Our weaving pattern database is up and running!

Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir opening the weaving pattern database during DesignMarch 2020. Picture: Katrín Ólafsdsóttir / Icelandic Textile Center.

In 2016, Icelandic textile artist and weaving expert Ragnheiður Björk Þórsdóttir spend five months researching old weaving patterns archived in Kvennaskólinn. The weaving patterns in this database date back to 1961 - 1972 and include the archives of four Icelandic weavers that were given to the Icelandic Textile Center and the society "Friends of Kvennaskólinn" for preservation. The scope of the data is vast and invaluable; thousands of patterns, handwoven samples, and handwritten notes that are rich in cultural value and potentially of great use to the weaving industry, designers, and the educational sector.

This initial research and preservation project sparked "Bridging Textiles to the Digital Future", a three-year project project aiming to analyze, photograph, and digitize weaving patterns, and make them available to scholars, artists and designers online. By applying new research of traditional patterns and how they are woven, new digital weaving pattern technology can be applied to make old patterns compatible with the TC2 digital loom located at the Textile Center. 

The project was approved for funding by the Icelandic Technology Development Fund (Rannís) in 2017. Thousands of weaving patterns were analysed, photographed, and digitised by project manager Ragnheiður Björk Þórsdóttir and her research assistants, who also experimented with patterns and fabrics doing sample weaving on the digital loom. 

The project was presented in June 2020 during DesignMarch in Reykjavík, and the database formally opened by the Icelandic minister of Science, Education and Culture, Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir.  

The patterns are available for purchase and download. Access the database on our website here.