Reviving Liddell's Damask Designs
Uncovering, conserving and celebrating a unique archive of Damask design
The Project
The Heritage Lottery funded project ‘Reviving William Liddell’s Damask Designs’ concerns a unique collection of 1600 photographic glass plates discovered in 2007 during the dismantling of the Ewart-Liddell factory at Donacloney, County Down.
The photographs document the design and development work for Liddell’s Damask patterns.
This work represents the labour of highly skilled workforce of designers, draughtsmen and women and weavers working for the company during the years 1900’s to 1970’s.
The project team from the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University comprises of Senior Research Fellow Trish Belford and Professor Barbara Dass.
The Plates
The initial stages of the project focussed on the preservation of the glass plates, their digitization and classification for an open access digital archive.
The photographic plate preceded film and was used to capture images on a light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts that coated the glass plate. The use of glass plates for photography declined after the 1910’s yet this method of photography appears to have been used to record design work produced in the Liddell design office throughout seven decades of the twentieth century.
The photographic glass plates were stored in the original Kodak and Ilford cardboard boxes and were in an extremely fragile condition. The deteriorating residual chemicals on the plates had produced brownish-bluish tinges sometimes damaging the images. The glass itself was in very poor condition with sharp and often chipped edges making the manual handling and viewing of the plates extremely precarious. However through a painstaking process of digitally scanning each plate the content of the archive has become accessible for closer scrutiny for the first time in over 50 years. In their digital form the plates reveal an astounding detailed and unique record of the working methods of the talented and highly skilled individuals who worked in the design office of the Liddell factory.
Roadshows
Public and community engagement has been the ultimate focus of the project, running three road shows at Cultra, Donacloney and Lisburn to view and photograph artefacts and listen to and record oral histories of individuals and families who have connections with the Irish linen industry. These road shows were supported by the Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis (CDDA), Queen’s University, Belfast, design historian Dr Catherine O’Hara and Sharon Adams.
The Exhibition
The initial research findings are disseminated through the ‘Recall: Shuttles and Shafts exhibition’, Linen Biennale, Lisburn Museum, September–November, 2018 and a series of public lectures given at several venues across the province. Belford and Dass have also partnered with local community groups and the Lisburn Museum to run workshops that encourage participants to respond to the archive using simple weaving techniques. A key aspect of the project is the exhibiting of new contemporary textile work designed and developed by Dass and Belford in response to the Liddell Damask collection.
The complete collection of digitised photographic plates has been arranged into four key classifications: logistics (shipping, trains and air lines), hospitality (cafés, restaurants and hotels), organisations (clubs, societies and institutions) and domestic patterns (with sub-themes of floras, rural scenes, geometric, Celtic, neo-classical and constructivist). The project team have collaborated with graphic designer Paul Kelly to design the exhibition space and website for the archive. Research Assistant Beth Milligan has provided technical support for weaving and printing in the development and production of new work for the exhibition.
The Donacloney Collection
A collaboration between Trish Belford and Earthed by William Clark, creating decorative textiles that respect the past in a distinct contemporary context.
Back in 2007 when Trish Belford and Duncan Neil worked together at the Ulster University, 1600 photographic glass plates depicting beautiful damask designs from the William Liddell Company of Donacloney, Co. Down, were donated to the research department. A member of the public had rescued these historic plates from the abandoned factory , realising their cultural importance.
William Liddell established William Liddell & Company in 1866. At that time Belfast was the largest centre of linen production in the world; a position the city held until the beginning of the First World War. Driven by industrialization William Liddell & Co. were especially prosperous with their ideal position on the River Lagan providing export routes to the rest of the world.
By the beginning of the 20th century the company had offices all around the world including Belfast, London, Melbourne, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Christchurch and Capetown.
Famous for producing damask designs, the company was awarded contracts for luxurious liners including the Titanic and iconic stores including Harrods, House of Fraser and Bloomingdales in the U.S. The designs depicted on these plates were created by the company between the early 1900’s and 1970’s.
After carefully cleaning and digitizing the plate archive to preserve the designs for the future with help from Heritiage Lottery funding, Trish began working with Earthed to explore how these once tonal designs could be celebrated with modern textile processes.
And so the Donacloney collection was born; an uplifting range of decorative fabrics comprising vivid digital prints, new damask woven lace and co-ordinating screen prints that respects tradition while placing itself in a contemporary context.
Hospitality – Artwork and designs for hotels, cafés and restaurants
This Hospitality themed chapter focuses on artwork, design sketches and drawings generated for the hospitality market. There are hundreds of plates that record patterns for napkins and tablecloths for hotels, cafés and restaurants across the globe. The collection provides a noteworthy record of evolving hotel branding throughout the first seven decades of the twentieth century. Some of the hotels documented, although prestigious in their heyday, are no longer in business whilst famous contemporary hotel groups and hotels are also well represented in the collection. The artwork and technical skill of the individuals who worked on the development and refinement of these designs is highly skilled and creative. The William Liddell Collection provides a unique and fascinating insight not only into world of hotel branding but also the working practices of designers, technicians and weavers of the Irish linen industry.
Domestic – Artwork and designs for napkins and tablecloths
This Domestic themed chapter focuses on artwork, design sketches and drawings generated for the domestic market. There are hundreds of plates that record patterns for tablecloths and napkins in square, rectangular, oval and circular layouts. The diverse range of patterns provides insights into the artistic styles and visual themes that were popular over the period 1910s to 1970s. The artistic talent and design skill of the individuals who produced the sketches, paintings and technical drawings for these household artefacts is remarkable. The William Liddell Collection provides a unique and fascinating insight not only into domestic tastes and trends but also the working practices of designers, technicians and weavers of the Irish linen industry.
