Meet Julia Brennan, Caring for Textiles

There are always these wonderful encounters in life that bring you the warmth of a sunny day and friendship for life. Julia is one of these people. She cares as much for people as she cares for old and damaged textiles, the expertise for which she is known worldwide. She is a textile conservator and works for museums as well as for families looking to preserve a wedding or communion dress. Her work requires lots of scientific knowledge as well as dexterity with needles!

What is so interesting about Julia's work is her journey through Asia. She has grown up in Thailand and traveled through Indochina as a child in the seventies. Her roots brought her back to support the work of Lao weavers as well as work with the Queen Sirikit Museum in Thailand. She is currently working on preserving the clothes of the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime at Tuol Sleng genocidal museum. Julia has developed a keen love for Lao silk, we know we have in Julia a wonderful friend of Laos. 

Julia is Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation and Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). She is also a member of the Textile Society of America and on the board of The Washington Conservation Guild. She holds a BA in art history from Barnard College, New York, and a Masters in art crime from The Association for Research in Crimes Against Art. Julia sits on the board of Legacies of War, a US-based NGO working on UXO and clearing the Land of the Million Elephants of unexploded ordnance.

Browse through Julia's website to learn more about her work : Caring for Textiles

Read here a blog from Julia about Preserving silk and the work she did at the Queen Sirikit Museum in Bangkok, Thailand.

Photos: from Julia's website and from Legacies of War (courtesy of Peter Hershey