Real Dutch Woollen Delft Blue

Ricardo Huisman, , ,
Delft Blue ceramic set of three vases, the middle is closed with cover wit a small lion on it. The two site vases are open. The vases are partly covered with blue and white woollen blanket.

2021 —  This “Real Dutch Woollen Delft Blue” cabinet set as artefact (“woollen art-i-fact”) of Dutch household during the 70e of the 20e age, partly covered with woollen blanket from one of the last Dutch woollen blanket factories as shared heritage of Dutch families. The fairly affordable Delft Blue cabinet set (often coming with certificate of authenticity) gave a lot of families a sense of “richness” and perhaps feeling of being part of Dutch historic identity? It was standing on the oak wooden veneer cabinet in the living room of my family home that days.  

This shared heritage object has to be carefully watched and touched to feel the warm and cold tactile qualities of the natural materials used, partly handcrafted, ready made and recharged with new symbolic and culture meanings but also raising new questions about the colonial past…

                             

                         “Real Dutch Woollen Delft Blue” – animation (2023) (show full frame!)

What about real Dutch Delft Blue as it is still traded worldwide…? Introduced and traded by Dutch VOC at the start of the 17e age. Delft Blue as a commodity is still titled “colonial Delft Blue” (to prove its value?). Delft Blue as a status symbol as part of Dutch identity and heritage.  What should the Netherlands be proud of? Delft Blue as colonial design and artefacts of the VOC (mentality)? The “colonial” Dutch Delft Blue was manufactured, handcrafted in Dutch cities after being introduced by the VOC from China. 

How “(un)guilty“ can art, design be? In museum, gallery or souvenir shops? Placing it in context of Dutch historie of (colonial) trade, handcraft, manufactory? Telling stories of the past and contemporary identities of people? Are there stories still missing? What stories and (new) perspectives can influence and change our look, touch, taste and appreciation of art and design? What was the function, value, meaning of Delft Blue at the time of the Colonial Netherlands for the elite and their identity? Who were these elite? Including slave traders? Is there a relationship between Delft Blue and slave trade? These research questions are now actually part of decolonisation in the Netherlands. What was the function, (personal) value, meaning of real Delft Blue, standing on the cabinet or in the windowsill, for the identity of a Dutch family during the 1970e? And still for todays worldwide trade of real Dutch colonial Delft Blue? Do we have to cancel the word “colonial” and (re)cover Dutch heritage? Decolonized Dutch Delft Blue…
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                         “Real Dutch Woollen Delft Blue” – animation (2021) (show full frame!)
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Making heritage tangible and transitional by connecting warm and cold, soft and hard, Dutch woollen blanket and Dutch Delft Blue pottery, changing symmetries, raising questions from mixed perspectives, undeniable its (colonial) heritage, still with potential beauty.“Real Dutch Woollen Delft Blue” as “woollen art-i-fact”.
Which inclusive (Dutch) museum/heritage institution with an eye, ear, hand
(and nose) for various stories and perspectives on “colonial Delft Blue”
(as still on the market) is interested in contributing to the “Real Dutch 
Woolen Delft Blue” project: the audible, tangible, (multi-sensory) accessible
making of (contemporary) stories/perspectives about Delft Blue, identity, 
status, feeling at home, belonging, “the ordinary, familiar”, handicrafts, with
changing ideas about the (colonial) past; an artistic research by the artist
in collaboration with (heritage) scientist(s) and (inclusive) groups of 
museum visitors?