Aug 20, 2009, 8:21 GMT
Berlin - When a castle owner needs a new damask curtain Wolfgang Eschke is usually the first person they call. Eschke owns a company that specialises in making historic fabrics and is one of the few in Europe to do so. 'We are the only company of its kind in Germany that recreates traditional textiles,' he says.
From the first contact with a client to delivery takes a long time. On average his company, which is based in Crimmitschau in eastern Germany, needs two years to complete an order.
Eschke runs the company with his wife and employs a weaver and a trainee. The company has a turnover of about 430,000 dollars a year. Depending on the size of the order between 10 and 15 temporary staff are taken on. 'We don't run the business according to science,' he says.
Their first task is to examine a portion of the original thread to find out its type, its structure and the thread's technical characteristics. The thread is then scanned and the resulting image fed into a design program.
A designer then compares the scan to the new thread to make sure they match perfectly. The new tread is then dyed, 'the yarn and not the fabric,' as Eschke points out, before it is then woven into the new material.
'A 100 per cent reconstruction is not possible,' says the trained textile engineer. That's something that Eschke points out to his customers. 'It is not possible to reconstruct the age in which the fabric was originally woven.'
When most of the original materials that Eschke deals with were first created about 30,000 people worked in the French textile industry in Lyon alone.
Some clients are disappointed that the new material's colour is often very bright. Most don't want their wall hanging or chair covering to look like new and want to retain the old charm of the faded look.
'The fabric will get old by itself,' says Eschke.
Eschke comes from a long line of weavers. His great grandfather Robert founded the company in 1868 as a cotton wool weaving firm. In 1966 Eschke decided to specialise in reconstructing historic fabrics.
In 1972 it was taken over by the Communist East German government but Eschke bought it back in 1992 from the trust that managed property and businesses owned by the DDR. In 2003 his wife Helga began managing the silk fabric side of the business.
In the meantime his company has gained fame far beyond Germany. A few months ago Eschke received a large order for a castle in Innsbruck, Austria where five rooms required new damask and brocade furnishings. 'That was a challenge,' recalls Eschke. 'We had over 40 different types of brocade to reconstruct.'
Eschke estimates there are perhaps four other businesses in Europe that specialise in historic fabrics: two in France and two in Italy.
'New technology, old product,' is Eschke's unique selling point and it has proven to be a success: among his customers is the Swedish royal family who furnished the king's carriage with his fabrics.
At the moment business is good for Eschke as many museums are restoring their collections with funds provided by government stimulus packages. But as soon as one order is complete it takes a long time before they call again. 'Usually our materials last between 40 and 50 years,' says Eschke.
That explains why he is increasingly turning to private customers. 'There are a lot of people who say they want to have the same silk they saw in an historic home.'
Money plays only a small role in those wishes as many private clients want to fulfil the dream of a copy of a curtain or wall hanging using historically accurate material.
Eschke has even recreated a historic wedding dress. As long as the requested material has a length of at least six metres he says 'we can do almost anything.'
Internet: www.eschke.de.
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