Wiehler MAGAZIN - Wiehler Gobelin

As a result of my training I did not develop
my special interest in textiles until later,
but also discovered in it that spirit of timeless
beauty that I had already learned to
recognise and sense during my travels with
my parents.
Before industrialisation the
occupation of an embroiderer
was also a male domain. But it
was a profession which gained
great recognition – and was even
organised in various guilds.
I never experienced embroidery as something
suppressive but – on the contrary
– as a form of art that could lend a unique
expressiveness to something special and
can still do today!
Regarded from a historic point of view this
“prejudice” which has tainted embroidery
is anything but justified. Such a narrowminded
attitude is only a sign of a lack of
knowledge – as is often the case in the field
of textile art.
Before industrialisation the occupation of
an embroiderer was also a male domain.
But it was a profession which gained great
recognition – and was even organised in
various guilds. The profession of embroiderer
was one of few in which the wives
could work with them too and often
enough – e.g. after the death of the husband
– they took over the workshop.
As is partly the case today, there were also
nuns and beguines who earned their living
as embroiderers.
There is no suppression of the women to be
seen in this – on the contrary, it is one of the
few fields of occupation in which women
could already experience relative recognition
and independence at an early age.
I see myself personally tying in with this
tradition, so with the help of my work I
was taking a step towards self-determination
as a person. For me embroidery was
never something “suppressive”, but something
underestimated and suppressed:
in general today the sensitivity for a fine
hand-made and expressive ornamentation
has been lost.
And yet we are still yearning for it, like
e.g. the precision with which clothing for
current historic or fantasy films are reproduced
– not cheap costumes but genuine
clothing. I have also observed a hobbytrend
towards making historic robes.
Jutta Böttcher: If I ask you now what you love
about your work, then you will probably
base your answer on this experience, I suppose?
M. J. Karbig: Correct - I love the tasteful
ornamentation of sacred vestments – and
I love the calming effect of my work. It is
also my work that makes the balancing act
between family and profession considerably
easier.
Jutta Böttcher: So in your work you experience
something that other people are
urgently searching for in their spare time in
order to find the necessary counter weight
to their stressful everyday lives.
However, embroidery alone has not been
sufficient for you as a professional background.
After all you are not only a qualified
embroiderer but also you studied design
after completing your handicraft apprenticeship.
Could you tell us what you consider
to be the significance of this path that you
have taken?
M. J. Karbig: The study of design makes it
possible for me today to grasp the individual
requirements of my customers as exactly as
possible and to realise them in a design that
I then transpose into reality using my art
– parament embroidery.“ During my studies I
learned the tools of design: drawing, precise
observation, composition and the theory of
colours. The talent to imagine things and to
bring them exactly onto paper (and fabric) is
a gift of God.
Jutta Böttcher: This brings us to the next
question. What type of people commission
you to produce such costly robes and ornament
them with your embroidery?
M. J. Karbig: They are mostly pastors who
come from parishes that place importance
on a parament that is not “off-the-shelf”.
They mostly order vestments for festive
occasions.
The young deacons are usually just about to
be ordained. (First they are given the lower
Wiehler MAGAZIN – May 2007 Page
ordination, the deacon ordination so that
they can then be ordained as priests; if the
priest then possibly goes into a parish, he
then becomes a “pastor” = shepherd). That
is a great step in life which they like to
arrange for themselves and in deep contact
with the congregation. They wish to receive
the special power of the anointment in just
as special a vestment and furthermore to
pass on their first blessing. The newly sewn
vestment has something original, pure
about it that can be filled with the power
of the blessing. Knowing of this effect it is
very important to the prospective priests
and also the congregations that they wear a
valuable and expressive parament.
With the ornamentation of the vestment
worn for the blessing that is individually
embroidered for them, the young priests
like to manifest to all around them what is
near and dear to them, what is very personal
to them. Often the individual design of
the vestments expresses the results of a long
personal process that has been developed
during their years of study.
By the way, in a complex work
of this kind the embroidery also
changes its role. Besides the pure
finishing process it then become a
means of conveying a message.
The relatives of the young priests are keen
to give them something precious just once
more – before they enter into a life of absolute
modesty – and the congregations know
that they are partaking of the power of the
blessing of the priests’ ordination in the
form of the first blessing via the charismatic
power of the vestments.
Jutta Böttcher: In this connection I remember
in particular a vestment that I saw in
your workshop just before it was delivered.
In it you had integrated such „hot“ topics
such as the events of 09/11 or even the
terrible tragedy of the tsunami, Christmas
2004. Could you tell us something about
the circumstances that led this customer to
you?
M. J. Karbig: Yes, that was indeed a special
vestment on which a whole interpretation
of the topic “The fate of mankind and the
answer given by God” was depicted in the
embroidered motifs.