De Montfort University has long been a centre for fashion and textile education and in recent years has been further embracing leather, ancient and modern, as part of its widening remit which as included connection to the Leather Conservation Centre and the Museum of Leathercraft.
Two years ago De Montfort had launched a student design project based around the concept of re-inventing old items or techniques from the Museum collection and, under the banner of ‘Artifacts Live’, a successful project developed into an exhibition on University site within their museum. The impact of the display has been such that it has been extended to run at least to the year end, may be taken to Hong Kong in 2025. It has been widely scrutinised and praised by the wider museum community. Associate Professor of Enterprise at De Montfort, Gillian Proctor, had joined The Glovers at our July Awards Lunch and explained the desire to build a programme of demonstrations and lectures around the exhibition and Renter Warden Mike Dodd was able to take up the opportunity to coincide with a UK visit from Ludmila Osickova, a glove maker from the Czech Republic, and make a presentation to fashion, design and leather course students on gloves and glove leather-all coincidentally under the watchful eye of Liveryman and Museum trustee Mike Redwood. We were also able to see the exhibition at first hand!
The De Montfort Campus in Leicester is an historic treat in itself for those that are not familiar with it. It is also a modern, bustling Campus home to 24,000 students( out of total of 36,000 on De Montfort). The history of the textile industry is also very close at hand in the buildings adjacent to Campus. The presentations were held in a former Courthouse on the Leicester Castle site and, armed with a series of props from Southcombe Brothers which would have been to heavy or dangerous to take in hand luggage on the plane, Ludmila proceeded to enthral the potential glove makers with an insight into the stretching, cutting and stitching of leather gloves. Growing up in the town of Dobris in the Czech Republic Ludmila was one of the last generation of apprentices to be engaged by the National Glove Factory which was established there in 1948 complete with its own tannery and employing some 6000 people in its heyday. The collapse of the Eastern Block necessitated many changes but Ludmila was able to continue to use her skills managing other glove factories that emerged there through the transition from state ownership to private enterprise.
The Glovers will seek further opportunities to collaborate in future events particularly as De Montfort prepare to launch their next student design project: Leather and Lace.
Renter Warden Mike Dodd at De Montfort
Ludmila Osickova with De Montfort Students
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