K.A. Almgren silk factory & museum
Welcome to the silk factory !
The only
still active silk factory that remains in the Nordic countries. Here, silk
fabrics and ribbons are woven on original machines in their original factory
environment from the 1860s. It is also a place for exhibitions and programs
where textiles run like a common thread. Here is where present and history
meet.
The silk factory started already in 1833, before the breakthrough of industrialism in Sweden, and its history shows the various phases and challenges of the Swedish textile industry right into our own time. It has always been a women's workplace. Today, almost no textiles are manufactured in Sweden. It is instead a source of income for women on the other side of the globe. The silk factory provides knowledge about the role of the textile and clothing industry in both Stockholm's history and in the emergence of modern society and shows women's participation in this development. To promote a more sustainable textile and clothing industry globally is a natural part of the silk factory's mission.
Textile Trilogy, part 3 – Detours
March 31 – May 6 2023
Britta Carlström – Kari Hjertholm – Eva Mozard
Textile Trilogy, part 3 – Detours is the third part in the trilogy about textiles and humankind. Part 3 has the subtitle Detours, which alludes to the organic textile – the non-linear. Almost everything bends and curves in nature, so does the human psyche and thought activity. A trodden path across a field is rarely straight, it undulates in gentle curves. Such is the motion of man.
Vernissage March 31 at 4 – 6 p.m
Curator Anna T Wolgers. With support from the City of Stockholm and the Culture Council.
Read more about the exhibition
The City Hall Fabric – Jenny and Maja
See the silk fabric and meet the women behind it in the exhibition from March 10
This year marks the centennial anniversary of the opening of Stockholm City Hall. Maja Sjöström was the designer of all textiles for Stockholm City Hall. She made an inquiry to the K.A. Almgren silk factory regarding production. However, Almgren's declined the full order due to a lack of weaving resources, but accepted an offer of producing one single fabric. This was the upholstery silk with green- and silver stripes for the Prince's gallery. During the spring of 1923, Jenny Lindberg wove the full 88 meters of upholstery fabric by hand.
Weaving residency
Almgren silk mill 3.0
The Factory
Our exhibition on the top floor
In the autumn of 2023, Almgren silk factory & museum will start the weaving residency, Almgren silk mill 3.0, in collaboration with the Academy of Crafts in Stockholm. For two years, three apprentices are given the opportunity to learn the entire production process from sketch to finished silk within the framework of Almgren's silk mill's business.
The Factory - about silk shawls, jacquard looms and female workers in the textile and clothing industry from the beginning of the 19th century to today.
Almgren's washing soap
Our popular washing soap is our own product, specially developed for efficient and gentle washing of silk.
At the Silk Factory in 1943
Film in Swedish about Almgren's silk factory produced by the Swedish Film Industry.
The film is recorded in the silk factory and shows the production of silk fabrics and ribbons from threads to finished fabric. You will meet some of the women who worked at the factory and Holmberg who was a foreman until 1948. Photografer: Albert Rudling.