Ghent company named Innovator of the Year for unique museum display cases

Meyvaert, a company specialising in bespoke custom-designed display cases, won Innovator of the Year at the Museums + Heritage Awards in London on Wednesday. The Ghent company received the international prize for their construction of an oxygen-free display case used to exhibit rare textile finds from the 17th-century Palmhout shipwreck.

Artefacts including an intact satin silk damask dress were recovered from the wreck when it was discovered by Dutch divers in 2009. These pieces are on display at the Kaap Skil Museum in the Netherlands, housed in Meyvaert's innovative viewing cases.

Research by the University of Amsterdam and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands revealed the textiles would require a unique climate to survive, but no suitable display cases existed. Meyvaert developed a solution to accommodate these fragile materials, which needed to be kept in an oxygen-free and air-conditioned environment. 

“It has been a long, complicated road, but we have always remained confident that we would overcome all the problems," said Corina Hordijk, artistic director of the Texels Museum Foundation, which Kaap Skil is part of. "I know how much effort it took to get it done. On behalf of Museum Kaap Skil, I congratulate Meyvaert on this deserved prize.”

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