Hemp and Loom Ecomuseum

The Hemp Ecomuseum is housed in the Maison de Thomas, an 18th-century rural dwelling located in the hamlet of Chardonney, in the municipality of Champorcher. It is also home to the women’s cooperative Lou Dzeut, which revived the tradition of Alpine textile weaving.

Rooms of a past life

The museum itinerary passes through the original ground-floor rooms:

• the crotta (cellar),
• the boi (barn),
• the meison (rustic kitchen with hearth),

where the rural atmosphere of the past comes alive through soundscapes of voices, animals, and looms in motion.

The supreme loom

At the centre of the exhibition stands a manual larch loom, fully restored and in perfect working order. It is the only functioning example of its kind still found in the entire Alpine arc. Together with a traditional warping machine, it bears witness to the valley’s refined textile craftsmanship.

From hemp to loom

Hemp was a key resource: grown on irrigated fields along the Dora River or imported from neighbouring villages, it was processed, spun, and woven in mountain homes to produce everyday fabrics like mattresses, sheets, and even liturgical cloths.

Each family had its own loom, often placed in the stable to benefit from humidity favourable to manual spinning.

Revival and craftsmanship

After being abandoned in the mid-20th century, the textile tradition was revived in 1989 with the creation of the Lou Dzeut cooperative. Today, the cooperative uses semi-automatic looms and offers live weaving demonstrations, producing handmade items in hemp, linen, cotton, and custom embroidery.

History and restoration

Between 2000 and 2012, the Maison de Thomas was acquired and restored thanks to the European Interreg IIIB Alpine Space Programme, which enabled the establishment of the ecomuseum while preserving the authenticity of the original building.

The project also included the restoration of the old watermill, once used for hemp retting.