Blueprint by Deventer Katoenmaatschappij, or Ankersmit at the Vlisco archive
A year ago I was starting my travels in Southeast Asia and was preparing my first guided tour. I was hoping to go this October, but we had to postponed the tour to May 2027. Contact aNERDgallery for more info. One of the reasons is that I am at the moment working on an Batik exhibition for the Kunstmuseum in Den Haag that has to be opened in March. So exciting, soon more info!
Being away while still having to work on it, didn’t seem like the best combination. Hopefully when the exhibition opened, I can stay a bit longer again in Southeast-Asia.
This is also why my blog was not updated on my recent Batik adventures, or actually Blaudruck adventure!
In Staphorst this design is called 'glasses', it looks a lot like the batik motif Kawung
Box full of headscarfs at the Museum Staphorst
In November I got the news I was selected by KF Hein Fonds as one of the ‘Grensverleggers’ artists. My plan, which was a longtime wish, was to dive into the tradition of Blaudruck. Blaudruck is one of the few textile dyeing traditions still active in Europe. It is a resist-technique with blockprinting and Indigo dyeing, which was copied from Indian blockprinting techniques.
During this journey into Blaudruck I am doing a deep dive into the traditional Blaudruck technique to uncover more on how the cotton printing industry in the Netherlands worked. How was the technique adapted to create products for the Southeast-Asian market? How did patterns change or were made to fit the use abroad?
Selection of blocks from Heyder & Co and Voortman from the Momu collection
Old label on block from Heyder & Co from the Momu collection
This type of motif is still being worn in Staphorst, originally probably based on an Indian woven textile
In March I met two Japanese researchers during the Textile festival in Leiden, they invited me a couple of days later to join them to see blockprint blocks & lace at the Museum Momu depot near Antwerpen (BE).
I always wanted to see the blocks they had of Heyder & Co, the later Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij (LKM), so I was very happy. At Momu they house a small collection of blocks, most from Voortman – nv Texas (1790-1988), a few from Heyder & Co, next to samplebooks, which I have to see next time. The blocks are kept at a remote depot.
The blocks we got to see were with diverse motifs, used to copy woven patterns like Kasmir shawls onto cotton, but also make imitation batik & chintz and blue printing. Some blocks were in pairs, so to print the base/background and to do the filling motif, very interesting to see.
There were several boxes filled with blocks I didn't get to see this time, but hope I will in the near future.
At the Vlisco archive
Headscarfs by Ankersmit at the Vlisco archive
Imitation batik sarong with tumpal by Ankersmit at the Vlisco archive
Samples of Imitation batik by Ankersmit at the Vlisco archive
In March I revisited the Vlisco archive in Helmond (NL). I saw in 2018 several blueprints, or actually blue fabrics with a white motif due to a resist print, that were produced by Ankersmit.
In the early 19th century this small cotton-printing company in the Netherlands specialised in a niche market, blue with white patterned headscarves for men in Southeast Asia, mostly Sumatra. Only through archival research and actual headscarves kept it private collections this product revealed itself. For a long time the company Ankersmit (1798-1965) in Deventer of the Netherlands was considered not to be making any imitation batiks for the Southeast Asian market. They were known for their wax prints production for West Africa that started around 1910.
The company was founded in 1798 in a small house with just a indigo-bath and making something called ‘Leminias’ which they shipped to different ports in Southeast Asia. Leminias is a fabric with a blue base and a white motif or the other way around. The technique looks most like Blaudruck, which is still practiced in Europe. Examining surviving headscarves and smaller samples, the motifs produced by Ankersmit are a combination of Blaudruck motifs and batik borders. The questions arose, did they made these products for a European market first, since these textiles are part of traditional wears for European women, and found a new market abroad by chance? Or did they based them on existing headscarves from these regions? How did Ankersmit create their products for the Sumatran market? Since Blaudruck has it origin in India, and therefore the motifs too, was there first a production going from India to Southeast Asia with blue and white cloths, before Europe?
The hope is through this journey to find the answers to these questions by further archival research and field work. By visiting existing Blaudruck workshops and comparing the still made patterns with old samples & wood blocks.
Fancy storage tin box used in Staphorst to store headscarfs and handkerchiefs
Collection of Johan de Bruijn
Box full of headscarfs and handkerchiefs at the Museum Staphorst
Blocks and cloths from Firma K.F. Vloedgraven.
The last company still selling and making blueprinted fabrics in Staphorst.
Display at the Museum Staphorst
Photo by Willem F. van Heemskerck Düker taken on 7 August 1948 in Staphorst, showing women covering their heads with headscarfs because of rain.
This photo is part of the temporary exhibition on photography & Staphorst, with a long history of photographers taking (and staging) photos of this community still wearing traditional wear with, but more often without consent.
On 24 April I got to visit the small towns Rouveen & Staphorst (NL) where blaudruck are still part of daily wear. The few traditional wear wearers use blue dyed fabrics as a headscarf when it is raining & as a handkerchief.
In the past different sellers brought these cloths to the towns, later there even was locally a blueprinter, but now they go for the vintage ones. Sold when one if the wearers pass over. I got a headscarf during one of those events, but most times the prices go pretty high.
I was welcomed by Jacco Hooikammer to take a look first at the collection of Johan de Bruijn, and later we went to see the Museum Staphorst collection. We even stopped at the former blueprinter shop, still a textile shop that now used the old blueprint blocks to do dot-work (stipwerk).
What a fun day, learned so much about the names & what quality markers are important to the wearers. Also about the difference between old blaudruck, newer ones and even the fake one (machine printed).
Thank you Jacco & Johan for welcoming me at your homes & hometown. It was a great preparation for my journey to Austria, see next blogpost!
Me and Jacco studying Johan's collection
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