In line with Covilhã’s Application to UNESCO Creative City in Design for 2022-2025, REVIVE will focus on promoting textile design which is inspired by the city’s history.

The history of the Portuguese woolen industry lacks a thoroughly documented study of the dyeing and production processes used from the 18th c. onwards, when the manufacture of military uniforms implied a clear specialization in the various operations of transforming the wool, from raw material into fabric. REVIVE will focus on the activity carried out at this level by the Royal Textile Factory from Covilhã, between 1764-1850, which was established by the Marquis of Pombal within his policy of promoting the modernization of national wool production.

For this purpose, there is a profusion of documentary sources dispersed in various archives and public libraries. While important references have been published, they lack the necessary analysis of historical contextualization and technological characterization. A collection of more than a hundred textile samples stands out, which will be the object of laboratory analysis through a multi-analytical approach, developed in the past decade by the Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry (LAQV) [1-4].

Through a systematic analysis of the available sources, we will seek to clarify the production and dyeing processes used in the Royal Textile Factory from Covilhã, in a historical period that allows us to follow the evolution from the manufacturing to the industrial phase. REVIVE aims at identifying the technological innovations with the aim of optimize and insert them in a contemporary context. This will be accomplished by the following plan:

1) An in-depth study of the archives and documentary sources dispersed by various institutions: this study will be the basis of the project and will allow the identification and selection of the textile manufacture and dyeing recipes of the Royal Textile Factory from Covilhã. This objective will be supported by HTC-NOVA, in particular by the founder of the Wool Museum of the University of Beira Interior (MUSLAN), Elisa Pinheiro (T1). This task will have as a main output the publication of the information from the archives, which will also become part of the permanent exhibition of the MUSLAN.

2) Mapping of external influences and resources: REVIVE intends to analyze the contribution of the French wool industry, since the Marquis was inspired by the Manufacture des Gobelins, in Paris for the construction of the Covilhã Factory. It will be crucial to understand the French transfer of technology in synergy with the Royal Factory’s own identity, its singularities and specificities. REVIVE will also investigate the know-how brought by the network of foreign masters hired to work in the Factory. Finally, the Royal Factory would have to acquire many of the resources, such as wool and natural dyes for its production. The Mapping of the Resources and Influences will allow us to internationally place the Royal Factory in a commercial and technological context. The team will have the support of Lab2PT (U. Minho) and HTC-NOVA (T2).

3) Interpretation and historical reconstruction of textile and dyeing formulations: this study will allow a greater understanding of the savoir-faire shared by the Royal Textile Factory and the French manufacture, enabling the identification of these specificities in the historical samples from the archives. The focus of this study will also be on the selection and characterization of more stable formulations for contemporary applications. The expertise of LAQV will be teamed up with LabCom, in collaboration with the Center Nationale de la Recherche (CNRS), in particular with the support of the greatest specialist in the historical use of natural dyes in textiles, Dominique Cardon (T3 & T4).

4) Application of the historical formulations in design & architecture: the sustainability of the most stable formulations will be studied, to allow their use by small-scale craftsman and artists. REVIVE will also prepare a Demonstration Prototype, showing the original colors dyed in the past and the unique properties of wool, developed within a co-design workshop. This objective will be achieved by the teams of LAQV and LabCom, with the support of the Museum, the best-known burel factory in the region, TrendBurel and its team of designers, and the textile design students at UBI (T5).

Finally, REVIVE intends to create an exhibition of design, promoting the use of wool dyed with the formulations discovered, in partnership with TrendBurel and UBI. The works will be exhibited at MUSLAN, in a dedicated room celebrating the creations of future designs fueled by ancient artistic practices (T6). This will pave way for the development of a sustainable textile design, aware of the cultural and historical significance of this craft.