Posted: 03 December 2012
MYB Madras in historic interpretation
MYB Textiles have been involved in The Ghost of Water Row, a project by EDO Architecture to create an installation at Water Row on the River Clyde - where the shuttles of Govan's hand loom weavers stopped flying in early 1900 to make way for shipbuilding.
The Ghost of Water Row, distills the nature of human habitation that lasted here, till the industrial giant Harland and Wolff arrived. It sits on the footprint of the original four Buildings that sat to the west of the, now buried, slipway at Water Row. It is not a direct copy of the Ferry Inn or the weavers cottages that sat here from 1700 -1912 but a distillation veiled in MYB Textiles' cotton Madras.
Enclosing the frame of pale Scottish Spruce, the pattern of the ‘Lace on the Ghost’ was taken from Flemish trade on the River Clyde, its estuary and firth. It’s known as “Guirlandes” meaning garlands and representative of Honour. The pattern was moved from hand looming to mechanised looming and remains in production by MYB textiles in Ayrshire to this day.
MYB Textiles and Morton Young and Borland Ltd were founded in 1900 in the Irvine Valley exclusively weaving Scottish Lace and Madras sheers.
Their “Guirlandes” design was highly relevant to the project due to the definition of the word ‘Garland’ and the Flemish roots of the handloom industry in Govan and throughout Scotland.
Thanks to this project MYB Textiles' attention has been drawn to its history and the design team is now researching the links between the Ayrshire lace industry and Govan by way of the weavers' trail.
To see more about this fascinating project visit the EDO Architecture website: www.edoarchitecture.com and
http://www.theweaveshed.org/464/myb-textiles-edo-architecture-project/