RESEARCH
TO MAKE BUREL
/1/
TO MAKE BUREL
2013 / research / capuchas / product development / portuguese tradition / textiles
"Burel" is a thick, 100% wool, waterproof Portuguese fabric. This thick, heavy fabric goes back to at least medieval times and some authors suggest it originated in the pre-Roman period of the Iberian peninsula. It is a fabric mainly used by shepherds and farmers up in the mountains, both because of their closeness to the source of its raw material, and because its hard wearing and warm.
To make burel the wool is spun and woven, it then goes through a fulling process. Traditional fulleries were communal facilities, like mills, which had a hydraulic tool that repeatedly beat the fabric with heavy wooden mallets. This process, helped along by water, compressed the fibres of the fabric giving it a denser and firmer texture and making it waterproof.
/2/
traditional fulleries
In the last few years, despite a resurgence of interest in burel, there are still not many manufacturers. Nowadays the process is industrial, although it is still largely natural, with characteristics similar to those used originally. The quality of the wool, its structure and construction, along with its processing are fundamental to produce the highest quality burel.
BUREL'S TRADITIONAL COLOURS WERE THE NATURAL COLOURS OF WOOL: WHITE, USED FOR THE "BRANQUETA", THE TRADITIONAL COSTUME OF SEAWEED HARVESTERS ("SARGACEIROS"), AND BROWN, USED FOR CAPUCHAS, FOR EXAMPLE.
/3/
burel'S traditional coloUrs
In the modern day burel dying process the colour can be made up of a blend, or a plain colour, which dyes the fabric in a uniform way. Because the fabric is felted the colours tend to mix together, creating unique blends of two or more colours. We have developed exclusive burel colours for our collections.
/4/
À CAPUCHA! EXCLUSIVE COLORS
THE FUNCTIONALITY AND HARD WEARING PROPERTIES OF BUREL MAKE IT ONE OF PORTUGAL'S MOST USEFUL FABRICS. AS WELL AS BEING WATERPROOF, BECAUSE IT IS SO DENSE, BUREL ALSO REGULATES TEMPERATURE AS IT IS 100% WOOL, AND CAN BE CUT AND SHAPED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS WITHOUT NEEDING TO BE HEMMED.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO COURTESY OF ALEXANDRE DELMAR
RESEARCH
TO MAKE BUREL
/1/
TO MAKE BUREL
2013 / research / capuchas / product development / portuguese tradition / textiles
"Burel" is a thick, 100% wool, waterproof Portuguese fabric. This thick, heavy fabric goes back to at least medieval times and some authors suggest it originated in the pre-Roman period of the Iberian peninsula. It is a fabric mainly used by shepherds and farmers up in the mountains, both because of their closeness to the source of its raw material, and because its hard wearing and warm.
To make burel the wool is spun and woven, it then goes through a fulling process. Traditional fulleries were communal facilities, like mills, which had a hydraulic tool that repeatedly beat the fabric with heavy wooden mallets. This process, helped along by water, compressed the fibres of the fabric giving it a denser and firmer texture and making it waterproof.
/2/
traditional fulleries
In the last few years, despite a resurgence of interest in burel, there are still not many manufacturers. Nowadays the process is industrial, although it is still largely natural, with characteristics similar to those used originally. The quality of the wool, its structure and construction, along with its processing are fundamental to produce the highest quality burel.
BUREL'S TRADITIONAL COLOURS WERE THE NATURAL COLOURS OF WOOL: WHITE, USED FOR THE "BRANQUETA", THE TRADITIONAL COSTUME OF SEAWEED HARVESTERS ("SARGACEIROS"), AND BROWN, USED FOR CAPUCHAS, FOR EXAMPLE.
/3/
burel'S traditional coloUrs
In the modern day burel dying process the colour can be made up of a blend, or a plain colour, which dyes the fabric in a uniform way. Because the fabric is felted the colours tend to mix together, creating unique blends of two or more colours. We have developed exclusive burel colours for our collections.
/4/
À CAPUCHA! EXCLUSIVE COLORS
THE FUNCTIONALITY AND HARD WEARING PROPERTIES OF BUREL MAKE IT ONE OF PORTUGAL'S MOST USEFUL FABRICS. AS WELL AS BEING WATERPROOF, BECAUSE IT IS SO DENSE, BUREL ALSO REGULATES TEMPERATURE AS IT IS 100% WOOL, AND CAN BE CUT AND SHAPED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS WITHOUT NEEDING TO BE HEMMED.
PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO COURTESY OF ALEXANDRE DELMAR
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