The V&A shares an Edwardian building in Kensington Olympia with the British Museum and the Science Museum and they all use the space to store their reserve collections.

Blythe House now also has The V&A Clothworkers' Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion which also means the V&A now have the building's original main entrance reopen for visitors to this fantastic study and research facility.


About The Collection

The V&A holds the national collection of textiles and fashion, which spans a period of more than 5000 years, from Predynastic Egypt to the present day. The collection is one of the world's largest and the most wide-ranging.

No museum or gallery ever has its full collection on display and the V&A's textile and fashion archives mean there are over 104,000 objects stored at Blythe House ranging from small archeological textile fragments from Egypt to enormous tapestries created for medieval European palaces.

The Clothworkers' Centre means that archive is now accessible to researchers, students and enthusiasts by appointment four days a week.

It took 2.5 years to pack up the archives and then 1.5 years to install here but it is much quicker to find items now. There are enormous custom-built storage units with 7000 drawers and 5000 linear meters of storage for hanging garments as well as storage for 1280 large rolled textiles. There is probably 80% more storage space than before and they have planned for future expansion.

We were told to think of this as a library of 3D objects and the team wanted the study room to have the same atmosphere as a wonderful fine art print room. As it is in a heritage building the transformation has been sympathetic and there has been some prominent recycling and reuse in this area with the antique wooden display cabinets from the former Textiles Gallery available here with 160 framed historical textiles to show the diversity of the collection. There is also a wall of antique wooden cupboard doors that were given to them by the Natural History Museum, used at the V&A and are now at Blythe House.

There is also a seminar room which has the old V&A boardroom table. The whole area has very good natural light and is a large space which means items can now be seen together for the first time.

The Government funding the V&A receives only covers the basic running costs but exhibitions and special projects need the generous sponsors who get involved so they are incredibly grateful to The Clothworkers' Company.

How to Visit

Visitors must have a good reason to see something in the reserve collection but that reason can be personal. We heard of a mother and daughter who wanted to see wedding dresses to help with authenticity for a handmade creation and the curators were able to help. And most big name designers use the collection regularly but so do students.

If you are interested in making an appointment you should first search the collection online as it may have everything you need there: collections.vam.ac.uk

It is also recommended to visit the galleries at the V&A in South Kensington.

And then once you know exactly what it is you would like to see you should email to make an appointment explaining why you would like to see objects from the collection and your area of interest. clothworkers@vam.ac.uk

This is the second most requested V&A collection (the first is Print) but this new study centre will means appointments can be issued quickly and with much reduced waiting times.

Upon arrival you will be asked to leave all bags and coats in the lockers at Reception and pencils can be borrowed as no pens are allowed inside.

Photography

I visited for a preview and while we were told about the V&A's liberal attitude towards photography both at the galleries and in the study room we were all made to leave out cameras locked at Reception. I hope visitors here for research will be able to bring their cameras into the study room to take reference photos.

Public Tours

This is not an exhibition space but is purely for study and research so there are no displays here, except in the Reception area.

On the last Friday of each month there are 45 minute public tours. This exceptional behind-the-scenes tour is in the morning and you must book in advance by emailing: clothworkers@vam.ac.uk.

The public tour will also visit the Conservation Department which has been upgraded too. When I visited we saw doll's house pieces being repaired and ready to go on display at the Museum of Childhood before going on a tour. There was a mouse skin rug!