Main areas of work related to the Convention:
Promotion: We have a website (www.norskfolkedraktforum.no ) with information on our regional costumes and traditions for readers that are interested, but not familiar with this culture. The website has also information on the organization, how to become a member, and the activities in the organisation. This is a new website from February 2025. We are also active on social media (Facebook), with 2300 followers at the moment.
From March 2022 we have a travelling exhibition on headdress to our regional costumes. 75 headdresses made by 22 different groups in our organisation. Each one is copy of an old, traditional headdress, and are accompanied by picture and text. Until February 2025 it has visited 14 different venues, mostly museums and libraries. At each venue our local members take part in an opening event or other activities.
The common use of folk costumes in Norway means that our members use the costumes on many different occasions, both private and on official occations. That is also a way to promote the intangible culture of costumes.
Education: Many of our members are teachers both in the public educational system and in courses organized by adult-learning associations or local voluntary craft communities and other NGOs. These parttime courses offer learning in small groups with teachers who themselves are craftspeople and practitioners, with a focus on quality craftsmanship and proper, natural materials.
Through our organization we meet at least twice a year for in-depth studies of different aspects of the traditional folk dress from different parts of Norway. These courses are also open to nonmembers.
This is also an important task for making the traditional costumes sustainable.
Revitalization: Many of our members actively research the sources of folk dress in the 18th to 20th century. They copy items or hole folk dresses to be used in costumes today. To revitalize a hole costume, take years, and will often involve collaborating with Norwegian Institute of Folk Costumes, and museums and private owners of items.
Objectives
Our main objective is to safeguard the production and wear of historical folk costumes in Norway. Our ngo works especially with costumes which are direct descendants from old, living folk dress tradition, or to reconstruct local folk costumes that has been out of use for 100 – 200 years. Norwegians use a wide variety of costumes, where some are modern interpretations of traditional dress. The NFF only work to promote and safeguard the detailed and high-quality historical garments previously worn in certain regions in Norway. Many members take part in reconstruction work in collaboration with Norwegian Institute of Folk Costumes (NBF).
Our members are all users or/and makers of tailored and handmade traditional costumes. We have great knowledge of clothes that are tailormade and sewn using traditional techniques, and
made up of natural materials such as cotton, silk and wool. We make these clothes for our customers, ourselves and our children, and keep the clothes safe for generations to come, and to repair them when worn. Part of this work is to safeguard the intangible knowledge of making and using costumes. Our members have an expert knowledge of old costumes. The work in the
organization is to safeguard and pass on this knowledge to new generations.
Our organisation was established to make a network for mutual benefit for the work of our different costumes and between the users and makers.
Cooperation
We collaborate closely with three accredited NGO to UNESCO: Norwegian Institute of Folk Costume (NFB), Norwegian Folk Art and Craft Association (NH), Norwegian Youth Association (NU), as well as Association for Studies of Culture and Tradition (SKT) in different ways. Together with them we prepared the nomination of ‘Traditional costumes in Norway, craftsmanship and social practice’ to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024, and we organize a yearly two-day costume conference.
In cooperation with SKT, NU and NH we organize courses in Traditional Costume training. This
training is a series of six modular courses that provide a broad introduction to practical sewing for
grownups. By completing the entire course series, they will get a practical introduction to all the competence objectives in the curriculum for Traditional Costume Maker at vocational, secondary school. If they aim to take a journeyman's certificate, they can get individual guidance for that purpose.
In addition to these formal cooperations, it is important to underline that the NFF is a member organization of bearers and practitioners. The NFF is therefore themselves an integral part of the community. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in historical dress traditions and crafts.
