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Behind the scenes

In his latest instalment, Alastair Philip Wiper takes us inside Wooltex in Huddersfield, the textile mill of textile manufacturer Kvadrat, finding out the unintentional beauty in the infrastructure.

Alastair Philip Wiper

Founded in Denmark in 1968, Kvadrat is one of the world’s leading upholstery textile suppliers. In collaboration with high profile designers, architects and artists, they have supplied fabrics for some of the most notable buildings on the planet: from MoMA in New York, to the Reichstag in Berlin, to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

They have always produced in the UK, but in 2011 they bought a 49% share in Wooltex, a textile manufacturer in the heart of Yorkshire’s textile industry. The area surrounding Huddersfield has long been renowned for the quality of it’s textile mills, but as is the way with such industries in the developed world, the last 50 years has seen a steady decline as business is lost to cheaper manufacturers in other countries. As mills closed and were turned into offices and apartments, the market for high-end production of textiles opened up and the knowledge and skill of the manufacturers in the Huddersfield area began to be appreciated once again.

Alastair Philip Wiper: Warehouse at the Kvadrat headquarters, Ebeltoft, Denmark

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Wooltex was founded in 1996 and has grown from strength to strength, warping and weaving, and in 2016 they opened a new dyeing and finishing facility. According to Richard Brook, technical director at Wooltex, the biggest challenge they face now is attracting young people to train and work for them, and build up the knowledge needed to continue the craft. The pictures below show the Wooltex factory and the Kvadrat warehouse in Ebletoft, Denmark, where the textiles are shipped when they are finished. Shot as part of collaboration with human science strategic consultants ReD Associates.

Alastair Philip Wiper: Wooltex, Huddersfield

Alastair Philip Wiper is an English photographer, based in Copenhagen and working worldwide. From the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, to giant shipyards in South Korea and radio observatories in Peru he works with the weird and wonderful subjects of industry, science, architecture, and the things that go on behind the scenes. The things that human beings create and build amaze him, and he takes an anthropological approach to the subjects of his photography, seeking out the unintentional beauty in the infrastructure.

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