Historical Sources: exploring the archives of the Portuguese Royal Textile Factories in the context of the 18th c. French savoir-faire

The recipe and swatch books from the Royal Textile Factory of Covilhã are dispersed among several Portuguese archives. The valuable information within these books has never been investigated and it will be subjected to a critical edition.

It will also be addressed in this task the contribution of the French textile industry, specifically the Manufacture des Gobelins, in the Portuguese production [5,6]. Through archival research and considering that the MUSLAN is an anchor source for the Factory’s memory, REVIVE will investigate, for the first time, how the network of masters may have conditioned the manufacture's practices and choices.

Tangled threads: investigating the manufacture processes of the Royal Textile Factory

Following the archival information extracted from T1, this task plans to substantially contribute to the interpretation of the textile manufacture. It aims to disseminate scientific results, through communication tools that enhance public understanding of the history of the Royal Factory and science of coloring textiles. This communication of science aims to provoke and inspire further and diverse creative processes, through a cultural citizenship approach. MUSLAN, being the interpretation center of a living heritage, as textiles and wool are, will be the epi-centre of this scientific communication.

This task will have as main outputs a Manual of Samples / Swatches, a Map of Influences and a Map of Resources.

In depth-research into the dye formulations from the Portuguese and the French manufactures

This task focus on (i) a comprehensive study of the recipes selected in task 1 from historical documentary sources, (ii) the preparation of historically accurate references of the selected dyeing recipes and (iii) their in-depth characterization at the molecular level. It will have as main outputs a digital database of recipes’ ingredient as well as the identification of the markers for each manufacture. This integrated approach, uniting art, science and art technological source research, is conducted along a two-pronged approach: a closer look at historical formulations and analytical characterization of the historically accurate reconstructions.

Material Culture Studies: characterization of historical textile swatches produced within the Royal Textile Factory

The highly characterized historically accurate references of dyed wool will be validated by analytical comparison with historical samples using the multianalytical approach described in T3. The main output of this task is the selection of the recipes for T5 through validation of the historically accurate references considering their "closeness to the true value", in this case the historical material.

The analytical characterization will be done using in situ techniques such as the portable spectrofluorimeter which will be acquired within this project. This will allow comparison with the database of references previously analyzed which allowed to pinpoint the recipes’ specificities. The data acquired will be complemented using other fundamental techniques for color identification such as HPLC-DAD-MS and SERS, when sampling is possible.

Crafting wool: revisiting the historical recipes for application in design and architecture

According to the 2019 European Parliament briefing, the textile industry is the second-largest polluting industry in the world. Urgent action has been called for by many countries, and this project intends to place Portugal as a frontrunner in the eco-friendly approaches, while adding value to artisanal methods and technologies. This is the true meaning of the 2020 circular fashion as described by the European Parliament: recycling the traditional to make the new. We plan to do this in three steps: stability studies, revisitation of the recipes for small-scale use and the demonstration of the recipes for industrial applications.

(Re)Inventing the future with memories of the past

The Covilhã manufacture was the climax of a millenary practice of wool craftsmanship, which at the end of the 18th century employed more than 6.000 workers. While some history from this manufacture is lost, REVIVE is committed to engage communities with its legacy. It will challenge citizens to immerse into the culture of wool, to participate on the (re)discovery of these crafts and to imagine new perspectives for their future uses. Moreover, REVIVE plans to incorporate the knowledge from the project into the architectonic landscape of Covilhã. Communities of creators, educators, students, researchers and users will be invited to explore REVIVE’s results in an artistic approach.