Sjølingstad Uldvarefabrik

THE STREAM Sjølingstad, 6 May - 24 September 2014

When I came here the first time, exactly 14 years ago, I was reading Kenzaburō Ōe on the train from Oslo. I don't remember the title of the book, but it was about the inhabitants of a village in a rural area of Japan. It was also about a trickster figure.

In Mandal, I met the production manager of the mill I was about to visit. When we drove on the gravel road in his old Mercedes, along the stream through the valley towards Sjølingstad, it felt like entering the landscape in the book. It felt like entering another time. Walls of trees. Quiet. Hidden.

In May 2000 I was here for three weeks to get an introduction to weaving using the old mechanical industrial looms of Sjølingstad Woollen Mill. I worked on one of the cloth looms, a 1936 model from Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik with a white woollen warp. I made samples using Batavia patterns and several weft yarns, weaving a length of fabric that I took through all the steps in the finishing department.

It happened instantly. I knew I had found a place where I wanted to stay. I felt an immediate and strong connection to the buildings and workshops at Sjølingstad, to the people, the tools, the textiles, the village and the surrounding nature.

Three weeks became two years.

There is one specific memory from that first time I came here that is particularly strong - the view of the stream, and the green hill behind it, just by the bend in the road where the village starts at the Thorsager house. The spring came very early that year. It was warm, humid and intense. The view of the stream merged with the landscape in the Ōe book, and my memory from the moss garden in Kyōto. A dark shiny green.

The silence here is powerful.

I have always wondered how a stream that small could ever have been sufficient to supply the mill with enough power. When I walked along it earlier today it was very quiet - motionless, almost.

The mill is still here.

Sjølingstad Woollen Mill was established by August Hoven in 1894, not far from Mandal in Vest-Agder. Hoven considered several alternatives for the location, before deciding to buy the rights to utilise power generated from the stream starting at Stuevann, a lake just above the site where the plant was built ¹. Workshops for spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing were in place from the very beginning. The mill at Sjølingstad soon became one of the largest companies in the Mandal region, and employed at its peak around 90 people ². A small village grew around the factory, with a school, shop, post office and assembly hall.

The mill produced yarns, blankets and fabrics in wool, primarily with fleece bought from local farmers and from the wool auction in Stavanger, but also with yarn spun abroad. The products were sold throughout southern Norway ³. The company grew steadily until the second half of the 1960s, with some difficult years in the 1930s. The first years after World War II were very good for business, as for Norwegian commerce in general. But during the 1960s and '70s, Sjølingstad failed to keep up with technological developments. As a consequence, the company became increasingly less profitable and production ended in 1984, after 90 years of business.

What normally takes place when a business goes bankrupt is that anything of value is sold for funds to be returned to the bankruptcy estate. At Sjølingstad this did not happen, probably because the production equipment was so outdated that it had no commercial value. In 1985 idealists in the local community, including Carl Frederik Thorsager and Annemor Sundbø, saw the opportunity to establish a museum at Sjølingstad ⁴. A foundation was created and the idea was put into practice. It was important that not only should the machines be preserved, but the knowledge of operating them as well. Production still includes everything from the washing of wool to spinning, weaving, dyeing and finishing. The model of combining production from the old machines by qualified staff with dissemination of history and knowledge is today what distinguishes Sjølingstad from other industrial history museums.

This model is also reflected in the economy of the museum. The operation is partly financed with income from a smaller production of blankets, yarns and fabrics for the Norwegian national costume, and partly with government support as a museum, now as part of the Vest-Agder-Museet. The operation at Sjølingstad is interesting because it relates both to the demands of production and the protection and development of its role as a museum.

THE MILL Grendehuset, Sjølingstad Woollen Mill, 17 November 2011

I slept for 11 hours, and the sound of a loom woke me up at a quarter past eight. Gunnveig had started working. I stayed in my sleeping bag for some time listening. Someone else came to work, probably Oliver. I had breakfast and wrote the log from day one. I had a lot of coffee. It was half past nine before I finished. I left Grendehuset and went into the mill. For a moment, I didn't know where to start, where to go.

I got my camera, notebook and bag, and headed for the archive without meeting anyone. I made space, fetched a chair and sat down. After a while I started taking pictures of jacquard blankets. I spent three hours in the archive. It was chilly, humid and airtight. When I left the room, I was heavy-headed. Judith had a workshop with children from a kindergarten; we briefly said hello.

I went to have lunch - quite a long break - eating and reading the paper. I put on my windbreaker, took my camera and went outside to take pictures. I crossed the bridge and took some photos of the mill from up the hill. Nice angle. I decided to go for a walk, going up the road towards Romedal. I took pictures of the dam, the stream and the lake, before heading back to the mill. Paul was the only one still at work.

I made dinner. Same as day one. I started working on revising the project description - I will be sending a new text to Gerd on Monday. Found new headlines. Felt like I was on the right track. Kept on going until 10. I arranged my bed at 10.30, listening to Mark Hollis. Turned the music off, but couldn't sleep. Kept on thinking about work, making plans for the next day, other stuff. Some things were useful. I stayed awake for a long time.