- You know, artists will paint on just about anything: wood, metal, household objects, sheets, in fact.

But for artists who care about their work, it has to be canvas.

And for the most discerning of artists, well, there's only one type.

And that's linen.

But the story of linen doesn't start and stop at the art store.

No.

In fact, it begins here in this field in Belgium with the flax plant.

(pensive string music) I'm Julian Baumgartner.

As a fine art conservator over the past two decades working to preserve artworks, I've been fortunate enough to meet and work with some of the most talented, driven, and interesting people in the arts.

And now I want to take you into their worlds to meet them, hear their stories, and share their passions.

So join me as we go behind the canvas.

(bright music) Welcome to Belgium: a small but mighty country with a long and proud history of agriculture, arts, and technology.

This is a country that has produced some of the most talented and important artists in the world, a country that has its roots, heart, and feet firmly planted in agriculture, yet a country that is looking forward to technological innovations and balancing industry, craft, and art.

I'm en route to the small village of Offoux, approximately 15 miles or 24 kilometers southwest of Liège in the east of the country to meet with Bert Wolfcarius, a flax farmer and owner of Flax Box, a company dedicated to the production of some of the finest flax in the world.

What's happening today here with all of the equipment?

- Today, it's our final stage of the flax growing.

We pulled the flax out and we put it on the fields.

- [Julian] And you pull it, not cut it, right?

- No, no, we pull it.

So you see here, here you see the root?

- Yeah.

- So it's pulled out.

The root is one meter in the ground.

But when we pull it here, it breaks here.

So you have still a little bit of roots here.

- Yep.

- And then we put it like this on the field.

After one or two rains, we turn around the flax so that we have a nice homogeneous color.

- [Julian] And this is called retting, right?

- [Bert] Retting, yes.

- [Julian] Why are you retting it?

- Because when you take one flax, so this is the fiber.

- I see, so you're trying to get rid of the outer?

- No, it's the inner.

So you see the wood.

These are the shives.

The shives are being used for horse leather.

- [Julian] I see.

- For wooden panels.

In our factory at home, we do like this but mechanically.

- I see.

And that's called scotching?

- That's called scutching.

So now I'm scutching with my fingers.

- That's a lot of work to do with just your fingers.

- Yes, if you have to do all fields, it will be a problem.

So now you have the long flax fiber.

- [Julian] Which is what gives flax its strength.

- [Bert] Yes.

- [Julian] I see.

- During scutching, some parts like this.

- Break off?

- This is the short fiber.

- Ah, I see.

- And one of the uses of short fiber is the $1 note.

- [Julian] Oh, really?

- [Bert] In America.

- Get outta here.

- Only in the $1 note.

So not in the 10 or the 20, but in the $1.

- So I am holding... I'm holding the beginning of American money.

- Yes.

So we make American money here.

- That's really cool.

(Bert laughs) After it's collected and after it's scutched, then what happens to the fiber?

- [Bert] Then they spin the fiber.

- Oh, I see, yeah.

- This is in fact the spinning of the fiber, and it gives the strength to the fiber.

- That's the strand.

- But they mix.

It's like a good wine or champagne.

What they do, if you go to spinning mills, you see that they mix 120 different types.

- Diversity makes it stronger.

- To have homogeneous fiber.

Then go to the weaving.

- That's where we're headed next.

To see them turn this into linen.

- Yes.

- That's fantastic.

From the flax fields in eastern Belgium, we travel across the country to the west, to a company that, for over 150 years, has been dedicated to the production of the highest quality linen.

It was at Libeco that I had the pleasure of meeting Raymond Libeert, the president of the company and a fifth-generation linen maker, who opened up the doors of his factory to show me how what Bert harvests in his fields is turned into linen.

It seems that the flax plant is... Every part of it is used.

The entire stalk... - There's no waste.

- That must make it an incredibly green process.

- Yes, sure.

And even in our production process, there is no waste.

Even the dust, you will see the dust in the weaving.

The dust is recouped, is used for insulation.

It's used for... So there's really no waste.

- Is that a modern invention or is that a practice that's been happening since... - Since very long time.

The Middle Ages.

In fact, the Egyptians already had the flax.

- So the things that we think of as very modern and new really date back to the beginning.

- It's really what made Flanders.

Flanders in 1850 was a very poor region.

And it's really thanks to the flax industry that prosperity was brought here.

- So flax to Belgium is critically important.

- Was at the time.

- Oh, I see.

- And now is gaining back.

In fact, the flax is grown between Cannes and Amsterdam, from French, Normandy, Belgium, Wallonia, Flanders, Wallonia, and then the Dutch part.

It's grown there because it has, first of all, you have the knowledge of the farmers, but it's also this specific combination of the soil, the influence from the sea.

- So much like a wine region, there's a certain... - We need that moist from the sea.

And that temperate climate.

You need also the combination of sun and water, rain, for the retting process.

- Oh, I see, I see.

So flax, really, it has to be here.

- Well, it can be grown elsewhere, but there's never the same quality.

But here we produce only products based on flax.

Mostly 100%.

We do sometimes mix blends with cotton or with polyester.

But mostly it's purely.

- When thinking in terms of textiles, the difference between flax and something like cotton.

- It's a much harsher.

When you feel the fiber, it's a bit harsher.

It's a bit more delicate.

Also, it has more mechanical treatments before you can use the fiber.

But it's a very clean fiber.

There's hardly any chemical used in agriculture.

There's no irrigation.

There's no genetically modified seed.

So it's very respectful of nature.

- It seems maybe like the perfect plant.

- Yes, it's quite perfect.

(Raymond laughs) - So, Raymond, in here, in this warehouse, I see what looks like finished product, some raw materials, things in boxes.

It's kind of a little bit of everything.

- [Raymond] Yes.

- [Julian] So this is... - [Raymond] The main warehouse.

It's totally automated.

But that was the idea, to make a warehouse that can be used for all different purposes.

So a very flexible system.

- I see.

Libeco's state-of-the-art, carbon-neutral, fully automated warehouse allows the company to carefully select and prepare individual rolls of fabric for their customers, including myself, as this is how the rolls arrive at my studio in Chicago.

In fact, this is the very same roll that I routinely order: Artist's Canvas Number 5.

Before the bobbins of flax yarn are sent to the next stage of the fabrication process, the weaving, batches are sampled and tested in Libeco's in-house laboratory to ensure that they meet the company's high standards.

Attention to detail and commitment to the finest quality is evident in every step of the process at Libeco.

(Raymond speaks Dutch) (worker speaks Dutch) - [Raymond] Here he has 286 bobbins.

- 286 individual bobbins.

- Individual bobbins that are going on this winding machine.

It's done by computer.

And you build up the full width of your warp.

If you want to be able to weave well, you need to have a perfect warp, that there's no difference in tension, that there's no yarns missing.

So this is very, very essential.

Here you can see it's a beautiful wet-spun yarn.

It has this shine.

It's relatively fine.

- It looks incredibly even.

And I'm guessing that's what you want, something that's very predictable.

- Some, some.

And you have some that are much coarser, but... - Oh, well, I guess, yeah.

'Cause it depends on what the final product is.

- In fact, a better characteristic of the company is that we go from very fine to very heavy cut.

- Oh, I see.

- That's because we do all different products.

We do the apparel, we do decorated fabrics, we do technical canvas.

So the water mills are specializing only in apparel or only in technical fabrics.

So we do the whole thing.

But we stay with flax, only with flax.

In the past, we were more apparel, and over the time, we found that apparel was too cyclical, and we wanted more stability in our production.

And that's why we added these other categories of products, where you have more stability and more diversity.

- Well, that's good for me because, if you were only apparel, I wouldn't know where to get my linen.

- It brings diversity in your product.

But we also have the diversity geographically, as we sell to 65 countries.

You know, sometimes it's crisis in the States or it's crisis in Europe.

And the fact of being diversified geographically also brings stability in the production.

- [Julian] Yeah.

- So if here a yarn is breaking or it's missing, the machine will immediately stop.

- And so what happens then?

- But so then he will search the yarn that is missing, and he will make a knot.

And start again.

- Oh, okay, I see.

So every once in a while, maybe when you see on a linen, you see a little bump... - It can be from here.

But it can also be in the weaving process.

- The natural part, right.

So, Raymond, are you guys producing in shifts?

Is this happening all the time?

- [Raymond] We start the Monday morning, and we work till Saturday morning nonstop.

- [Julian] Nonstop?

- In weaving process and here in preparation.

A weaving loom has to continue to run all the time.

That's the best for the lumen.

We use 2,000 ton of yarns a year, and we produce, it depends a bit on the season, but, on the average, we produce between 12,000 and 15,000 meters of fabric per day.

- Per day?

- Per day.

- 12 to 15 kilometers or seven to nine miles of linen every single day.

Nearly 3,000 miles a year.

Enough to cross the entire United States.

To ensure that no yarn is wasted during the warping process, Libeco carefully unwinds and rewinds the smaller leftover bobbins.

This highly automated process takes what otherwise would be considered unusable material and gives it new purpose.

By doing this, Libeco is not only saving on costs and materials, but they're upholding their commitment to being a no-waste facility, using every part of the raw flax.

Before we headed onto the weaving floor, Raymond took me into the training room where every master weaver's education starts: learning how the machines work.

Oh, yeah, look at that.

- [Raymond] The idea is that you have to introduce your weft in the fabric.

- [Julian] Right.

- So makes an opening in the yarns.

You enter the weft, and then the reed is pushing the weft against it.

- [Julian] And it tightens it.

- And tightens it.

And then, again, there's a movement of the shaft.

And it's coming back.

And so this happens 220 to 250 times a minute.

- That's very fast.

- You have those metallic, they say in French longues, that takes the yarn on one side, brings it over here, and then pulls it back.

- [Julian] They meet in the middle.

- [Raymond] They meet in the middle like this.

- This brings us to the heart of Libeco's production: nearly 100 looms working around the clock in unison, creating a symphony of motion and sounds.

It is here that the fibers of the raw flax plant are transformed from individual threads into a cohesive product, each one with a unique set of characteristics and filled with possibility.

While the looms weave, diligent vacuums paste the floor, gathering up all of the dust cast off during the fabrication process.

These precious bits of the plant do not go to waste.

Rather, they are collected, reused as insulation, and ensuring that, once again, every part of the plant is used, making flax a uniquely green material.

It's a mesmerizing process, with some of these machines dating back to over seven decades in almost constant motion, working to give the flax, the yarn, the fields of Belgium purpose and possibility.

So you've taken me to a construction site, Raymond?

- Yes.

We had our old offices here, and so here we built new offices with showroom.

And then in the front, we have an old warehouse that we will transform in a store, museum, conference.

There will be conference rooms.

- So you mentioned that originally, 1850, it was on one end of the building.

- It started there at the farm.

- And every generation, I think you said you're fifth generation?

- [Raymond] Yes.

- [Julian] So every generation has added and contributed to the growing.

- And this building, this has been done, has been built by my dad in the '60's.

Just after World War II.

- And now you're building this.

- And now we're building this and the new warehouse.

- And so what's the next generation gonna build?

- You're gonna have to ask them.

- Well, what do you see the future of Libeco?

- Well, I think, yeah, we're definitely going to a much more automated process.

But still the people will be essential.

And I think it's more a story of passionate, passionate people.

And what we have to do is transmit the passion of.

- Do you ever worry that the automization takes away from the soul of the production of linen?

- Not everything can be automated.

Like checking the fabric.

You still need somebody looking at the fabric to detect the defects and eventually to repair.

Because it's a natural fiber, you will always have the variation in your raw materials.

- So even though you're moving towards a more automatic process, more advanced technology and machines, the heart of the process still lies with the people who will run the machines and build them and operate the factory.

And that keeps it, you know, a product with integrity.

- Yes.

There you have the new offices.

And this is in fact the old part, the oldest part.

- Oh, wow.

- This is still the stable.

In the past, the offices were in the city, in Kortrijk.

The manufacturing was done here.

- I see.

- So the production, the goods, when they were finished at the end of the week, people were coming with horse and cart.

Come here, take the fabric.

The fabric would go to Kortrijk.

There it would be bleached.

- I see.

- At that time, it was still bleaching on grass.

So on meadows along the river.

And then they would be controlled, warehoused, and then shipped.

And everything was happening from the city because there was no transportation.

Like if you had to ship your goods, you had to ship them by train.

So all the offices were around the station in Kortrijk.

That's a bit the evolution.

And then in the '60's, my dad decided to put the office here, and then he start rebuilding the whole... - I see.

- With the new buildings and new office.

- And so this is one of the original stables, huh.

- The oldest part.

- And you still keep it here, huh?

- And we still keep it here.

- Never get rid of the old stuff.

- [Raymond] No.

- [Julian] Raymond, what is this here that's going on?

- What we're doing here is that first check of the fabric after weaving.

And we do quality control.

So if there's a defect on the fabric, if there's a hole, if there is a knot in here, if there's a stain, we'll try to correct.

So now she will show what she's doing.

- [Julian] So she can take out the defect.

- And even if there's really a hole, she could reconstitute the fabric by putting threads.

- Well, that sounds a lot like art conservation.

And sometimes what I have to do.

- Yeah, sure.

- And she's so fast.

No, you're very fast.

(Raymond speaks Dutch) (Martine speaks Dutch) - It's already 35 years she's doing the job.

- 35 years, wow.

And how long does it take to become good at this?

- Months?

(Raymond speaks Dutch) It's really months that they're working together.

- [Julian] Ah, right.

So they have to learn from somebody and train.

- And, in fact, most of the ladies have their specialty.

Some are doing more the coarser fabric, some are doing more the finer fabric.

- It's right here, right?

- Hold on.

You can't see anymore.

- [Julian] Right here?

- [Martine] Yes.

- [Julian] Wow.

Would it be okay if I tried?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

You could try.

- How do I do this?

- You can take this.

- Yeah.

Okay.

You folded it, right?

- Yes.

Oh, perfect.

- All right.

- [Raymond] He's talented.

- And this way?

- Yeah, if you... - [Raymond] Maybe he should stay then.

- I think I'm prob... No?

- [Martine] You cannot start here.

- [Julian] Oh, ah, I see.

Ay.

(Julian chuckles) - [Raymond] Tricky, huh?

- Very.

No, I can't do it.

Nope.

I can't do it.

It's too hard.

I mean, it looks so easy, but it's so hard.

And she does it so fast.

I see why it takes months and months of practice.

All right, well, I've been very humbled.

Is there something easy that I can do?

Maybe sweeping.

- Sweeping, yeah, you can sweep.

- Every single meter of linen created at Libeco is watched over by a team of skilled and dedicated craftspeople.

They are the guardians of quality and integrity.

They use their expertise, experience, and attention to detail to guide the raw linen through the production process and to the final stages, into beautiful linen products that Libeco is known for throughout the world.

But Libeco is not content to rest on 150-year-old tradition.

They're always looking to push linen forward, both in production and technology, but also in finding new ways to showcase the versatility and beauty of this timeless material.

I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Libeert, who oversees the challenge of introducing the world to linen.

Amy?

- Yeah, hi.

- Pleasure to meet you, Julian.

- Nice to meet you, Julian.

- And so she's in charge of the design and the creation of our home collection.

- So you are the creative heart behind the home collections, which, Raymond was telling me, diverted a little bit from the traditional approach, adding more color, more design.

- There was always color, but it was always really, really traditional.

And now in the last 10 years, I've tried to develop products that are modern and hip and work in lots of different countries all over the world.

And it's working.

So far, so good.

- What was in the past?

We had more the base of our collection was more, you know, traditional table linen, traditional bed linen.

And I think now the collection is much more decorative items.

It's much more... - It's a lot of accessories.

So we do a lot of throws and pillows, and traditional, classic bed linen was in the past something... It wasn't hip like it is now.

Now we make washed bed linen, and we make lots of accessories to go in other parts of the house as well.

- This tension of old and new really seems to fuel Libeco.

- That's so exciting.

- Yeah.

- [Amy] It's also why it works.

Because there is so much history and knowledge.

- In the past, textile always had a little bit of, you know, a negative connotation.

It seemed very old fashioned.

Now you see that, when you hire young people, they're excited because there's that creative part.

It's the electronics, the internet.

It's bringing so much new things.

- That's what keeps everybody excited to come to work, you know, learning from the tradition and then bringing new things in.

And I'd imagine that, going forward, it's just gonna continue, and you're gonna continue to push the boundaries of what you can do with a traditional medium and in new design and new markets and new products.

And, I mean, just how far you can push linen.

- So the linen market now represents 0.4% of total textile.

- 0-4?

- 0.4%.

If we can go from 0.4 to 1%, it's a fantastic growth.

And that's the challenge for us is to continue to grow but keep the quality and keep the creative part and keep the... But it's very exciting.

- So, Amy, would you mind showing me some of the work that you're doing here at Libeco with the design?

- [Amy] Of course, let's go have a look.

- So this is the design center where you do your work?

- This is where all of the cutting, stitching, packaging, stock happens.

- I see.

- And upstairs is the studio.

But now they are busy with our new collection for fall.

So this collection is going to a show in Paris at the end of the week.

- Oh, that's exciting.

- And there's lots of stitching happening from lots of other collections in the back.

Here they're packaging and preparing to ship.

- And you said the design work happens in the studio?

- Yes.

- Can we take a look at there?

- Yes.

I didn't really prepare for you.

- It's a working studio, that's the best kind.

- Oh dear, be ready.

Here you have it.

The disaster of the design studio.

- No, this takes me back to my art school days, and it feels really exciting.

A creative space, just energy and electricity.

- Yeah, I agree.

It's still a very old-fashioned process here.

I still do everything on paper, colored pencils and paper and yarns and swatches and things.

Nothing happens on the computer.

- Wow.

It's interesting 'cause linen is such a tactile material.

And Raymond was talking about the flax from the beginning to the end.

Even with all of the automatization and technology, it still really depends upon the human touch and the people to control it, to make it, to quality control it.

So it makes complete sense that you would be here with colored pencils and not at a computer.

- And it's definitely, it takes a village.

You know, they say it takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a village to do this too.

Because there's lots of intricate steps all along the way.

- So, Amy, what are some of the challenges working with a natural, irregular product?

- You know, linen is by nature full of slubs.

And those things are part of the... It's part of the deal.

It is what it is.

The saturation of color is completely different than with other fibers.

You know, if you try to make lab dips of this color in another fiber, it will look completely different than it does in linen.

It's very specific.

- That is probably what makes it such a special... - It's what makes it special, definitely.

I can show you what's been in the works for the last 18 months.

- [Julian] Oh sure.

Oh wow.

That's a totally different feel.

Wow, look at that.

- [Amy] And then this is another texture.

- Another texture, right.

It feels totally different.

And what is this?

This is... - This is going to be a napkin.

Still loom state.

It hasn't been washed yet.

- Really beautiful.

And the textures and the feel, I mean, they really cry out: "Touch me, hold me, like experience."

- I hope so.

- Yeah, right.

Well, I mean, as a textile, that's what you want, right?

It's truly amazing to think that such a simple plant, with its humble roots in the fields across Flanders, can be transformed into a fabric with so many different textures, forms, and uses, each with its own unique set of characteristics.

All thanks to the skilled artisans at Libeco.

Well, that was absolutely fascinating.

I work with canvas and linen from you guys all day long, and I always knew that it was a really special, really wonderful material.

But to see it being made and how difficult and complicated the process is?

But to learn how green it is and to learn how long you've been doing it, for five generations now, really makes me think about how I'm gonna approach it the next time and how I'm gonna think about it as more than just a fabric that I use at work.

- Yeah, we just hope that we convinced you that flax has a bright future, and there's a lot of possibilities.

There's still a lot to be done.

- Well, I think if what I've seen here today is any indication of what's to come, I'm pretty sure that Libeco will be right on the forefront of it.

And I'm excited to see what you guys do next.

But before I go, who do I speak to about placing an order?

'Cause I'm running out.

- Well, I'm sure we'll sort that out.

- Okay, well, thank you.

(pensive string music) (pensive string music continues)