Karen Solveig Sinding Møller Finch (8 May 1921 – 15 April 2018) was a Danish-born British master weaver, conservator and educator who was the founder of the

Textile Conservation Centre Winchester School of Art is the art school of the University of Southampton, situated 10 miles (14 km) north of Southampton in the city of Winchester near the south coast of England. History The Winchester School of Art was founded in 18 ...

Life

Karen Finch was born in May 1921 on a farm in

Rødding Rødding (german: Rödding) is a town with a population of 2,712 (1 January 2022) in Southern Denmark. It is located in Vejen municipality in Region of Southern Denmark on the Jutland peninsula. History The area around Rødding was first inha ...

in Denmark to Soren Møller and Ellen Sinding. She left the farm to study art in Copenhagen under Gerda Henning and

Kaare Klint Kaare Klint (15 December 1888 – 28 March 1954) was a Danish architect and furniture designer, known as the father of modern Danish furniture design. Style was epitomized by clean, pure lines, use of the best materials of his time and super ...

. She witnessed the occupation of her country and moved to England after she married Norman Finch in 1946. After working as a weaver and conservator for the Royal School of Needlework and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

she set up her own home-based studio in Acton in 1959. She had to fold her bed to make room for her work and the golden crown of

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

was steamed on the top of her bathroom cupboard. She went on to work on valuable textiles including items owned by Royal Pretender

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

and film star

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Encouraged by Stella Mary Newton,Jane Bridgeman
Stella Mary Newton
(obituary), ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 25 May 2001 in 1975 Finch founded the Textile Conservation Centre at

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

to conserve textiles professionally. She was appointed OBE in the following year. She retired in 1986 but continued to travel and lecture about textiles. In 1998 the TCC moved to a purpose-built textile conservation centre in Winchester under the auspices of Southampton University. It continued as a centre of excellence until 2009. When the centre closed it was re-formed at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. She published many articles and two books on conservation of textiles: ''Caring for Textiles'' in 1977, and ''The Care and Preservation of Textiles'' with Greta Putnam in 1985. In November 2015, she was awarded the Balfour of Burleigh Tercentenary Prize for Exceptional Achievement in Crafts.

Legacy

Finch's work continues at the textile centre at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. The Textile Conservation Foundation named a bursary in her honour and a prize to celebrate the founding of the TCC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Karen 1921 births 2018 deaths British weavers Women textile artists People from Vejen Municipality Danish emigrants to the United Kingdom