Textile Hive

Engaging & preserving the rich history and beauty of the Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection.

Textile Hive was founded to engage and preserve the rich history, intricate techniques, and stunning visual beauty of the Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection. Comprised of over 40,000 textiles spanning ﬁfty countries, Textile Hive enables a wider conversation around textiles globally through immersive physical and digital experiences.

10/23/2026

A big thank you to Sandy Ericson for her incredible presentation on pleating as part of Portland Textile Month, and to everyone who joined us. Sandy is a wonderful teacher, and we learned so much about the history and process of pleating.

For anyone who couldn’t attend, we hope to make a recording available on the PTXM website in the coming week.

Join us tomorrow, Saturday, at 11 a.m. at Textile Hive for the final lecture of this year’s PTXM, “Threads of Resilience: The Story and Revival of Irish Lace.” Only a few tickets remain!

10/19/2026

Thank you to Sara White Sara White for sharing her expertise and an in-depth look at her conservation process through her thoughtful presentation, “Treating the Tattered Edge,” and to everyone who joined us on Sunday.

It was a lovely culmination of a project that began in 2023 to restore textile swatch books from our special collections. Sara offered a fascinating look at bookbinding techniques from the 19th and 20th centuries, along with the tools and methods used to conserve these materials.

We hope to make a recording available in the coming days for anyone who missed it.

10/17/2026

We were delighted to stop by our friends at VOLUMES last Sunday for “Sewing Sesh with KHEM!” as part of this year’s Portland Textile Month , Layers of Resilience.

It was a joy to see some of lovely textile scraps given new life by so many creative hands, and to see so many smiling faces!

Congratulations to KHEM and VOLUMES Design Library on a wonderful workshop. We look forward to future collaborations!

10/15/2026

Opening October 16! Cloth Across Generations: Junichi Arai and the Memorial Textile Studio comes to PSU Textile Arts as part of Portland TextileX Month.

Junichi Arai was a pioneering Japanese textile artist and collector whose work bridged traditional techniques and contemporary experimentation. Based in Kiryu, a city with a long history of silk production and textile manufacturing, he explored the expressive possibilities of cloth through dyeing, weaving, printing, and the transformation of found and recycled materials. His practice was rooted in respect for materials, regional textile traditions, and the knowledge carried through generations of makers. Alongside creating his own work, Junichi collected textiles, folk costumes, books, and related materials, preserving a rich record of Japanese textile culture.

In 2019, I visited Junichi’s home and family as part of an effort to promote textile exchange during Portland Textile Month. That year, three of our sister cities in Japan participated in the festival, including Kiryu. The visit was graciously arranged by Tomoaki Hoshino, who went on to launch KiryuTextileMonth/桐生テキスタイルマンス／KTM. Surrounded by his collections and textile work, I could see a shared curiosity about materials, techniques, and the stories held in cloth. Junichi’s work was mesmerizing, and I felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to see it in person.

Just a month later, a fire destroyed the Arai family home and storehouse, taking with it textile works, related materials, folk costumes, and books. These photographs preserve memories of that visit and of a place filled with a lifetime of collecting and experimentation.

This year’s exhibition brings together 27 textiles, including original works by Junichi and pieces from the Memorial Textile Studio. Their continuing practice gives special meaning to this year’s theme, Layers of Resilience, and I’m excited to help share this incredible work and legacy.

Opening October 16
PSU Textile Arts, 1981 SW Broadway
Free admission
Details through www.textilex.org

10/07/2026

In April 2022, we had the pleasure of meeting and hosting Nia and Ismoyo of Brahma Tirta Sari. They had been introduced to them through the late artist and textile collector Martha Banyas. Their work and visit were moving and healing in the aftermath of Andrea’s passing.

During their weeklong visit, they led an indigo batik dyeing workshop, gave several lectures, and held a trunk sale. Getting to know them and learning about their practice and the spiritual connection behind it was deeply moving.

All these years later, we’re so excited to welcome them back to Textile Hive for Between the Threads: Batik as Character, Cosmos, and Creation, a free lecture on Thursday, October 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. PDT, as part of Portland Textile Month.

Drawing on the ancient Javanese text *Suluk Ambatik*, they’ll explore batik as a path to character building, inner balance, and connection with the universe, while sharing highlights of their work.

We hope you’ll join us in welcoming Nia and Ismoyo back!

Register through the link in our bio. Only a few seats remain!

06/10/2026

We are thrilled to welcome Brenda Lin to Textile Hive on June 30 for On Collecting: Observations from a Textile Collector’s Daughter. This will be our first opportunity to host an author in our new space, making the evening especially meaningful.

We first met Brenda and her family in 2019, when we had the opportunity to visit their remarkable collection in Taiwan. Built over decades by her mother, the collection includes an extraordinary range of Chinese baby carriers, children’s clothing, and related material culture. Experiencing the collection firsthand left a lasting impression and sparked many conversations about collecting, stewardship, and the stories objects carry across generations.

Writer Brenda Lin grew up with a grandfather who collected art and a mother who collects children’s textiles. She never fully understood the impulse to amass objects until her mother invited her to translate the books she had written about her collection from Chinese to English. Through the work of translation and later archiving, Lin began to understand the text in textiles, a realization that eventually became a central metaphor in her forthcoming book, Unraveling Threads: Essays on Inheritance.

In this illustrated talk, Lin will share a visual essay that asks: What is the impulse that drives collectors to build their collections? What passions, questions, and tensions shape a collector’s mind? And how might a collection be passed on?

Stories and reflections on collecting, inheritance, and the ways collections connect us across generations.

June 30, 2026
5:00 PM
Textile Hive

Register through the link in our bio 👆

06/02/2026

Join us this Saturday for workshop, Mending at Textile Hive.

We are sharing a few sweet samples of what participants will be making as part of this memory centered workshop.

Mending invites participants into a process of memory sharing, reflection, and art making. Limei will guide participants in creating a mixed media collage from their story, exploring how memory, repair, and material can come together as acts of connection and care.

First session:Saturday, June 6, 202610:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Additional sessions take place June 7, June 13, and June 14 at the same time. Participants are welcome to take one or more sessions.

Sliding scale workshop fee.

Space is limited, details and registration through the link in our bio.

📸 Limei Lai

05/21/2026

We are excited to continue sharing the first workshops and upcoming programs taking shape in our new Textile Hive space.

Join artist for Mending, a hands on workshop exploring memory, repair, and the stories carried through cloth.

The first session takes place Saturday, June 6, 2026, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM, with additional sessions on June 7, June 13, and June 14 at the same time.

Participants are welcome to take one or more sessions.

We are especially excited to host Limei and this event, as we have long admired the energy, care, and dialogue that come through her installations and projects 🫶

Limei will lead a memory sharing conversation and guide participants in creating a mixed media collage from their story. Through this process, participants will consider how memory, mending, and material can come together as acts of reflection, connection, and care.

Created as a place for study, making, exchange, and community gathering, our new space allows us to welcome people into the archive in more hands on ways. This workshop continues that next chapter, inviting participants to engage with textiles not only as objects of history and design, but as materials connected to memory, care, and everyday life.

Sliding scale fee, please egister through the link in bio

05/15/2026

Travel Postcards: ANOTHER SPACE

Another highlight from our New York trip was visiting Second Skin at ANOTHER SPACE, founded by Estrellita Brodsky, a longtime friend of Andrea’s. Their friendship gives this visit a special resonance, connecting Andrea’s own lifelong engagement with textiles, material culture, and artistic exchange to the work being presented in the space today.

is a not for profit program established by the Daniel and Estrellita B. Brodsky Family Foundation and dedicated to building recognition and international awareness of artists from Latin America and its diaspora within a global context.

Second Skin beautifully reflected this mission. The exhibition brings together international artists and designers from the 1950s to today, with a focus on Latin America and its diaspora, exploring the intersection of art and fashion. Through video, photography, sculpture, archival material, garments, prints, and works on paper, the show considers clothing as a powerful medium for articulating identity, expressing culture and gender, and responding to political and social histories.

The exhibition also includes prints from , representing the work of Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos, as well as early Andy Warhol photos and illustrations from the Jordan Schnitzer Collection. Together, these works add another layer to the show’s exploration of image, surface, persona, fashion, and the body.

The exhibition offered a moving reminder that fashion and clothing are far from neutral spaces, but are constantly evolving as we define ourselves and society. We were grateful to tour the show with its curator, Raul Martinez, and see such powerful work.

Second Skin is on view through May 18, 2026. For those in New York, we encourage you to make an appointment and experience it before it closes.

05/14/2026

👋 We’ve had our heads down lately and are excited to begin sharing a few Winter/Spring updates and latergrams from recent travels, events, and projects.

One highlight was our visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we spent time with the Costume Institute, including visiting a recent donation of one of Andrea’s Dakota Transit garments. The piece is a unique batik leather work unlike anything Andrea had created. We were grateful for the opportunity to see it up close with members of the conservation team, some of whom shared a connection through having met Andrea over the years.

During our visit, we also spied some impressive boots, including a few choice Alexander McQueens. Swipe through for some behind the scenes views.

We were also excited to preview the expansion of the Costume Institute galleries and the opening of Costume Art, the inaugural exhibition in the new Condé Nast Galleries. In our behind the scenes look at the exhibition, we were especially impressed by the range of body types and accessibility considerations represented in the mannequins for the show.

We imagine Andrea would have been happy to know one of her creations now has a home within the Costume Institute collection, and we were honored to donate a spare Dakota Transit label to accompany the garment.

Address

1314 NW Irving Street #205
Portland, OR
97209

Opening Hours

10am - 4pm

Website

https://www.textilehive.com/

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