Lace and Labyrinths

The story goes that mid-shift on a day in 2002, the vice president of this massive industrial giant announced the plant was closing, effective immediately. After more than 100 years in production, this long-standing manufacturer of lace — curtains, napkins, tablecloths, doilies, what have you — shut its doors and fell, like so many other once-prosperous factories, into a state of abandonment.

This was one of the few places I had time to explore over this insanely busy summer, so I spent the entire day here in effort to make it count. This place is so big that I could probably spend another two in it before comfortably admitting I got to see it all.

I got lost…a few times. The separate buildings are all connected by a series of catwalks, which all look the same. Granted I’m the kind of person who gets lost in the mall, so take that with a grain of salt. At least three times I jumped out of low-level windows to get my bearings and “reset” my sense of direction from the outside.

The factory has a gymnasium and theater, bowling alley, infirmary, and maybe more that I don’t know about or didn’t find.

These are stacks of lace stencils, by the thousands, piled throughout the buildings.

I’ve heard demo is coming for this beautiful place, and it looked like some abatement was already underway. I kept coming across piles of asbestos tiles and pipe insulation, maybe in the process of being removed.

I’m guilty of ignoring exteriors when I shoot abandoned stuff. I get too focused on getting inside and getting to work on what I came to see. But after several “Shit, I’m lost; time to jump out another window!” moments, I noticed this place is absolutely gorgeous.

Did they have a hair salon, too? No clue. Why is this here?

This room was maybe the “eeriest” of all, even though the place was not eerie in the slightest. The way the gloves were laid on the table looked so, so much like everyone had left them there for a shift break and never came back.

Jumping out of more windows.

Oh man. I loved this space. There was a gigantic loom in here, but I was so enamored with the color casts and the little dolly full of lace left in front of those stunning windows. Pictures can’t really do it justice.

The pigeons nesting in the rafters keep making low whirring noises as I walked around. It was weird.

In this stairwell I honestly felt like David Bowie in the end of Labyrinth.

After this shoot I was sore, tired, starving, hot, and beyond ready to make the reasonable drive back home. I had originally planned to hit another location on my way, but I saved it for another time. While I was here I also shot three or four rolls of 120 with my Mamiya 6, and I need to get those to a lab because listen, these pictures are not new. I’ve been sitting on them for a while and just haven’t had time to share them. I have another great location in the queue, hopefully I can get around to that soon. Until next time.