Full of fantasy sarongs

This sample book of the ‘Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij’ (Leiden Cotton Company) can be found at Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken.Other sample books of the ‘Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij’ (Leiden Cotton Company) are at Museum de Lakenhal, in the Vlisco archives in Helmond, others are in the Tilburg Textile Museum.

The city of Leiden has lots of connections to the textile industry: from the famous sheet production to the collections brought back from Asia and other parts of the world. At the centre of all of this is the, mostly forgotten, history of the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij.

The Leiden Cotton Company was founded in Belgium in 1756. In 1835 the firm moved to Leiden, where it was sold in 1846 to Ignatz van Wensen and Heinrich Driessen, Felix’ grandfather. Their factory was situated in the centre of Leiden, and produced printed cotton for the European trade and export to Asia and Africa until 1932.Their doors officially closed in 1936 A local company with a worldly history.

Between the sample books, there are some really early samples. In one them, there are samples added between 1848 and 1854, with notes.

And by the way, all of the pieces of fabric are faux-batik. All brought together by Felix.