Ivar Magne Johannesen Production worker, weaving department Gudbrandsdalens Uldvarefabrik September 2013

I started working here twenty-five years ago as a technician in the weaving department. I was educated as a car mechanic, so I had the mechanical background. Although I am from Lillehammer I knew nothing about the mill, only that it was a factory below the railway line along the Mesna River. The funny thing is that I was fed up already after the first day here. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to show up for yet another day of work. But now I've been here for twenty-five years.

When I started in the mill I worked with service and maintenance. I tied new warps and got the new fabrics started, both shaft looms and jacquards. At that time we had specialists taking care of the different tasks, so we did not do the whole process ourselves. Today I am a weaver, and now we actually do everything ourselves. We remove the finished fabric, clean the loom, enter a new warp and tie it, getting a new piece going. Yes, the whole process from A to Z. It is interesting to work with weaving, because we see results. We see the patterns, we see it becoming a fabric.

I thought at the time I started that working with textiles must be very boring stuff. But then I realized that it is a very interesting field. I took a certificate of completed apprenticeship maybe ten or twelve years after I started. Often you learn only what you need to be able to do the job, but with the certificate I could both widen and deepen my knowledge. Then it became even more interesting. I learned about finishing, dyeing, spinning, winding. Worsted and woollens. We used the teaching program Frode Svarstad created, and the teacher was a master weaver from Landheim Weaving Mill: Abrahamsen, a textile engineer educated in Germany. He was very skilful - really of the old school.

The modern technology means that we produce more today than we did before. Once there were over 300 employees here, and the schedule had three shifts. When I started in 1988 there were around 190 employees. Now we are 70, but we produce more and better quality today, with modern machines that take care of themselves. Before we produced for stock. Today we deliver directly to the customer by order.

The most interesting thing with this mill is that we do the whole process here at this location. The fleece enters at one end and a finished fabric leaves the mill at the other. It is not like that in other mills any more, where they perhaps buy finished yarn or just make yarn. We control the entire production, and with that in mind one understands why the products we make cost as much as they do, when you see all the work in all the departments.

We had an open day here last year. We celebrated an anniversary, and then a lot of people came to see what we are doing. There were neighbours who had only seen the factory from the outside, and when they saw from the inside what we make, they were very surprised. We got a lot of feedback that people thought it was interesting to see that we make upholstery. They perhaps began to think about what furniture they had at home. This was on a Saturday morning with terrific weather and we were surprised at how many people came. We thought that it might be about thirty to fifty people; there were a lot more.

I am a little proud that I work in this mill, yes. I am. We see fabrics we have produced all over the place. On the railways, on boats. Watching TV, you may suddenly see a presenter sitting on a chair ... Wow, it was Rypdal, it was Rypdal [one of fabrics that GU produces]. Then you can just imagine, that, yes, maybe I have created that fabric. We are proud of what we make. Thinking about all the cruise boats we have delivered to, and all the cinemas. A friend of mine was on a ferry not long ago, and he said that it was a nice boat, beautiful fabrics and, yes, nice. And then he wondered if I had been on that ferry. No, I said, I have not, but I've been making the fabrics. So I know how it looks. Wow, he said.