This film is part of Free
The Different Processes of Manufacturing Carpets at William C. G Ray & Sons' Factory, Ayr, Scotland
Spinning a yarn: an eye-opening tour behind the scenes at a top carpet manufacturer
Overview
As it unfolds, this film becomes a fine, fascinating exercise in the weft and warp of both carpet-making and industrial filmmaking. Gray's was one of Scotland's and Britain's leading carpet makers. This sponsored film leaves us an instructive, atmospheric record of a now-vanished world: part-manual, part-mechanised, poised between cottage craftsmanship and mass production.
Wide workroom vistas alternate with intricate close-ups of incessantly spinning yarn, piles of jute and cotton, steaming vats of dye, and armies of women and men attending trestle tables and electric generators (workrooms are rigidly divided by gender). The 'process' film, one of the earliest forms of documentary, was by 1920 a highly practiced art. Although a common convention of the genre is the finished product in the hands of the consumer, in this case the film ends on an old-fashioned (for 1920) 'factory gate' scene, suggesting it was distributed locally, intended not least as a staff morale-booster. The company closed in 1974.
Related
Caefelin Laundry, Llangollen Caefelin Laundry, Llangollen
Home movie 1937 20 mins Silent Location: Llangollen
Nellie Boote's laundry in Market Street in operation, the women dashing away with all manner of smoothing irons as clothes are sorted, mended, washed, ironed and sorted again.
For Sheer Perfection For Sheer Perfection
Documentary 1965 24 mins Location: Langley Mill
A mile of yarn and a million loops to make one stocking: the culmination of a four hundred year old craft.
Paper Fashion Paper Fashion
News 1967 6 mins Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Fashion doesnt grow on treesor does it! Tyne Tees TV was bang on-trend with this brilliant news feature on the hip 1960s cult for a disposable age - paper fashion.
Fancy Yarn Production Fancy Yarn Production
Industry sponsored film 1971 23 mins Location: Greengates
Twisted yarns and empty spindles, everything from Bouclé to Slub yarn, from beginning to end, and all, in the end, displayed on a ‘normal’ model in typical 1970s fashion.
Working to a Pattern Working to a Pattern
Documentary 1980 32 mins
Rag trade revival or sweatshops? In the back streets of Brick Lane, Bangladeshi machinists sew 70s fashions
Winter Fashions have been Modelled in a Park in Exmouth Winter Fashions have been Modelled in a Park in Exmouth
Current affairs 1977 2 mins Silent Location: Exmouth
Wearing Fur gets Hairy
Around the Camps Around the Camps
Advert 1950 16 mins Location: Filey
Good morning campers! Explore the delights Butlin's camps have to offer around the UK in this breezy promotional film
Mining Review 14th Year No. 10 Mining Review 14th Year No. 10
Cinemagazine 1961 10 mins Location: Spalding
Spalding in Lincolnshire boasts eight million tulips in glorious array, while Eton boys go down a pit in Ayrshire.
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.