Pleating craft in Basel

Help keep the last remaining hand pleating studio in Switzerland open

First things first: What is hand pleating anyway…?

• The artisan craft of textile hand pleating is a way to permanently set pleats into a fabric, using only cardboard molds, pressure and steam (more detailed in the video)
• The «Plisseebrennerei» (formerly Spieser Plissee) a hand pleating studio in Basel, has to be passed on, into new hands. It is the only remaining artisan craft studio of this kind in the whole of Switzerland. With a long tradition and an almost 100-year-old history, mostly coming from Swiss folklore dressmaking.

Now is the time to support this studio, to keep the hand pleating craft alive and progressing!

The «Plisseebrennerei» is not only one of the only places for Folklore dressmakers to get the fabric pleated in the right way, but also for opera, theatre, textile and fashion professionals to get the unique pleats for all their creations. On top of that it is accessible for textile/fashion students and apprentices to come experiment and make use of the extensive range of different pleat designs, to experience and rediscover this versatile craft….

To keep the «Plisseebrennerei» going it is in need of support. The acquiring of ovens, the extensive collection of different pleat molds, the specialized tools, and all the rest of the inventory is an expense that, even with all the love and passion for this craft, cannot be carried by one person alone.

A traditional hand craft that longs to be rediscovered

Pleating still has a vibrant presence in today’s fashion and everyday clothing. As a craft though, it has disappeared into a forgotten corner, like so many making processes, that have been pushed far away and therefor out of sight, at the cost of untransparent cheap labor.

This is something the «Plisseebrennrei» is standing against. To make this craft visible again, the infrastructure and the extensive pleating design library, with it’s almost 100-year-old cardboard pleating molds needs to be made more accessible, for workshops and to experiment with materials.

Through experimenting with materials and pleating the craft can be thought and taken further, and since the molds are made by hand in the studio, it’s also possible to design new pleating patterns, that can go beyond the standardized machine pleating.

That way the craft gets revived and can find a new importance, a new relevance.

Why support this project?

With your contribution you not only support an exciting, though still somewhat forgotten, artisan craft, but also a place where like-minded people can collaborate to further this precious hand craft.

You also contribute to the long overdue, sustainable change of thinking in the fashion- and textile industry, by making artisan craft and their making processes visible and relevant again!

Thank you with all my heart, for your interest and support!