Spotlight on salvage: Pioneer Material

The annual Salvo Fair at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire is a grand day out.Held at the end of June, it’s Europe’s largest salvage festival and a unique gathering of over 60 yards and dealers. Here reclaimed building materials rub shoulders with original period fittings, and the rare and the unusual blend seamlessly.

Among the bricks and floorboards, old baths, cabinets, door knockers and stoves, Maud Lomberg’s beautifully arranged stand, Beyond France, is a beacon of elegance and impeccable taste. On long trellis tables Maud heaps up vintage Hungarian linens that are silky-soft to the touch and come in ppealing shades of cream, oatmeal, honey and vivid pink, purple and blue. Tactile tablecloths and napkins, cushions and tea towels vie for attention with stripy cart covers, grain sacks and long rolls of linen for turning into blinds, curtains and upholstery.

ABOVE (left to right): Rugs sourced from Sweden; Amish stars are reputed to portend good fortune; embroidered tea towels made for festival days were a speciality of German-speaking Hungarians.
BELOW (l-r): It’s a challenge to come away from Maud’s stand empty-handed; Rag runners were popular in the 1950s; neat lavender bags made from Hungarian linen.

Passion for fabric

Since her school days Maud has been drawn to textiles, and for many years dealt in antique French linen. At the end of the 1990s the quality pieces began to dwindle and become ever more expensive, so Maud, being an intrepid traveller – ‘I love spending time on the road!’ she declares –moved eastwards to Hungary to search for stock.

Her adventurous decision paid off when, beady eyed, she spotted some gypsies at a Hungarian market selling hand-spun linen. ‘It was just amazing,’ Maud recalls. ‘It had that lovely rustic look that you only get with handmade linen – floppy and soft, yet thick and heavy. It was produced in Hungary until 1945, when the country was occupied by Russia and the industry was mechanised to fall in line with countries such as France.’ She struck a deal and continued to build up a network of contacts around the country to source more.

By 2002 Maud had become so enamoured with Hungary that she bought a second home and business base in the southern, wine-growing region, immersing herself in the local traditions and culture. ‘I got a house with a barn and one acre of land, all for £7,000. I’ve made so many good friends out there and grow all my own fruit and vegetables. I’ve always said that my work creates my lifestyle – I like travelling and learning about the history and the way of life of a country.’

From her new friends in the village and local contacts she discovered how, in the past, Hungarian women would spend the summer growing flax – the raw material for making linen – and the winter weaving it into long lengths of fabric. Once harvested, the flax was soaked before the stems were ‘retted’ or beaten to release the fibres for spinning on simple wheels. Says Maud, ‘The women would make a 90cm length of linen each evening, using narrow, 50 to 60cm wide looms.’

The rolls of linen were stored until they were needed to make up household items such as sheets, table linen, mattress covers or grain sacks, and finished with hand-sewn seams and embroidery for the more decorative pieces. ‘More often than not the women were always stockpiling for their children and their bottom drawers, so a lot of the linen I find and buy has never been used before,’ Maud comments.

ABOVE (clockwise from left): Rag rugs are ideal to soften wooden floors; utilitarian in purpose, linen was traditionally used throughout the house; vibrant pinks and lavenders; every family had its own stripe pattern; indigo is a historic Hungarian colour – a local hand dyer customises vintage linen for Maud.

Blue is the colour

Maud is a fount of knowledge about Hungarian linen. ‘Monograms refer to the maker’s initials,’ she reveals, ‘while stripe patterns represent families so that grain and flour sacks could be identified at the mill.’ Another piece of Hungarian history – the tradition of indigo dying – inspired Maud to develop her range further by adding shades of indigo, pink and lavender.

‘Traditionally, women wore blue on weekdays and black on Sundays, and to provide for this there was an indigo dyer in each village. The dyers used favourite patterns such as stars, polka dots and “virag” or country flowers, which were printed on to the fabric by hand, using carved wooden blocks.’ Maud works with one of the country’s few remaining hand-dyers, János Skorutyák, to produce her colourful additions to the natural, undyed linen range she offers.

As you might expect, Maud has lots of great ideas for weaving vintage linen into aspects of modern day life. Three metre long cart covers, from £200 to £300, become large bedspreads or sofa throws, while grain sacks, £30 to £45, can be reused as bolsters, covers for bench cushions and beanbags, bath mats and blinds. Tea towels, from £28, can be converted into cushion covers; sheets, at £80 to £130, turn into tablecloths, upholstery material and curtains; and rolls of linen, from £24 per metre, transform easily into table runners, cushion covers, even stair runners.

She ensures that she goes out to Hungary every six weeks or so to replenish her stocks and catch up on business matters with indigo expert, János. ‘I love the hustle and bustle of the markets; it’s exciting meeting the gypsies and making new discoveries.’ In the north of Hungary she’s recently found a source of Ukrainian hand-spun linen, which she describes as ‘absolutely beautiful’; Moldova, too, is yielding many fabric treasures.

‘Every piece is unique, the stitching is exquisite, and hours of work have gone into it. For these reasons it deserves our respect,’ says Maud.

Find out more about buying antique church furnishings at the Salvo Fair...
Find out more about buying reclaimed building materials and accessories at the Salvo Fair...

FEATURE CAROLINE WHEATER  PHOTOGRAPHS YUKI SUGIURA
Featured in the May 2010 issue of Period Living