In 2021 I started working with Fresco Sam-Sin of Things That Talk to put the history of De Leidse Katoenmaatschappij (LKM / Leiden Cotton Printing Company) on the digital map. On objects from different Dutch collections stories were told, written by students, guided by me and I got to write some stories myself too. With photographer Cees de Jonge I travelled to different depot to document the objects for the stories. Together they tell the the history of this company that made imitation batiks for the Southeast-Asian and West-African market.
Central to this zone ‘Fabric(s) of Leiden’ is De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij. The city of Leiden has a connection with textiles in many different ways; from the textiles produced within the city to the textiles brought to Leiden from Asia for museum collections. An important center in all of this was the Leidse Katoenmaatschappij (Leiden Cotton Printing Company), otherwise known as LKM. LKM is known by experts, but has been forgotten by many.
The LKM factory was located in the center of the city and produced printed cotton for trade within Europe and for export to Asia and Africa. A local company with a global history. The company started in Lier in Belgium in 1756 under the name ‘De Heyder en Co’. In 1835 it moved to Leiden where it was bought by Ignatz van Wensen (1810 – 1886) and Johann Heinrich Joseph Driessen (1794-1879). De Heyder en Co wasn’t named ‘De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij’ until 1887. The LKM produced printed cotton until 1932 and stopped officially in 1936. The name has slowly been forgotten. Over time, interesting objects related to this company were spread out over different collections in the Netherlands. These objects can tell us more about the company’s history; who ran it, who worked there, its global connection and the development of cotton-printing. With Things That Talk we will tell these stories, using samplebooks or fragments, batik cloths or written labels, so people can learn more about the ‘Fabric(s) of Leiden’.
Visit the full zone here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden
Read the story on ‘Fake Batik’ by me here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TKRPZS
Read to story by Phoebe Bowsher on ’10 steps of tie-dye’ here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TUyiRd
Read the story by Arlene Soemardi on ‘Batik by J. Jans’ here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TQPAAB
Read the story by Laurens Tan on ‘Advertising with meaning’ here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TVtfHU
Read the story ‘Batik Cloth From Beginning to End’ by me here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TUrpqH
Read the story ‘The perfect dyers family Faes’ by me here: https://thingsthattalk.net/en/zone/fabricsofleiden/t/ttt:TpbTZT