News

The new home of the TRC, from the garden. Photograph: Willem Vogelsang.From April 1st, we are officially the proud tenants of the urban villa Boerhaavelaan 6, Leiden. The house is located some 200 metres from the Central Leiden Railway Station, Oegstgeest exit.

Please have a look at the list of activities below (you can find the provisional list of activities for 2026 here), and let us know which ones you would like to attend. Please register in advance at Dit e-mailadres wordt beveiligd tegen spambots. JavaScript dient ingeschakeld te zijn om het te bekijken..

1 April. Workshop Irish crochet lace

3 April. Study day: Khayamiya appliqué panels from Cairo, Egypt

8 April. Beginners course: Bobbin lace (3)

15 April. Workshop: Basics of band weaving

19 April. Sunday lecture: The history of the paisley motif

20-24 April. TRC Five-Day Intensive Textile Course

29 April. Advanced course: Bobbin lace (4) 

Moroccan kaftan for a woman, made from a Japanese kimono sash (obi), 1950s (TRC 2001.0074).

3 May. Sunday lecture: Sustainability and WWII textiles

6 May. Workshop: Basics of felt making

8 May. Study day: What is embroidery?

13 May. Workshop: Historical handsewing techniques

13 May. Advanced course: Bobbin lace (5)

20 May. Workshop: Palestinian embroidery

27 May. Advanced course: Bobbin lace (6)

31 May. Sunday lecture: Tutankhamun's wardrobe

Yesterday, Friday 20th March, the rental contract for Boerhaavelaan 6 was signed between the owners, the Stichting Monumentenbezit, and the TRC! This may be one small step for mankind, but it is one large step for TRC’s plans for becoming the international hub for textile and dress studies and for making Leiden into the ‘City of Textile Knowledge’ a reality! 

Photograph, from left to right: Mark van den Bos, Director Monumentenbezit, Dr. Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, Director TRC and Prof. Bas ter Haar Romeny, Chair of the TRC Board.

An extensive programme of research, events, and textile outreach is being organised for this year and indeed for the years to come. And the signing of the contract is a very significant moment for us all.

The new premises of the TRC, from the back garden.Robert Spiegelman is an American friend of the TRC who has been visiting Leiden and the TRC for some years, and has been supporting our work in many ways.  Here is his personal appeal:

I am a huge, and hugely unlikely supporter of the TRC.

Let me explain. I am an American who loves Leiden and spends more than a tenth of my time there every year. A few years back, my curiosity was peaked. I had read about the TRC and while cycling by I met Gillian. It was truly inspirational. She gave me a tour, told me about their work, explained the plan/intention to go from an “academic volunteer run knowledge center” in a nondescript street front location to become everything it could be, a fully professionally run organization and an internationally recognized expert and leader. The dedicated group has done an amazing job.

I was impressed and immediately began making contributions to keep the lights on.

Why do I say “unlikely?” While I love Leiden, it is not my home. I have no interest in fashion and while I suppose textiles and textile history are important, neither was an interest of mine. What impressed me was the importance of the work that was being done, the idea that textiles, fashion, and the textile trade could be used to trace changes in civilization worldwide for several centuries. The parallels are fascinating.

Dutch national newspaper Trouw published a review by Els de Baan of the Dutch edition of the Atlas of Embroidery / Atlas van de Borduurkunst, written by Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood and published last week by Princeton University Press and (in Dutch) by WBooks.

You can read the review (in Dutch) by clicking here.

Today, Friday 16th January, we finished the first stage of the TRC move to other premises. We started off today with a traditional meal prepared by Herra, our Indonesian volunteer. The meal included rice, salt and boiled eggs. Such food, accompanied with shrimps, is associated with the blessings for a move and good luck with all that will happen in the future. How appropriate. And how kind of her to prepare and bring the meal. 

For three days the removal people have been busy loading the c. 4,000 boxes of the textiles and dress collection, plus furniture and whatever else that has to be shifted, into twelve containers. These will be stored and be taken to the Boerhaavelaan in Leiden in early March.

The removal team and TRC staff posing in front of the rapidly emptying former premises of the TRC along the Hogewoerd.

The last few days were very exciting, and the removal lads were absolutely great. They worked very hard, perhaps stimulated by the coffee and biscuits that we provided. We are looking forward to seeing them during the second stage of the move, and we are sure that they won't mind helping us again.

Indonesian meal, prepared by one of the TRC volunteers, to guarantee good fortune with the move. Friday morning, 16th January.

It is very empty!

 The last act: Removing the TRC sign board. We will stick it up in the new building.

Two TRC colleagues helping to move the c. 4,000 boxes with the TRC collection. Thursday, 15th January 2026.Today, Thursday 15th, the move of the Textile Research Centre from the Hogewoerd to the beautiful urban villa along the Boerhaavelaan, just behind the railway station, went on with the help of the removal team and a group of TRC volunteers.

Tomorrow we carry on, and yes, by the end of the afternoon we expect to leave the Hogewoerd for the last time and lock the doors. We have been working there since September 2009. Mixed feelings!

The 'old' TRC is rapidly getting empty. Thursday, 15th January 2026.

This morning, 13 January, the first container is being filled with part of the TRC collection and other materials. More containers will follow the next few days. We can only move into our new premises (Boerhaavelaan) by the end of February/early March, but the containers and their contents will be safely stored by the removal firm (wonderful people!).

However, we have already stored still-to-be catalogued textiles and teaching materials for the upcoming Five-Day Intensive Textile Course (23-27 February; and yes, this will be the first major teaching 'event' in our new home) at another place, and so has our computer system, so we can continue our work in the next few weeks, mostly from home, but also from suitable meeting places in Leiden.

The TRC is moving

De komende weken, tot half februari 2026, zijn we druk bezig met de (zo voelt het tenminste) gigantische verhuizing van het TRC (en de collectie!) van de Hogewoerd naar ons nieuwe pand aan de Boerhaavelaan (nr. 6), vlak achter het Centraal Station Leiden.

Maar na de verhuizing staat de laatste week van februari alweer in het teken van de volgende editie van de befaamde TRC Vijfdaagse Intensieve Textielcursus.

Voor de zes maanden daarna hebben we een vol programma samengesteld met workshops, lezingen en cursussen. Kom gerust langs en neem deel aan onze activiteiten, en neem tegelijkertijd een kijkje in ons nieuwe onderkomen. Het activiteitenprogramma kunt u hier bekijken en/of downloaden. Meld u aan voor een of meerdere evenementen en houd de agenda in de gaten. We plannen nog veel meer activiteiten!