The Living Looms Workshop exists to value and harness the traditional weaving, engineering and associated skills of the Kidderminster area, to provide an active educational and cultural environment in which to display the current products and skills of the weaving heritage and to promote a greater understanding of the economic importance and diversity of the national carpet industry.
The first looms to be conserved are some narrow-width, full-pitch, spool Axminster looms that are the last remaining representatives of their type in the world and which produce the legendary high quality Sultana Axminster carpet. The Victorian looms were rescued, to complete a carpet of thirty nine colours for the Hampton mansion near Baltimore, when the company weaving the carpet went into liquidation in July 2007. Twenty first century electronic technology has been successfully applied to the 'Hampton' loom to ensure greater reliability and efficiency, and this collaboration of the new with the old, be it technology, design or skills, is central to the ethos of the Living Looms Workshop.
By keeping these looms in production, future generations will be able to produce both historic and new carpets whose character, complexity and subtlety can only be achieved by these unique looms.