The Drawer of Things

Last summer, we featured Simon Costin’s haunted Cornish longhouse on the Almanac. It is an extraordinary story that has stayed with us ever since. Simon is the founder of The Museum of British Folklore and, during our conversations he mentioned Doc Rowe – “the accidental archivist”.

Doc has filmed the folkloric happenings and vernacular arts of Britain and Ireland since the 1960s. “There was no stated intention to preserve, protect or rescue;” according to Simon, “an extraordinary archive accrued gradually, as a by‑product of curiosity, commitment and presence over time.”

By his own admission, Doc is running out of time to digitise this unique archive, which is why filmmakers Tim Plester and Rob Curry have stepped in. Their film, The Archivist, is premiering at The Sheffield Documentary festival this weekend. Simon summarises the film beautifully: “The Archivist stays close to Rowe as he looks back across this accumulated material and the life that produced it. The film observes his habits, his reflections, and his resistance to being cast as an authority. What emerges is not a portrait of a disappearing culture, but of one that continues to change – renewed by new performers, new practices and new communities – and of a man negotiating what it means to have spent a lifetime paying attention to it.”

Now for some folk-inspired homeware. Petra Palumbo’s latest collection of Delft tiles (see below) mean you can shower alongside manticores, minotaurs, faeries and mermen. Our favourite ‘West Country Witch’, Fee Greening (whose sequestered shack we have previously shared on the Almanac) has transformed her pen and ink drawings into five folkloric-inspired wallpaper designs with Common Room (pictured left). Which led us to the work of Zoe Gibson, whose Solstice pattern fabric and wallpaper is almost as beautiful as the sun and moon costumes she has designed for a celestial performance piece.

We know you’re wondering which folk festivals team Inigo will be attending this summer. Our Listings Editor Sophie Sims will be at The Museum of the Home’s What the Folk? Fest this month (13th-21st June), skipping into their nine-day programme of events, creative workshops, talks and tours that culminate in a day of Summer Solstice celebrations. Editorial assistant Holly Nicholas is signed up for Foraging and Folklore in Glastonbury (8th August) – ”a magical mystery tour of Glastonbury Tor” during which guides will share “the medicinal plants we can incorporate in our diets and hear their folklore, woven through time.” Meanwhile, senior sales advisor Ollie King’s diary is chock full of rushbearing events this August (you know; that time of year when villagers collect fresh rushes to spread on the floor of the local parish church.) We are reliably informed Saddleworth Rushcart is the biggest and takes place on 22nd-23rd August. Ollie is in fact a fully committed folk enthusiast, and will be performing with The World Famous Hammersmith Morris Men (pictured right) throughout the summer. Meanwhile, you’ll find our Business Operations Manager Darren wearing all the merch from Weird Walk with a can of Leyline in hand. Let’s hope Doc doesn’t capture any of us on camera …

Picture credits: Zoe Gibson (Almanac homepage image); Doc Rowe; Ollie King