Comments on: James Leman’s Album Of Silk Designs

By: Maria Maurio

Maria Maurio — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 18:29:01 +0000

I loved reading this and viewing the accompanying photos! As I textile artist and designer who only works with natural dyes, I marveled at the brilliance in color of what are most certainly natural dyes (the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800’s changed the course of natural dyes)! And as a college professor who teaches the history of costume, this is a wonderful bit of traceable history into the silk trade, dyeing, weaving, artistry…..I could go on!

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 14:45:42 +0000

Thank goodness our museums and archives preserve such treasures as these. I love James Leman’s signature too.

By: Jennifer Newbold

Jennifer Newbold — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 12:17:18 +0000

It had not struck me before how very Asian-inspired the designs were, with their flattened perspectives and idealised architectural and botanical themes. But of course! Silk came from Asia. Our ancestors could be very literal at times! But since silk was a luxury, we’d want to emphasize that it was silk, wouldn’t we?

By: Muswellmummy

Muswellmummy — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:53:04 +0000

Thank you for showing us this remarkable book of silk designs. As you point out, the mix of architecture and botanicals feels so very modern. As someone who loves textiles this was a real treat.

By: Christine Swan

Christine Swan — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 07:09:13 +0000

These are beautiful designs and it is incredible that some fabric has survived. Silk is not the most enduring of materials as it is biodegradable. It is so important that the area’s rich history is preserved and communicated.
As a bit of a fashionista, I am also interested in the fabric design and the garments made from it. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a working loom was set up to demonstrate the process of weaving? I visited a forge in Devon, run by the National Trust, that allowed visitors to watch the process and to purchase small items made from the worked metal. How wonderful it would be to have a small square of woven Spitalfiealds silk! Although I have Huguenot ancestry, I do not have any artefacts other than my own research, including some newspaper articles as one of them was a union leader. From this I know that he wove Jacquard designs.
Thank you GA ,and other contributors, for this really interesting post. P.s. I’ve just realised that I have been pronouncing Leman St incorrectly.