About Esther
The first textile I bought, I sold to a museum in Devon, (a collection of lace) the second, I sold to the V&A.
I seemed to be, for some reason unbeknown to me, good at finding museum quality textiles!
With the proceeds of my Devon Museum sale, I took my first trip to New York. It was 1982 and The Cooper Hewitt Museum had an exhibition of Lace. I stayed in a Brownstone house in Brooklyn, just off Prospect Park. My experience of America up until that time was exclusively through film (mostly murder mysteries) and each night that I arrived home, I congratulated myself that I had survived death for another day!
On the other hand, the warmth and open mindedness by which I was received by many of the museum curators and collectors boosted my knowledge and confidence.
The museums were thrilling, The Met is still one of the joys of my world. The museum however that blew my mind was the Brooklyn Museum. The Coptic textile collection exhibited was truly wonderful.
I had never seen weavings that expressed with humour and pathos – details of domestic life and they were almost 2,000 years old. They were magic!
That magic seemed to follow me, the next day I went to see Alan Kennedy , a dealer in Manhattan. He had for sale a delightful Coptic textile, it was $1200. Until the previous day I hadn’t known such things existed and now I found one for sale! I do not know where the words came from, (no brain was engaged!) but I said “could I have a month to pay?’
My trip to New York had been carefully budgeted, I didn’t have $1200, nor did I have any knowledge of the Coptic textiles market, I did not negotiate a price, I simply asked “could I have a month to pay”, and Alan gave me the month to pay!
It turned out that $1200 was a very high price to pay for a Coptic textile, the first person I offered it to pointed this out, but with relief, the second, Michael Francis (founder of Hali magazine) purchased it for the price I paid and it was used as an emblem of the ICOC in 1983.
I was slowly learning…..
As the years have passed, I have tried to acquire textiles that speak to me – or have a little of “that magic“ but this was the only one I ever bought that put words into my mouth! Those that I bought with my head rather than emotion, tended to stay in stock much longer!
In those forty or so years that have floated away, textiles from all over the world have passed through my hands, revealing secrets of former lives, exposing the ambitions and vulnerability of both the maker and patron. Teaching me about techniques, trade routes, philosophy, politics, chemistry, botany, sacred geometry, and colour theory.
Textiles have been my university. I have met Tibetan monks, Sufis, tribal leaders, poets, rockstars, diplomats, fashion designers and heads of state. We have shared knowledge and understanding. It has been an enormous privilege to have had this opportunity.
It is still possible to find secrets hidden within textiles and for relatively little money. They reflect the broadest story of Humankind with nuance and subtlety.
I hope you enjoy browsing through the textiles and please contact us for added information or that little extra magic.