The art of linen damask weaving in Britain dates to the seventeenth century. It was prized by royalty and aristocracy for the breadth of elaborate patterns it afforded – armorial bearings, royal cyphers, historic commemorative events and heraldic designs. In 1737 George II turned to Irish linen domestic weavers to provide napery for his household, foregoing European providers who to that point had dominated the market. From this time on, the British crown only ordered from British manufactories.
In France, in 1801, Joseph-Marie Jacquard perfected a semi-automatic mechanism for silk damask weaving, replacing the highly labour-intensive draw loom. It was soon adapted for linen damask weaving, reaching Britain by the 1820s.
In the 1850s, with the introduction of power loom weaving, linen damask weaving became fully automated, theoretically ending Jacquard linen damask weaving at a stroke. However, the power loom struggled to match its fineness, quality and soft handle.
With the closure of the last damask handloom factory in Lurgan in the late 1960s, the centuries-old Irish commercial handloom damask trade came to an end. The craft was kept alive at the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra, where John McAtasney, colloquially known as the ‘last handloom weaving’ demonstrated his trade from 1968-78.
Lisburn, Northern Ireland, had been at the centre of the damask trade since the mid-18 th century and was home to the world-famous Coulson damask manufactory. The firm, and offshoots, produced linen napery and tableware for the kings and queens of Europe, and tsars of Russia. Brian Mackey, curator of the newly-established Lisburn Museum, invited John McAtasney to demonstrate at the new museum on a part-time basis in 1982. John later became a full-time weaver and established a weaving programme as the museum expanded and added the Irish Linen Centre in 1994. John assembled a new damask loom in the museum’s galleries, and took on a Jacquard card cutter, Tommy Donnelly, and two apprentice weavers, Deborah White and Alison McNamee, in 1996.
Deborah White earned a degree in Constructed Textile Design from the University of Ulster, and left the museum in 2023, having pursued a PhD at the University of Ulster on handloom Jacquard design and production in Ireland. Alison McNamee continues to weave at Lisburn Museum and has over 30 years of experience designing for, and weaving on, linen handlooms. She studied woven textiles at Belfast College of Art and earned a postgraduate degree at the prestigious Galashiels School of Textiles and Design. She has woven cloths for the Wallace Collection and the Royal Family, and demonstrated handloom weaving to movie stars, presidents, prime ministers, and millions of museum visitors.
Donna Campbell a hand loom weaver, designer, and researcher with 28 years of experience, joined the museum in 2023. She graduated from the University of Ulster with MA specialising in woven textile design. Since then, she has designed and researched woven fabric for Ewart Liddell, Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen, John England and University of Ulster. Some of her research activity has involved hand weaving 3D natural fibre composites such as flax components for the world’s first sustainable racing car.
Lisburn Museum has invested almost 40 years into the craft of handwoven damask and is the only venue on the island of Ireland where visitors can view damask weaving daily. The museum holds the largest collection of Irish linen damask designs – from point papers to photographic plates – and cloths in the world. As of 2024, the museum’s weavers are undertaking a major renovation project of its cambric, damask and dobby looms.
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Irish Linen Centre / Lisburn Museum employ two master weavers. However, there are no training schemes. Deborah White worked alongside one of the last traditional damask handloom weavers in Ireland and says it takes 5-7 years apprenticeship to master the trade.
Deborah White was awarded an AHRC / NBC Scholarship in September 2020 with Ulster University; PhD Topic: An Empirical Study of Hand loom Jacquard Design and Production in Ireland. White worked alongside one of the last traditional Damask hand- loom weavers in Ireland, from 1994-1999, after graduating from Ulster with a BA (hons) in Woven and Constructed Textile Design. Recent awards such as HCA’s Endangered Craft Award (2019), The Textile Society’s Professional Development Award (2019), and The Theo Moorman Trust for Weavers Award (2019), have helped secure an independent practise.
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