For four centuries, woollen blankets were woven in Leiden. Yet the history of these everyday but remarkable products has largely disappeared from collective memory. The book Leidse Dekens, written by Mienke Simon Thomas, brings this history back into view, presenting the Leiden blanket as a product, a design object and an important part of material culture.
The story begins in 1578, with the arrival of the first blanket weaver, and continues until 1980, when the last Leiden blanket was sold. The final blanket had already been cut from the loom in 1976. Over four centuries, the blanket developed from an initially exclusive household object into an everyday necessity and, eventually, a twentieth-century fashion and design product. Its production provided employment for tens of thousands of weavers, spinners and other specialised workers and was closely connected to the economic, social and urban development of Leiden. Leiden blankets were also exported and became known well beyond the Netherlands.
Earlier publications on Leiden’s textile industry have largely focused on its socioeconomic history. This book takes a different approach by placing the blankets themselves at the centre. What did they look like? How were they made? Which materials, techniques and skills were required? And what did the blanket industry mean for the city? In doing so, the book connects four centuries of production history with design, craftsmanship, industrialisation and material culture.
The research draws on archives and collections held by institutions including Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken, the TextielMuseum, Museum De Lakenhal, the National Archives and the Noord-Hollands Archief, supplemented by historical newspapers and periodicals.
Interest in woollen blankets is now returning. Wool’s natural qualities — warmth, moisture regulation, resistance to dirt, fire resistance and recyclability — fit well with contemporary concerns about sustainability and materials. In Leiden, the Stichting Leidse Deken, founded in 2020, is helping to restore the blanket’s place in the city’s heritage and is even weaving new Leiden blankets by hand.
On 17 September, the first copy of Leidse Dekens was presented to Christien Meindertsma during a festive event at a packed Museum De Lakenhal. A well-attended reception followed at Scheltema, a former blanket factory that has since been given a new life as a cultural centre. Designed by young Leiden-based designer Nina Kleingeld of studio Stikstof, the book gives a forgotten chapter of Leiden’s history a new face.
Author: Mienke Simon Thomas
Graphic design: Nina Kleingeld, studio Stikstof
Publisher: Primavera Pers
