The Silk Collection Enterprise was founded and operates in the Kolchuginsky District of the Vladimir Region.
For this area, artistic hand-free painting of fabrics is traditionalart.
The Kolchuginsky district area used to belong to the old Ilmekhotsk camp, whose lands stretched from the sources of the Peksha River to the place of its confluence with the Klyazma River. The lands of the Ilmekhotsk camp, when compared with the lands of the neighboring Yuryev-Suzdal opolye, were poor in agricultural resources. Therefore, various handicrafts were widespread among the peasantry.
In the XVI-XVII centuries scribes, there was a mentioning of smoking smithies, which started the Slavic settlements-villages along the Peksha River, and such crafts as blacksmith, copper, copper foundry and crusher-forging production gradually began to develop. A little later, weaving joined this number of crafts.
In the 19th century, the Vladimir province was known as the chintz region, because one third of all cotton fabrics in Russia were there. The first woolen manufactories appeared at the end of the 17th century, and linen manufactories were developed at the beginning of the 18th century. In that century, silk-velvet craft began to develop rapidly in Vladimir region. And by the second half of the 19th century, residents of 57 villages between the Volga and Klyazma were engaged in it.
The modern city of Kolchugino and the Kolchuginsky district were formed on the territory of the Vladimir province villages of Tonkovo, Vasilievskoye, Litvinovo, Dubki, Vaulovo, their inhabitants were also historically engaged in weaving and painting on fabric. Initially, flax, wool, hemp, nettles, linden bast were used as raw materials for the craft, and by the end of the 18th century, silk was also used.
In the 19th century, residents of the surrounding settlements were making velvet, printed and painted scarves, producing the famous ‘Baranovsky calico’.
A special role in the development of hand-painted fabrics was played by the proximity of Kolchugino to the capital – Moscow (XIV-XVIII centuries), as well as to the large nearby cities of Vladimir and Alexandrov. The Royal court demand for the highly artistic and expensive products led to the emergence of craftsmen and artels who specialized in decorating fabrics and finished products.
At a later time, the development of crafts associated with weaving and painting on fabric was facilitated by the establishment of the city of Kolchugino as a copper foundry industrial center. The first copper smelter was opened there by the merchant of the 1st guild A.G. Kolchugin and the city acquired the status of a working village in 1931. Since that time, the population of Kolchugino started to grow, there were new schools, art and craftcolleges. The creative
intellectualsand the relative availability of art education, contributed to the beginning of the production of hand-painted scarves (mid-1830s). The main supplier of raw materials was the Kirzhach Silk Factory, which produced fabrics from natural silk.
In 1993 the “Zenith”enterprise was opened in Kolchugino, one of its activities was painting on metal samovars, teapots and other utensils produced at the S. Ordzhonikidze Kolchuginsky plant. A section for painting on natural silk was also launched at the enterprise. The production of shawls and scarves was established.
In 2000, in Kolchugino, a sole proprietor O.A. Shevtsova opened a production facility that specialized in the manufacturing of products from fabrics, decorated using the hand-painting technique called cold batik. In 2006, “Silk collection”LLC was incorporated on the basis of SP O.A. Shevtsova.