Following on from our previous blog about our collection of Paisley shawl designs, today we’ve been admiring a real jaquard-woven, mid-19th Century Paisley shawl.
The shawl comes from Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collection’s Stoddard-Templeton collection of carpet, tapestry and textile samples.
The Stoddard Templeton Archive was split up amongst various institutions in Glasgow a few years ago. GSA’s library holds the design library of the company (the volumes and folios were originally used by in-house designers as a reference tool and as inspiration, and they are still an important resource for designers today); Glasgow Museums hold the carpets, and Glasgow University Archive Services hold the Design Archive and Corporate Archive. All are invaluable tools for research in a variety of areas including economic and social history, art history and, most appropriately, for creative practice (see, for example, our post about Panel’s project Carpets of Distinction which saw the creation of new carpets designed using the Design Archive at GUAS as inspiration).
Glasgow University Archive Services have a blog featuring gems from the Design Archive and another blog with more information about both the Design Archive and Corporate Archive.