I was very lucky to have had access to some of Swansea Museum’s collection this year for researching my ‘of time and the city’ exhibition at Galerie Simpson, Swansea. I knew the museum housed the original tiles bricks that made up the sign to the famous Weavers Mill factory and I was so happy to have had permission to display them next to my work in the summer.
The Weaver Mill stood just off the river tawe and North Dock of Swansea between 1897 and 1984. It was the first reinforced concrete building in Europe. Very modern for late Victorian Swansea!
I was very pleased and in awe of these objects as they are such a huge part of the social and industrial history of Swansea. I remember the bricks being on show in the Maritime Museum in the 1980s and on display was the big W of the sign. I often wondered what happened to it…
Here are some snaps of me cleaning dust from the bricks and using museum standard renaissance wax to bring them back to their original shiny life. I loved doing this job and giving the tiles a good scrub. Having the bricks on display at Galerie Simpson on High Street gave them a new lease of life, interpreting them in a new way and exploring new possibilities of displaying museum objects in different venues.
Catrin Saran James 