Once upon a time, there was a factory called “Rīgas audums.” It grew from a small basement workshop with a single employee into a giant with 1,600 employees and achieved worldwide fame. Then came war and nationalization, but the factory continued to exist.
It continued operating until the beginning of the 21st century, and bales of fabric traveled to shops throughout the Soviet Union.
In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the fabric designs were created by Rūdolfs Pinnis, Ērika Iltnere, Ilona Ceipe, Aina Muze, Ilma Austriņa, Ieva Zaļkalne, Ruta Bogustova, Maija Kajaka, and other Latvian textile artists under the direction of Jevgēnija Knāviņa.
After Latvia regained independence, Rīgas audums was closed in 2008. Several albums containing historical fabric samples ended up at the Riga Museum of Applied Arts and Design.
In cooperation with the museum, the “Scarves and Shawls x Rīgas audums” collection was created. One hundred patterns were selected from the fabric samples in the collection, while the structure and texture of the original fabrics were deliberately preserved so that the collection would retain its historical charm. Some fabric patterns were fully restored from a small sample.
This process took several months. Thus, instead of sinking into archives and oblivion, the patterns of “Rīgas audums” have been given a new lease on life and renewed brilliance—accompanying women in their daily lives, inspiring admiration, being carefully and lovingly folded, given as gifts, and worn with pride in our traditions and our people: Latvians who have managed to build world-class companies and earn international recognition. In honor of the women who believed in their husbands, and of a factory that, at the height of its prosperity and innovation, was ahead of its time. Even after war, occupation, and nationalization, they managed to recover and continue what they had begun, even in a foreign land, and never gave up.
