We went to Arnhem to see this exhibition at the MMKA called "Six Yards" where a wide range of Vlisco fabrics are being shown. I enjoyed it so much, such beautiful patterns and great colours and textures. Fantastic.
Here's some information about it, copied from the MMKA exhibition brochure:
The origin of the international success of the Vlisco fabrics is located in a small, unpretentious city in the south of the Netherlands. For more than a hundred years, the fabrics have been designed and produced in the Vlisco factory in Helmond. The motifs and method of production are rooted in batik, the Indonesian wax print. When the Dutch were the colonial rulers of Indonesia, they began producing a mahine-made (and less expensive) imitation of this highly labour-intensive technique at the end fo the nineteenth century. Vlisco emerged as the best in the field and ultimately shook off all its competitors. After Indonesia was lost as a colony, the comnay turned to the West African market. Motifs and colours were adapted to locally prevailing tastes.
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Each of the original batiks from which today's Vlisco fabrics are derived had a meaning of its own. Indonesians could determine each other's social standing and stage of life at a single glance, depending on the colours and patterns they were wearing. The fabric's communicative aspect continues unabated today, although the production method, patterns and market have changed.
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| Human centipede made out of Vlisco fabric. |
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| Hyperrealistic mannequin with freckles, eyelashes, and saliva. (Yes, that's an Oxford comma I'm using there. I think it sometimes makes sense.) |
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| The Beatles dressed in Vlisco fabrics. |
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