In the Hubert Gotzes parament weaving factory, the manual looms were fitted with a Jacquard component in order to weave the complicated patterns in the silk cloth.
Until the punched card control system was developed by Joseph-Marie Jacquard, the son of a weaver, in 1805 an assistant had to sit on top of the loom to manually raise the warp threads as required for the pattern. The companies could produce the punched cards for the Jacquard units themselves using easy-to-operate punch machines. Such sets of punched cards can still be used today to produce the splendid patterns, some of which date from the Middle Ages. For example the pattern of the famous Elephant cloth found in the shrine of Charlemagne or the Arabesque patterns reminiscent of the ornamentation in the Alhambra. Although such splendid cloth was also destined for secular use, the patterns used in the parament weaving factory were adapted to the symbolic language of the Christian church.
In the weaving factory, point paper designers and designers were just as important as the weavers, card punchers, picture embroiderers. Point paper designers transformed the designers’ drawings into the point paper designs required to punch the Jacquard cards.
As Krefeld was renowned as a centre for silk production in Germany, there were many small weaving factories, above all in the Crown Prince district of the town, which specialized in making liturgical textiles. The Hubert Gotzes Weaving Factory is the only one which still exists in the form of the museum.