Louët is 50 years old!
Its our anniversary
Louët is celebrating our 50th anniversary - join us through out the year as we celebrate with promotions, new products and lots of great information about our history.
Louët's history
Louët is 50 years old!
Louët BV was started on 1 October 1974 by Jan Louët Feisser en Clemens Claessen.
Clemens retired in 2007 and Jan Louët in 2022.
Louët S10
More than 50 years ago, someone asked Jan Louët to repair thier spinning wheel. He became fascinated by the mechanics of this machine, and as a desingner, he wanted to devlop a spinning wheel using modern materials such as high quality plywood and ball bearings. This is how the S10 was born
Dropspindle
Since it is easier to spin carded wool , hand carding came into the Louët product range in 1975.
Spinning with a drop spindle is the oldest and simplest way of spinning.
Since 1975 Louët has had the conventional dropspindle in its product line. The distinct sheep heads logo on the Louët dropspindle makes it highly recognizeable,
From1992 the dropspindle was also made with a point on the bottom.
W70 weaving loom
Louët's first table loom, the W70-4, was developed in 1982. by adding a floorstand, it could be expanded to a full floor loom with treadles. In 1984 we introduced a smaller 40 cm version: the W40-4. We added an expansion kit to 8 shafts and a 70 cm wide rigid heddle loom (W70-1) - that could be expanded to the W70-4 or W70-8
Hollandia weaving loom
The Hollandia loom was first developed in 1985. It was 110 or 130 cm wide and came standard with 4 shafts. It was expandable to 8 shafts. A special feature of the Hollandia loom was Louet's unique parallel countermarche system and the patented floating breast beam system. It also cames standard with Texsolv heddles. These features continue in today's Spring and Delta looms.
David 1
The David 1 weaving loom was a small 4 shaft weaving loom with a unique sinking shed system. It is a jack loom, but instead of pulling warp threads upward to make a shed, the David puls warp theads downward. The unique and innovative cam system gives the David loom gives the loom a mechanical advantage relative to other jack looms on the market. The David is named after the biblical charachter David versus Goliath, a small but mighty weaving loom.
Spring I
The Spring is a weaving loom with the Louët parallel countermarche system for shaft movement and warp tension control. These two innovations make the Spring loom far ahead of its competition in functionality. The Spring 1 was the original Sprin gloom and has now been replaced by the Spring 2.
The Spring was originally delivered as a kitwhich had to be completly built up. In the late 1990's, it started to be delivered as a partially assembled loom.
S90 Spinning wheel
The S90 was a full size folding wheel, the first folding wheel on the market. The S90 was made from 1991 to 2003. Two special series of it were released: a walnut version in 2001 and a limited edition with Jan Louët's signature in 2012.
Bookbinding
In the 1990s, we were tipped off by a Louët dealer about an emerging interest in bookbinding and cartonnage work. Other than a few simple hand tools, there was little available for the hobby bookbinder. The equipment available was either too expensive or malfunctioning. The most desired product was a cutter to cut book blocks nice and straight and squared. This block cutting made the bookbinder independent of a sympathetic printer, who was usually sought out to do the cutting.
Magic dobby weaving loom
Magic dobby was Louët's first dobby loom. Initially it came only with a mechanical dobby, but in 1997 an electronic interface was added.
The design criteria for this loom was a multi shaft loom with a compact design.
You can easily weave complicated patterns with this 24-shaft loom. It can be used as a table loom with a lever to open your shed, or as a floor loom on a floorstand with treadle.
Megado
The Megado is the cream of the crop of Dobby looms - Louët's top of the line gives the weaver endless possibilities with its electronic dobby. The Megado is available in 16 or 32 shafts. The Megado was introduced in 1999.
Jane table loom
The Jane table loom replaced the Kombo in 2008. By listening carefully to market demands, direct feedback from Jane Stafford, and combining that with our own years of experience, the perfect table loom was created.
Jane folded flat with a warp on, had 8 shafts and was available in 40 and 70 cm weave widths. Since 2014, a bag has been available for the Jane 40, making it even easier to take her with you to workshops.
Vertical Warping Mill
In 2013, the warping mill was updated. The horizontal table model was replaced by the collapsible vertical warping mill. With a circumference of 220 cm and height of 1 meter, you can put a warp length of about 20 meters ( 22 yards) on it.
Spring II & David III
Louët is always looking to improve. Our Spring 2 and David 3 were product improvements in 2019/2020. Building on the sound foundations of previous years development, Lout made these looms bigger, more solid construction, improved the shaft connection system, redesigned the castle to make for more economical shipping and added several useability enhancements.
From generation to generation
Theo Vervoorn (73) and Jan Louët (79) transfer the shares of Louët BV to Paul Vervoorn (47) and retire with well-deserved retirement.
Louët is 50 years old!
Join us through out 2024 as we celebrate with promotions, giveaways and special products.