KEVIN DUGGAN
There's real satisfaction in producing something physical and lasting, a piece of fabric you can actually see and touch, rather than just talking about art and design.
Kevin Duggan - Hand Weaver Magee Weaving
In Donegal, Ireland, Magee Weaving is less a distant heritage name than a living mill, filled with the pulse of fabric being made by proficient hands. For handweaver Kevin Duggan, that craft begins with thread and carefully setting up the loom, followed by steady attentiveness as he guides each length of fabric.
Whether by coincidence or fate, Kevin first came to weaving through an advert, not knowing it would become a lifelong craft. “I didn’t really know what I was walking into on that first day,” he says, “but I knew I’d be able to learn.” Frankie, who had over half a century of handweaving experience, not only taught Kevin how to weave, but also shaped the way he approaches the craft today, with mastery and appreciation. “If something’s wrong or off, Frankie would spot it within a couple of minutes without even touching the machine.”
Words by Kristania Gunawan
For Kevin, “no two days are quite the same.” The hardest part is often not the weaving itself, but the logistics of setting up the loom properly so everything can run seamlessly. It is, as he puts it, “all technical work, and a constant learning process, keeping decades-old looms running and fixing problems as they arise, from broken shafts to worn-out joints. With the exception of one Hattersley loom, the rest were bought secondhand in the 1960s.”
Some days begin with setting up a new pattern from scratch, threading each individual yarn in by hand. Others are spent weaving steadily onward, with a straightforward knot-in of a new beam in the same pattern already on the loom. Kevin’s eyes follow the whole process, catching faults as the yarn moves through the loom, before his skilful hands fix them. Even the yarn has its own behaviour. “Finer wool yarns without neps can actually be harder to work with at times,” Kevin says, “You watch out for the more delicate yarns that could break, and go easier on the weight at the back of the loom.”
Like any craftsperson, Kevin has certain patterns he holds closer to his heart, such as the herringbone 8-in-8, the hopsack, and different shepherd checks. His proudest achievements may not be loud or instantly visible, but neither are the challenges. Developing a new pattern takes far more skill and patience than it looks. A hopsack, for example, a basket-like weave made by grouping threads together in both directions, is considerably more complicated than a 12x12 herringbone Donegal twill.
Drawing in new patterns is especially demanding too, since “every individual thread has to be set in by hand, then counted and checked,”, Kevin explains, “so the pattern comes out perfectly.” Yet, the work is often misunderstood. “People underestimate the skill and time it takes to produce fabric,” he emphasises, visitors sometimes mistake it for arts and crafts, but to him, “it’s really about producing fabric for commercial use.” What takes three days by hand, he explains, might take four hours in a power loom.
Nevertheless, Kevin weaves with pride, knowing he’s continuing a five-generation tradition of weaving, while finding real satisfaction in producing something physical and lasting. Looking ahead, he hopes PGI status comes through for Donegal Tweed, (a certification scheme that protects the names of products linked to a specific geographical area) so the craft, and the true masters behind it, receive the recognition they deserve: “It keeps going when people get on and do the work.”
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