News

The Textile Research Centre at Boerhaavelaan 6, Leiden.For three years, starting mid-2026, the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands, is offering a total of seven junior and four senior fellowships for up to six months each. Three fellows have already started working in Leiden (compare an interim report by Flora Kovacs-Wester), and in this call we hope to attract more candidates for a fascinating stay next year at the TRC in the historic textile city of Leiden.

The fellowships are being sponsored by the Gieskes-Strijbis Foundation, Amsterdam. Fellows are invited to carry out research based on the TRC’s extensive textiles and dress collection of more than 56,000 items (click here for the online catalogue), most of which directly accessible inside the TRC building. The junior fellows are supervised and assisted by TRC staff; senior fellows carry out independent research.

For this round, two positions are offered, one junior and one senior fellowship, starting in the spring of  2027, for a duration of up to 6 months.

Application deadline is Wednesday 16 December 2026. The selection process will be completed by late January and applicants will be informed by 1 February. Fellowships may start from April/May, or later, depending on personal circumstances.

The fellows are selected by a special committee from among the TRC staff and/or Board, after, if required, the advice of external specialists. As the TRC has just moved to new premises, not all of the TRC collection is as yet directly accessible for research until later in the year. Such items include European regional wear, or originate from the United States, South America and Africa. If you have questions about the availability of some objects or groups of objects you are particularly interested in, please contact us (collection manager: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or the education coordinator: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Aims of the fellowship programme

The programme encourages object-based research and stimulates different approaches to view textiles, dress and related accessories (such as through a technical, historical, curatorial or fashion-oriented lens), with the TRC collection at the heart of the planned research. With this prrogramme, the TRC wants to help build a new generation of specialists within the broad field of textiles and dress studies. The TRC also wants to widen knowledge and understanding of the objects in the collection, as well as promote and strengthen the role of the TRC in the world of textile and dress institutions. The TRC wants to contribute to the sustainability of clothing and textiles, and stimulate a better understanding of the wide diversity of textiles and dress, produced, used and worn worldwide. To this purpose, the TRC invites its fellows and others to tell the stories behind our collection objects to a wide audience and to think about and explore the transmission of textile knowledge in a variety of ways (through blogs, articles, photographs, films, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, etc.).

Expected results

The fellowship will preferably result in one or more publications (when suitable) and/or some organised events related to the research (exhibitions of varying sizes, lectures, workshops, etc). The formal structure and final form of the project can be discussed with the appointed TRC supervisor before the start of the fellowship or laid out in the proposal. The fellowship will be concluded with a public lecture about the process and results of the fellowship and a written report by the fellow.

Proposal examples

Proposals may cover a wide variety of topics, for example (but not limited to):

• Archiving and studying our reference collection of textile techniques and equipment.
• Researching the textile and/or dress traditions of a country or region, or a textile technique of your choice.
• Working on our charts and patterns collection and recreating some of the pieces.
• Recreating techniques (weaving, lace-making, knitting, embroidery, etc.) found on a textile sample or in a set of notes in the collection that has not yet been researched, while adding to the relevant historical knowledge.
• Connecting our library with specific objects, or linking different parts of the collection (technical and geographical).
• Studying our collection of dress accessories, such as jewellery, footwear, headwear and bags.

What we ask of our fellows

Fellows are invited to participate in the TRC’s general activities, and to help out, when possible, with other activities, such as the identification of objects, depot and cataloguing work, event supervision, in view of understanding and learning about work in a cultural institution that focusses on textiles and dress.

The TRC organises numerous courses and workshops and is also involved in supervising students who have internships at the TRC. Fellows may be invited to participate in, teach, or organise activities.

Fellows attend regular check-ins with the TRC supervision team, and most of the work and research is done on site, at the TRC. Fellows will have to give a lecture on the results of their research and write a report about it.

Who can apply

We aim to promote diversity and in principle to attract scholars or textile professionals from widely differing social and cultural backgrounds. Applicants may be researchers, curators, educators, conservators, community members, craftspeople or makers, as long as their proposal fits the aims of the fellowship and their interests align with those of the TRC. Fellows, both domestic and international, are selected on the basis of their knowledge of and demonstrable interest in clothing and textiles, their specific interests, their enthusiasm and their willingness to collaborate with others.

For the junior fellowships, we particularly welcome candidates with a relevant Master’s degree or equivalent experience in the field of textiles. For senior fellows, we welcome candidates with a proven background in research or relevant textile experience and preferably a PhD degree. Candidates should have excellent command of English. Knowledge or fluency in Dutch is a plus. Research at the TRC is mainly conducted in English.

What we offer:

• A monthly allowance of €2,300 for the junior fellows and €4,000 for the senior fellows.
• An enthusiastic and stimulating working environment, with colleagues who share a deep passion for textiles and dress.
• A network of national and international institutions and specialists in textiles and dress, with whom to build lasting professional relationships.
• A workspace in the new TRC premises at Boerhaavelaan 6, an urban villa in the historic city of Leiden, just behind Leiden Central Railway Station.
• Access to our facilities, including workspaces, the TRC collection and library, and the library of Leiden University.

Financial and practical matters

Travel and relocation costs are unfortunately not covered by our funding; the monthly allowance is the only financial compensation we can offer and is intended to cover the fellow’s personal and practical costs. Fellows will probably need to register officially as independent professionals (self-employed); the TRC can help with this process.

Help with finding accommodation, visa procedures and health insurance can be discussed individually, but the related costs are not covered by the TRC. Additional material costs for practical projects should be discussed with the TRC. International applicants are advised to take the time needed for visa procedures into account.

How to apply

Applications should include:

• A CV outlining your professional and personal background (max. 2 pages).
• A project proposal describing the planned project, a timeframe, your aims and career plans, and the intended results (max. 8 pages)
• Two recommendations, or the two names and contact details of two referees.

Please state clearly whether you are applying for the junior or the senior fellowship, and send your application to Augusta de Gunzbourg, Manager Exhibitions and Fellowships, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. by 16 December 2026.

For further questions about the fellowships, please contact Augusta de Gunzbourg, Manager Exhibitions and Fellowships, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Find the books you have long been looking for, and help support the TRC by buying them! 

Following the successful book sale last summer, we organise another textile books sale on Sunday, 8 November, from 13.00 until 16.00. Hundreds of second-hand textile, clothing and accessory books will be on sale, at very reduced prices! 

The TRC regularly receives donations of books. We select them and see whether we can use them or whether the titles are already included in the extensive TRC textile library. If we cannot use the books, we very much want to pass them on to other textiles friends against a low price.

Why don't you pop in and have a look? You may find the book that you have long been looking for. You will also have the chance to see the TRC’s current exhibition about the paisley motif,  as well as seeing the TRC’s premises and garden, and of course meeting TRC staff and others.

Our address is: Boerhaavelaan 6, 2334 EN Leiden, just behind the Leiden Central Railway Station. 

This brief review of the TRC intensive 5-day textile course of 12-16 October, 2026, was written by one of the participants, Dr Tullia Fraser, assistant curator of the Huang Kam Chak collection, Durham University, UK.

Group photograph of the participants of the TRC Intensive Textile Course, taken in the central hallway of Boerhaavelaan 6, 12-16 October 2026

Last week I attended the Five-Day Intensive Course organised by the Textile Research Centre (TRC), Leiden. Delivered by a formidable team who are such knowledgeable custodians of a ‘living archive’ global collection from which there is much to learn. This experience has inspired new questions and made me look at, research, interpret, teach, talk about (etc.) the textiles in the Huang Kam Chak Yee Collection in an entirely new light: from Late Qing pouches, men’s jackets, to qipao tailored in the 1990s.

This experience feeds into ongoing exciting projects around the Huang Kam Chak Yee Collection, so always more to come. In the meantime, if you are curious about Mrs Huang’s collection, including fashion and foodways, please get in touch.

This mini-exhibition at the TRC is curated by Minsook Kang, who is an intern at the TRC from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. She is a visual artist and researcher working across textiles, moving images, installations and publications. She explores stories, memory, and embodied knowledge through forms of care, attention, and material engagement. In the summer of 2026 she visited the island of Buton in Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. For an extentive blog on the subject, written by Minsook Kang, click here.

A Language of the Hands - Embodied Knowledge and Transmitted Memory in Indonesian Buton Sarongs explores the Buton sarong as a form of embodied and transmitted knowledge.

Drawing on TRC collections and fieldwork in the town of Baubau, the exhibition traces how patterns, motifs, weaving practices, and memories that are  transmitted across generations through speech, observation, and the hands. As a strong oral tradition culture, the sarong emerges as a living textile language shaped by everyday life, nature, and generations of makers.

A Language of the Hands can be visited until 20th of November 2026. The TRC is open every weekday from 10.00 to 15.00.

On 31 August, the TRC opened its doors for a new exhibition: Paisley: The History of a Global Icon (by the curator, Augusta de Gunzbourg)

The new Paisley exhibition at the TRC. Photograph by the curator, Augusta de Gunzbourg.We all know the motif, that cone shape that is curved at the top, which is found on Kashmir shawls, men’s ties, 1970’s hippie prints, or even on cowboy bandanas. Paisley is everywhere !

It is so well-known that it is generally accepted as just being one of those patterns that have always been there, but we rarely think think about its origins and why it is so popular all over the world.

The TRC exhibition is a re-edited, expanded version of one of its past, and online exhibitions (interrupted by the COVID-pandemic) about the famous Paisley motif, and this time mounted in the TRC's new premises along the Boerhaavelaan (No.6) in Leiden.

The exhibition explores the history of the Paisley motif, its ancient origins and its development to the present day. It also looks at how it is currently used for a wide variety of textiles and garments all over the globe.

(Emilie Lambert, collection manager, TRC, 17 October 2026) The TRC houses over 300 pairs of gloves, mittens and gauntlets. They are made of leather, wool or silk, in lace or with net work. They may be knitted, and be practical or purely decorative. The sheer variety, both technically and culturally, is fascinating (Fig. 1). Some of the gloves are highlighted in previous blogs, such as one about Scottish examples, written by Hanke van Prooije in 2025.

Fig 1: Assortment of gloves in the TRC collection showing the wide variety in material, shape, and decoration.

Tokyo-based textile designer Hana Mitsui. Photograph: www.hanatextiledesign.com(Flora Kovacs-Wester, TRC Fellow, 12 October 2026) As part of my research into Japanese kasuri weaving (see my earlier TRC blog post), I recently had the opportunity to interview Japanese textile designer Hana Mitsui about her practice and her approach to traditional Japanese textiles.

Drawing on her experience with leading fashion and textile houses in Japan and internationally, Mitsui combines traditional weaving techniques with new approaches to materials, patterns and production. During our conversation, Mitsui generously offered to donate a selection of samples from her experiments with Kurume kasuri to the TRC. The donated samples make a meaningful addition to TRC’s existing collection of traditional kasuri textiles and enable us to expand the ways in which Kurume kasuri can be understood and researched within the TRC collection.

Mitsui’s ability to see new possibilities in fabric caught the attention of the fashion world early in her career. While studying at the Royal College of Art in London, Alexander McQueen selected her graduation textile for its Spring/Summer 2015 Paris collection.

The TRC as seen from the garden.The Stichting Textile Research Centre (more widely known as the TRC) Leiden is an international knowledge centre for textiles and dress studies that works with people and objects from around the world with no artificial boundaries, as culture and knowledge have no geographical boundaries. We are equally interested in huipil from Guatemala to hanfu in China, as well as Dutch lace caps and East African kangas!

Over the last 35 years, the TRC Collection has grown to over 56,000 catalogued items, making it one of the largest textile and dress collections in Europe. It is used on a daily basis for teaching, research and inspiration purposes.

Since April 2026 this diverse collection has been housed at Boerhaavelaan 6, a monumental urban villa, in Leiden, the Netherlands. The building allows for the expansion of educational activities and exhibitions of the growing collection. Become part of our future and join our support network by being a Friend of the TRC.

In order to build up a solid future, we need long-term commitments from as many people as possible who love textiles in all their many varied forms, colours and patterns!

We invite you to become a Friend of the TRC. Friends transfer annually the sum of 250 euros or more, for a minimum of three years. If you want to become a Friend, please contact Gillian Vogelsang, Director of the TRC, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To show our appreciation you will receive the blogs written by TRC staff and others about textile-related subjects. You also receive a 10% discount on items in our shop, lectures, courses and workshops, as well as advance information about special events such as community days, special talks, evening events based on exhibitions, book sales, etc.