Friday, March 22, 2013

Wool House

Today, I finally got a chance to take a good wander through Wool House and to take a cubic boatload of photographs. Seriously, I took more then 100 photos in an hour, which is exponentially beyond my normal photo taking MO. In the interests of not having this post be 40 pages long, I'll share a selection, but all the rest are in a Flickr set here.

First off was a shot of the sheep flag flying proudly over Somerset House as I walked over Waterloo Bridge. Yesterday was the first day of spring, which in London this year apparently means that the second day of spring should be sleeting and windy. Lovely! It did mean that the flag was flying straight out, so I guess that's one positive outcome.
Somerset House
On reaching Fountain Court, I was greeted by some colorful sheep,
Somerset House
Somerset House
and a personalized entry way.
Somerset House
The foyer contained a huge brown bear (crocheted), and a bunch of awesome sheep fleece hats, some complete with horns.
Foyer
Foyer
On the right side of the foyer, a long hallway led to seven separate installations of interior design, including a bedroom,
Bedroom
drawing room,
Drawing Room
study,
Study
snug (aka den),
Snug
a nursery,
Nursery
a psychedelic party room Austin Powers would have loved (my description),
Psychedelic Room
and a "natural" room.
Natural Room
Natural Room
Natural Room
I loved the old fiber-prep implements scattered around the display.
Natural Room
Natural Room
Natural Room
Natural Room
The other wing was all about wool in fabric and clothing (as well as the room where we did our spinning demo and they had classes). There were several rooms looking at wool art in the form of tapestry weaving and felt making.
Tapestrys
Felt pieces
Felt pieces
Felt pieces
I love how these pieces by Claudy Jongstra incorporated felt and intact locks - they were just stunning!
Felt pieces
Felt pieces
Then there were the Saville Row suits and high fashion, including a wool bike jersey!
High Fashion
High Fashion
High Fashion
The left hallway had a glorious rainbow colored carpet,
Left Hall
and ended in an archway made of yarn strung on frames.
Yarn arch
I ended up in the craft room, where Alli was (yet again) spinning, and manged a few shots of some of the displays there.
Craft Room
Craft Room
Craft Room
So there you have it - Wool House, a photo-essay. If you have a chance to drop by Somerset House before Sunday (when it closes), you should check it out. It doesn't have to take long to get through, and it is absolutely gorgeous and inspiring. And, on a day like today (when it's cold and rainy and generally miserable), being surrounded by wool seems like a really good thing.

2 comments:

Being Knitterly said...

The only disappointing thing about The Wool House is that it has been open for such a short time. Not great if you don't live in London! So, I've enjoyed reading your blog post and seeming your photographs. Thankyou!

porpoise said...

You're right that Wool House wasn't around for very long, but I'm glad you enjoyed the post and the photos. Hopefully some of the fabulousness of the even came through!