In October 2014, the renewed former 'National Flax Museum' opened in a new building, and with a new name, 'Texture'.
The museum is now housed in an old warehouse for the shipment of flax, which was built by a British company (Linen Thread Company) in 1913, according to a French architect P. See (Paris-Lille). It was then the largest and most modern flax warehouse in the city, with two storage floors, each divided into rooms with fire-free doors. The Linen Thread Company arranged group purchases for spinners in the United Kingdom and could thus significantly push the price of flax. Of course, that was not the sense of local flax farmers. The building served as a flax warehouse until shortly after the Second World War. In between, however, it was during the First War a ‘prison’ for confiscated travel pigeons, and during the Second World War a storage space for confiscated non-ferrous metals. In 1949 it became an iron shop and from 1979 onwards a supermarket till it was purchased by the Kortrijk city council.
After restoration and adaptation, it became the home of ‘Texture’, which is more than a simple 'flax museum'. It is a museum about the evolution of the culture and processing of flax into linen fabric, coupled to the economic development of the Leie Valley in and around Kortrijk. On the ground floor one learns about the many appearances and uses of flax. On the first floor you the history of linen and flax industry in the region is presented. Finally, on the top floor, one can admire unique top pieces from the museum's textile collection. ‘Texture’ is an absolute must for anyone interested in fashion or in the industrial history of the region.
The building borders directly on the Leie, the so-called ‘Golden River’, in which once the flax was retted, and to which the flax fibre industry thanked its success and its wealth. For the aftertaste one can always visit ,and have a drink or a meal in the museum café, Kaffee Damast.