Formation in 1954

The Handweavers Guild was formed in 1954 with a membership of about 50 spinners, weavers and dyers from all over New Zealand. Its aim was “to maintain integrity and excellence in craftsmanship and to foster a sense of beauty of material, colour, texture and design”.

A small group of crafts people, including Ilse von Randow, Zena Abbott, Margaret Buchanan and Grace Darling, met in December 1953 and decided to re-form a Guild. (A previous New Zealand Guild founded in 1936 had gone into permanent recess because of World War Two.)

The new Guild held its first meeting and exhibition in the Auckland Art Gallery in July 1954.

The Guild quickly began acquiring books on weaving which formed the basis of the Guild’s extensive library. Vera McMullen was the first librarian.

Guild subscriptions were 12s 6d and 5s.

Incorporated society 1964

The Guild became an incorporated society in 1964, enabling it to be eligible for grants. During the 1960s heyday of the New Zealand craft movement interest in spinning, weaving and dyeing boomed, night schools were busy and exhibitions were held every year. Guild membership increased rapidly. By the mid-1960s the Guild had more than 800 country members.

The World Craft Council Exhibition held in New Zealand in 1966, further boosted Guild membership.

Despite its nationwide membership, the Guild decided in the late 1960s that it did not want to become a national body. In April 1969 the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society (NZSWWS) was formed. It later became Creative Fibre, the national body to which the Guild is affiliated.

Handweavers & Spinners Guild Auckland, Inc

In the mid-1980s the Guild name was expanded to The Handweavers & Spinners Guild Auckland Inc to acknowledge the numbers of spinners and knitters who were longstanding members. Nowadays the Guild includes knitters, felters, tapestry weavers and dyers as well as weavers and spinners. Many members are actively involved in other crafts outside the Guild as well.

Exhibitions and demonstrations

From the beginning exhibitions and demonstrations were an important part of the Guild’s activities. Since its formation in 1954 the Guild and individual members have exhibited and demonstrated in Auckland at the Art Gallery, the War Memorial Museum, the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), the Easter Show and biennial exhibitions in various galleries. Highlights over the years included:

• 1954: First Guild meeting and exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery.

• 1955: Exhibition at the Easter Show in a 10m2 enclosure fenced in by wire netting.

• 1957: Ilse von Randow demonstrated weaving at the Art Gallery as part of the 1957 Festival. She went on to weave a huge pair of curtains for the Art Gallery in 1958. They took four months to weave – the warp was linen, beige and red, beige and blue, which gave a soft tonal background to the inlay design of knitting yarns and homespun vegetable-dyed yarns.

• 1958: “Three Crafts Exhibition” in 1958 at the Auckland Museum included demonstrations of Katherine Phillips’ vegetable-dyed wools.

• 1959: Exhibition of New Zealand craft work at the Art Gallery included contributions from Guild members Zena Abbott, Grace Darling, Ida Lough, Katherine Phillips, Ilse von Randow and Enid Smith.

• 1960: “Wool Workshop” held at the Auckland Museum included live demonstrations and a comprehensive display by the Department of Agriculture.

• 1963: Exhibition at John Leech Gallery.

• 1964: Exhibition at Auckland Museum with six different looms loaned by manufacturers shown in action and spinning demonstrations by Guild members.

• 1965: Several Guild members were invited to contribute to a multi-disciplinary exhibition at the Museum.

• 1966: World Craft Council Exhibition was held in New Zealand for the first time, with entries from America, Mexico, Uganda, Norway, Italy, Germany and Hong Kong as well as New Zealand.

• 1974: An important exhibition at the Museum entitled “12 Weavers” marked the Guild’s 20th anniversary.

• 1979: Silver jubilee exhibition in Auckland city.

• 2004: Exhibition at Corbans Estate Art Centre, Henderson.

• 2008: Exhibition “An Arable Tale” at the Franklin Arts Centre, Pukekohe.

• 2010: Exhibition “Sea Threads” at Mairangi Arts Centre, Mairangi Bay.

• 2012: Exhibition “The Sky’s the Limit” at The Depot Gallery, Devonport.

• 2014: Diamond jubilee exhibition “Focus on Fibre” at The Depot Gallery, Devonport.

• 2014 “Woven Diamonds -- the Art and Artistry of Hand Weaving” at Highwic House, Newmarket.

• 2017: Exhibition “On the Wing” at the Depot Gallery, Devonport.

• 2019: “Four Seasons in One Day” exhibition at The Depot Gallery, Devonport.

12 Weavers exhibition 1974

For this exhibition, 12 weavers were each invited to submit four pieces of their best work, and the standard was very high. In addition, Ilse von Randow’s curtains from the Art Gallery were hung at the entrance to the exhibition, and drew many favourable comments.

In a review in the NZ Herald, Hamish Keith wrote that “... the craft of weaving is sadly neglected in New Zealand – an odd state of affairs in the land of wool. Yet, as the commissioned exhibition of 12 Weavers at Auckland Museum proves, the track record of our weavers is very impressive indeed. Their technical accomplishment is practically faultless.

Collectively, they have far more impact than any equivalent exhibition of local pottery. Their international standing is high. This year they are exhibiting in Stuttgart, Italy, Canada, Australia, and at the World Craft Fair in Toronto.”

Later he went on to remark: “On New York’s Fifth Avenue the Indians, the Danes, the Swedes, the Dutch and the Finns have specialised shops offering the best of their national craft work. If New Zealand, on the basis of this show, were to open a similar store, before long it might well become an international reference point for the beauty of unadulterated wool.”

The “12 Weavers” exhibitions continued to be held biennially at the Museum for a number of years.

Education

Education has always been a key focus of the Guild. Over the years it ran summer schools and workshops taught by local and overseas tutors and organised visits to and from other Guilds throughout the country.

It has always actively encouraged interest in the crafts involved in converting wool from fleece to finished articles of clothing, home furnishing and other textiles.

The Guild has hosted public demonstrations of its craft skills in libraries, shopping malls, parks, museums and galleries.

It undertook school holiday classes to teach children about wool crafts and an annual programme of beginner classes to introduce people to spinning, weaving, felting and tapestry weaving.

Open days have provided another way to show off the skills of Guild members.

Celebrations

In 1979, with a membership of about 250, the Guild celebrated its silver jubilee with an anniversary dinner at the Sorrento Reception Rooms with guest speaker Hamish Keith, then chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council. Jenny Poore, a former Guild president and then NZSWWS president, cut the anniversary cake. The Guild exhibition held in the city that year so impressed the Building Centre management that the Guild was immediately invited to exhibit the following year.

Guest speaker at the Guild’s 40th anniversary celebration in 1994 was Adele Brandt, an early member who traced her beginnings as a spinner and weaver and described the Guild’s early venues.

In 2004 to celebrate its golden jubilee, the Guild held an open day at the Weavers Workshop in Aberfoyle St, Epsom, with a fashion parade of selected items including weaving, knitting, felting, embroidery and patchwork compered by textile artist Ailie Snow. A celebration lunch was held at Ferndale House, Mt Albert.

The 2004 biennial exhibition ran for a month at Corbans Estate Art Centre, Henderson. Also on show was the work of the late Zena Abbott, who was a teacher, exhibitor and member of the Guild from 1955.

In 2014 the Guild celebrated its diamond anniversary with an exhibition at the Depot Gallery in Devonport. An exhibition of contemporary weaving entitled Woven Diamonds - the Art and Artistry of Hand Weaving at historic Highwic House in Newmarket also marked the Guild’s 60th anniversary.

Publications

The Guild’s Three Crafts journal, started in 1958, kept weavers and spinners throughout New Zealand in touch with each other. In 1971 the new national organisation the New Zealand Spinning, Weaving and Woolcrafts Society (NZSWWS) took over Three Crafts and renamed it The Web.

From 1964 the “Flying Shuttle” round-robin newsletter launched by Guild president Margaret Buchanan was a wonderful service for isolated members who each added news, patterns and samples as it was passed from country member to country member.

Guild premises

Early in 1977 the Guild leased a building in Hillsborough Rd, Mt Roskill, which was much larger than its previous premises and contained two large rooms, a reception area and several small rooms.

Various looms gifted by members filled corners of the workshop. Equipment was loaned to members, stocks of fleece and yarn grew and the library continued to expand. Later the Guild was able to purchase the building.

Unfortunately, the Hillsborough Rd Guild rooms were demolished in September 2002 to make way for a motorway.

After a couple of years in temporary accommodation in the Aberfoyle St Scout Hall in Epsom, the Guild moved into its current premises, the Textile Arts Centre, in Nicholson Park, Mt Eden, in August 2004. The official opening was held in February 2005.

In 2014, the Auckland Embroiderers’ Guild joined the Guild in the Textile Arts Centre where they continue to share the rooms. This has proved to be a mutually beneficial partnership.