Becoming a Linen Steward
The Linen Project -an inspiring project that started in The Netherlands in 2018- is coming to Belgium this year. Texture, the textile museum of Kortijk, published an open call looking for Linen Stewards. The Linen Stewards is a hands-on programme where a group of people come together for one year or more to explore the possibilities of growing flax on a small scale. To learn as much as possible about this special plant: from seed to fibre and beyond.
When I first heard about the Linen Project in The Netherlands I immediately thought: they should organize this in Belgium. I followed the project on social media and travelled to Amsterdam to attend the presentation of their first woven fabric Linnen Kavels in 2022. The fabric was beautiful and the story even more so.
Now, a few years later, the call for Belgium is here and it felt like I just 'had' to apply.
Out of 56 applications they selected a group of 25 stewards for 2025. Feeling very grateful to have made the cut, I drove up to Kortijk last weekend to attend our first meeting. The sun was shining and excitement filled the air. The day started with an introduction of Ariane. She is the coordinator of the project on behalf of the museum. Then we all briefly introduced ourselves. It was great hearing all these different stories and different backgrounds. The group is very diverse and everyone was passionate in their own way about the project. Agriculture, heritage, sociology, product design, textiles, family memories,... Everyone had their own link and reasons to be interested in learning more about the cultivation and processing of flax.
We also met our 'flax coach' Veronique Standaert. She is the director of the ABV (Algemene Belgische Vlasbond) which is the Belgium Flax association. She will be guiding us through our flax growing journey. She clearly has a wealth of knowledge on flax and it will be great to learn as much as possible from her in the coming year.
We ended the day with a visit to 'our' two fields where we will be growing the flax. The first site is a small field on which Preetjes Molen is build. This is the last working historical flax scutching mill in Europe. The second bigger piece of land is a plot on the fields of De Heerlijckheid van Heulen. This is an organic farm situated across the street from the mill.
Veronique predicted the growing season will start end of March this year. This means we will start sowing our first flax seeds about one month from now.
