Museum De Lakenhal asked artists and designers to realise a series of special commissions, as a contribution to the museum's renewal. Among other artists and designers, Ankie Stoutjesdijk has been asked to create new work inspired by the museum's collection and history.
Stoutjesdijk developed a monumental tapestry (4 x 4.5 metres) inspired by historical maps in combination with contemporary infographics. The designer aimed at providing the public with an overview of the historical development of the city of Leiden in a single image. She collected information about city expansions, events and epidemics, population numbers and striking buildings. Moreover, the technique of a woven tapestry fits in beautifully with the origins of the museum building as a judging hall (original intent was a cloth hall—a guild hall for cloth merchants) of woven, woollen fabrics - the Leiden Laken.
Stoutjesdijk spent seven days in the TextielLab making a lot of tests on, for example, the colour gradient and the legibility of the texts. Together with the product developer, Stoutjesdijk looked for the right approach to convey everything as intended: for example to achieve a background with the feeling of a sheepskin, Stoutjesdijk used double threads of mohair in 2 white colours; for subtly glittering water, Stoutjesdijk opted for a white viscose.
Ankie Stoutjesdijk (1973) is a Dutch designer who studied Graphic and Typographic Design at Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. She is currently running her own graphic design agency Ankie Stoutjesdijk Grafisch Ontwerp, Leiden. Her conviction is that content and form are one. She says: “Through my creative input, the content is nurtured in utero by the form.”
