving lace in Scotland.
MYB Textiles are known for their innovative spirit and it was their willingness to embrace technology in the 90s, paired with funding from Scottish Enterprise, that helped secure the future of the Scottish lace industry – replacing the painstaking and costly process of painting each draft in watercolours for pattern card cutting with a specially commissioned Computer-Aided Design system that is now linked to the antique loom producing Soane’s lace. Lace production remains extremely labour intensive, however. The looms operate at a very slow, controlled pace to maintain exceptionally high standards and quality control. Each metre of lace is then carefully inspected and deftly finished by hand.
MYB Textiles now employs around 50 people, many of whom are able to trace the threads of their family back multiple generations – their histories deeply intertwined with the history of lace.
Fabric Weavers
The Suffolk town of Sudbury is renowned for its silk weaving, with a legacy of excellence that stretches back to the eighteenth century. Soane works with a 300-year-old family mill in the town, home to an exceptional, innovative team. The intricate weaving process, which requires the varied skills of yarn operatives, warpers, weavers, tacklers and inspectors, begins with the selection of the best yarns for the warp and weft and finishes with an inspection of every inch of the newly woven cloth.
Since the development of the first Soane fabric over a decade ago, a collaborative relationship with this community of specialist makers has been integral to the design process.
As we work on the development of a fabric, our favourite element is the important trialing process where we experiment with colour, design, texture and construction; this enables us to decide upon the desired weight, tone and lustre of the cloth. Custom colours are selected either by matching a hue in an antique textile, or, more typically, painting watercolours to create the optimum shade.
