Ludwiga’s Linen

My love for linen can be traced back to my childhood years in postwar Germany. Old, hand-woven linens were still part of our everyday lives: beautiful, durable and pure linen that stood in stark contrast to our torn and fragmented society. I think that this still holds true for me: that in a society that is fast paced and ever changing there are some things of enduring quality and value, and to me my linen is a beautiful and tactile reminder of that.

All of my linen is between 50 and 130 years old and made from flax and hemp, which were grown by the same European farmers that hand-wove the material. The women weavers of former times spent their evenings weaving this amazing linen, often working only by candlelight. A weaver would work four to six hours to produce just 60 centimeters (24 inches) of this linen. The finished linen was used to make clothing and bedding as well as grain-sacks and wagon planes.

Today, linen of this quality and kind is no longer grown by European farmers. Like the rest of us, they buy their clothing ready made, and the conveniences of man-made materials render the need for this kind of linen obsolete. More importantly, to grow and hand produce linen is no longer cost-effective. Flax that is now grown in the vast fields of northern Europe is used to produce the more economically valuable linseed oil.

Truly, these linens are one of a kind! Old linen bolts are becoming harder and harder to find. In a decade or so, most of the old farmers' linen presses and their daughters' dowry chests will have yielded up their historic treasures to be loved by others, who will appreciate their handmade linen for its artistic beauty.

Ludwiga’s