The George Wood Loom

David Fox, Heritage Assistant and tour guide at Sunny Bank Mills Museum & Archive, is also a weaver so we asked him to share his knowledge about some of the looms in our collection and the history of looms here at the Mills.

Looms were of major importance at Sunny Bank Mills, as were the many skilled workers who used them to produce fine worsted woollen cloth. From power looms , shuttle looms and Dornier Rapier looms to now having a set of dobby looms in the Weaving Shed which are used for workshops run by Agnis Smallwood. In our Museum & Archive, we have a few table looms and a George Wood loom, all of which are hand looms, and a Hattersley loom which stands in the corridor as you come through Red Lane Mill.

The George Wood looms work on a lag and peg system which can be known as a dobby. This lifts the vertical warp threads, creating an opening, so the weaver can insert the weft threads through, creating woven cloth. The looms are a beautiful and clever piece of art and machinery, originally hand made by a man called George Wood who was born in 1904.

     

From an early age he played the violin and the harp, whilst at the age of six his father taught him the practical skills of craft and woodwork, which would later turn out useful to create the loom. He was a textile engineer apprentice at Shepherd Lace in Leicestershire. During the war he was based in Chesterfield working on aircrafts, with engineering being his focus.

In 1949 he became a full time weaving and teacher at Loughborough College, and he began to design and make what would become the George Wood loom. During the 1950s his loom business was booming, bought by art colleges, textile companies, designers, and hand weavers. For his advancements in weaving, he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Design at Loughborough College of Art and Design, before leaving to focus on his looms and other pastimes.

So why are his looms so special? Due to the dobby mechanism, they are great for production weaving, and you don’t have to think about your weaving pattern. Handmade by George and his family they are beautiful to look at not just use. The looms have a number stamped on each wooden piece which match to a corresponding number on the adjacent piece, which means the looms are flat pack, just like IKEA furniture. He died in 1996 aged 92 having made made over 300 looms, each individually numbered. Our loom in the Museum & Archive is number 61.

David also has his own George Wood loom in his current studio in the Weaving Shed here at Sunny Bank Mills.   Come along to the Museum & Archive to see George’s craftsmanship and Sunny Bank Mills’ own collection.