A Collector's Eye

From a robe woven with peacock feathers to a library of cotton, we asked textile collectors and curators to share the most memorable piece from their archives.

DEEPSHIKHA KALSI Founder, Textile Conservation Studio

“As a textile conservator, my role is to restore and maintain the original details of an object. I recently completed work on this dragon robe from the collection of Dr Monisha Ahmed. It was in very poor condition, the warp threads were almost entirely lost and it was just the embroidery that was holding it all together. The sleeves, in particular, had extensive damage and it was a great challenge to align the fraying, tangled weft picks. The robe is special because it features the Peking knot, or seed stitch, which was often referred to as the ‘forbidden knot’ because it was so fine and precise that it would render the embroiderer blind. Even the gold thread is actually made from gold foil that’s laminated on paper and then wrapped around a piece of thread. Textile conservation is always evolving and you have to keep studying and learning to know what you’re looking for.”

ASHDEEN LILAOWALA Researcher and designer, ASHDEEN