Self-taught weaver on 60 years of crafting
Expert prepares to open studio to public
Esther Nitschke says she is still weaving 60 years after she began as her products continue to sell. “I’ve been very lucky. People have always wanted what I made.”
People appreciate the novelty of having handmade gear, she says.
“Where did 60 years go? I can’t believe I’m still able to weave and I’m really weaving as much as I used to. It might slow down shortly.”
The 87-year-old is opening her Feilding studio this weekend for Art Trail Manawatu¯. Last year was Nitschke’s first in the trail and this year will be her last due to her health.
She grew up in Whanganui and Marton and hated school. She couldn’t spell or do arithmetic and preferred playing with wool rather than doing her homework.
She trained as a bespoke tailor with Clapham Brothers Tailors in Whanganui.
As an adult, she and a friend taught themselves how to weave. There was only one book on the topic and they didn’t understand it.
Weaving has its own language — once you master warp and weft there is heddle, lamm and castle to get your head around.
“It is just a language you have to learn. If you are reading that for the first time in a book you have no idea what that means.”
Nitschke says people are surprised she is still spinning and weaving but crafts are coming back into vogue.
She prefers making up patterns to copying one from a book as other people can do that.
“There’s no end to what you can do,” she says.
Nitschke told trail organisers last year it is exciting to make a piece of fabric that is the only one of its kind in the world and then make it up for exclusive clothing.
“I really don’t like going into shops buying clothes because I think, ‘Oh look, there’s 10 of you’.”
She has reduced her range of products and now weaves blankets, tea towels and cushion covers.
While she is no longer making garments, the range still allows her to play with colour.
“My husband was a loom builder for about seven or eight years so I’ve got the best equipment in the world, which is a tremendous help.”
She has two daughters and one son, five grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. A granddaughter in Australia weaves.
Nitschke will have on display her sample books that illustrate hundreds of weaving styles. One of the samples is a piece of handspun silk from the suit she wore when she received her MBE in 1994 for services to weaving.
Art Trail Manawatu¯ is on this Saturday and Sunday. Guidebooks are available from Square Edge Arts Centre or communityarts.org.nz.
More than 100 artists are participating and the Trail Mix exhibition is on at Square Edge until October 28.