Links I love: Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A).
As I’ve said in the past, I lived in London for a number of years, and would move there again so quickly that it would make your head spin, if the opportunity presented itself (are you listening, Opportunity? Please knock. Please.)
I spent every. single. day. out walking the pavement, determined to memorize that city inside and out. And in the process, I actually did discover some pretty fantastic places, peoples and things.
One of the places that I discovered (it’s definitely not a “new” discovery, but it fits our purposes here) was the Victoria and Albert Museum. What an incredible treasure. It’s a different type of establishment - not so much a “oh, come look at the displays”, but more a repository of arts and crafts of a depth and breadth that even the most creative of us could not possibly plumb in one lifetime.
Every visit was like Christmas. Each display would yield up some new amazing treasure, from a display of the finest wrought laces (and you know my obsession with lace) to the everyday silverplate on loan from simple country churches to furniture to tapestries to pottery to you name it. The common thread is how each person told their stories through the items they made with their own two hands. If it is an art or a craft, it is in there.
It comes as no surprise that my favorite display was the closet (tongue-in-cheek here) of jewelry. I say closet because that booger was locked down tighter than you could possibly believe. Two doors only. It was enough to give a claustrophobic person fits (or so it it would seem). The entrance was a one-way only floor to ceiling barred turnstile number that would fit one person at a time, and a physically guarded exit turnstile at the rear of the two room area. The two rooms were filled with jewels and adornments such as a jewelry addict (named Kat) could ever hope to want. Of course, there were items in the cases that made you convinced that their presence had to be a practical joke of some sort. Still, it was amazing.
It is a wealth of work. Each individual piece in that building represents the work of an artist, even if the artist was a simple Joe Average, sitting down with crafting tool in hand. Queen Victoria (one of my heroines, if for nothing else than having the one of the greatest love stories in the known world) was wise enough to recognize the value and beauty in the creative work of the common individual. And even still, one of the very many things I appreciated during my visits was the inclusion of art work and pieces done by current students of local art schools within the greater London area. What an opportunity.
Anyway, I cannot recommend this place enough. Even if you physically never get an opportunity to walk through the doors, visit frequently online. The curators do an excellent job of updating their various website arenas with information, making their particular area a veritable treasure chest, just waiting for you to find your own jewel in the crown. Reach in and grab some knowledge and see what people were making ten, twenty, one hundred and a thousand years ago. The creativity you will find may fill you with wonder, but hopefully, it will also fill you with inspiration!
In fact, if that was not enough to get you there, one last push to make you visit. The V&A has dedicated a huge section online to knitters. Yes, there is a huge section set aside with patterns and history and examples and more information than you could read in a month. Have at it.
(And as a PS for those that might consider stopping by if you are in or around London way [for those of us not blessed enough to live there anymore] the V&A is literally down the street from Harrods, so if you get a hankering to see how current commercial crafts are being made, you could get in a little of that type of educational effort too. Goodness knows I did more than my fair share of that.)
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