TextielMuseum

Tilburg was a wool town - at its peak the industry employed a large share of the city and the mills ran on Australian and Argentine wool - and the TextielMuseum occupies one of them, the Mommers factory of 1885. What sets it apart from an industrial museum is that the machines work and are used commercially: the TextielLab in the middle of the building is a working development workshop with jacquard looms, knitting machines, tufting and digital equipment, where artists, designers, architects and fashion houses come to have pieces made, with the museum's technicians developing the construction. Visitors watch the work in progress from the floor. Around it are the historic collections, the mill machinery, and exhibitions on textile design. It is a museum where the main exhibit is production happening now, which is rare.

What you actually see

• A working development lab - looms and knitting machines used commercially by designers.
• Production in progress - technicians developing pieces while visitors watch.
• An 1885 wool mill - the Mommers factory, with its historic machinery.
• Textile design collections - the historic holdings and rotating exhibitions.

When to go

All year. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The lab is a working business - what is on the machines depends on current commissions and is sometimes confidential. Closed Mondays. Tilburg around it is a working city rather than a scenic one.

Nearby

De Pont museum is in another Tilburg wool mill; Efteling is south-west.