AN exhibition exploring a seminal textile design and fashion manufacturer in Newlyn has opened.

The Royal Cornwall Museum is presenting Cryséde: Iconic Imagemakers, which explores the story of this clothing and textile brand and its vibrant fabric designs.

It also uncovers the people behind the label and exposes the ingenuity of this Cornish legacy, which remains highly influential and collectible 100 years on.

The exhibition, which includes Cryséde garments and accessories, original artworks, textile samples, photographs, first-hand testimony from employees and original woodblocks, will help centre the unique business in its wider cultural and artistic context.

Originally created by the husband and wife team, Alec and Kay Walker, Cryséde was born from the experience in silk manufacturing by artist Alec, alongside Kay who initially designed the garments from fabrics which were made by printing onto English silk using the intricate woodblock process. Following a meeting with the artist Raoul Dufy in Paris in 1924, Alec was encouraged to translate his watercolour sketches into textile designs, creating Cryséde’s iconic fabric designs and prints which endure and inspire to this day.

Creating luxury textiles and sought-after fashion designs for a newly wealthy, international audience, during its heyday Cryséde was a major employer in West Cornwall, so an important part of this region’s history.

With the company founded in Newlyn in 1920, Cryséde’s first textile factory was housed in a row of derelict cottages next to the founders’, Alec and Kay Walker’s home. Using machinery from Yorkshire, the first silk dresses were manufactured in 1919 with local girls hired and trained, becoming a pool of talented seamstresses.

Once established, the clothes were sold through the company’s own outlets around the country, and overseas through mail order whilst an onsite shop sold printed silk by the yard for dressmakers to create their own designs.

Within two years of opening, Cryséde’s commercial success saw three fashion stores opening in Cornwall by 1921, one in Market Jew Street, Penzance, then in High Street, St Ives, followed by Church Street, Falmouth.

A year later a shop was opened in Quiet Street, Bath. In expanding the business, the manufacturing was moved to St Ives in 1926 with many of the workforce from Newlyn bussed to the new location each day. The business later relocated to Hayle during the late 1940s.

Bryony Robins, the artistic director for the Royal Cornwall Museum said: “The exhibition tells the story of Cryséde, delving into the characters behind its success, the ups and downs, and the beauty of the designs and garments produced.

“An important employer for West Cornwall, during a time of high unemployment and poverty, Cryséde gave jobs and skills to generations of young local women, enriching them with valuable dress-making expertise. The story of Cryséde is further testament to Cornwall’s long heritage of art, creativity, and innovation, a legacy which continues to this day.”

The exhibition also features fine art of the same period by Harold Harvey and Elizabeth Forbes. The Newlyn School colour palette and work depict life in and around the locality and would have influenced Alex and Kay Walker’s designs.

The pair were friends with many Newlyn School artists, with Kay herself having been a student of the Newlyn School of Painting. Cryséde textiles have in turn gone on to inspire many artists and designers making textiles and clothing today.