For nearly forty years, Brieiwinkel Brigitte (Brigitte’s yarn shop) has been a byword for knitting and embroidery materials in Eindhoven. Customers from far and wide know to find her shop. And that includes men. “Embroidering makes me very happy”.
Breiwinkel Brigitte is widely known in Eindhoven, and has been for the past forty years. The shop was in Blixembosch first, and is now in WoenseXL Shopping Centre. In the meantime, needlework has only grown in popularity when you ask the owners Brigitte and Jan van Werkhoven. When the shop reopened on Monday after the holiday closure impatient people were waiting outside the door. Jan van Werkhoven: “When the door opened they rushed in. We had some 45 paying customers that afternoon in just two hours”.
His wife Brigitte started the shop almost forty years ago. Despite her advanced age (she is 80 years old now) she does not dream of giving up her work in the shop. “I have worked all my life, it’s all I know. And I still love my work.”
Men
Among the clientele there are also a few men. One is Maurice Hellings, who regularly visits the shop to top up his embroidery yarn stash. Ever since someone at the Social Workshop taught him to do cross stitch, it has been his number one pastime. He has produced an impressive collection: the PSV flag, a map of Eindhoven and very much else. “Embroidery makes me very happy”, he explains.
Wool and warmth
One customer remembers: “When shops were going to close because of Covid, my first thought was: ‘Do I have enough wool?’- and I rushed to Brigitte’s. I later heard that some of my friends had done that very same thing. And it’s not just the wool you get there. She always knows who you are and enquires after your children by name. She sells the wool and freely gives the warmth.”
Source: Studio040
Translated and edited by: Greta
