Hi there!

It may not come as a surprise that The IK Foundation has many projects originating in the amazing world of the naturalist Carl Linnaeus and his network in the 18th century! To cut a long story short, they were part of the complex development of modern science and society – by shaping a more free, critical and modern thinking civilisation!

The IK Foundation has North European roots – founded as a Nordic research foundation in 1988 – which since 1996 (when IK became an NGO based in London) has successfully been mixed with the English society of science and its curiosity to understand the world. This symbiosis of a truly European cross-border approach between Nordic and English is the basis that IK works from and which is succinctly called "Promoting Natural & Cultural History”.

In IK's Nordic historical "knapsack", the so-called Linnaeus Apostles have mainly formed the foundation for small and large research enterprises. Over twelve years, IK published the monumental series The Linnaeus Apostles Global Science & Adventure of a total of 6,000 pages, while in the Mundus Linnæi Series five monographs have been published so far and several more are in progress... Present-day field-work within the so-called Bridge Builder Expeditions follow up some of the 18th century apostles' practical field work across four continents.

Every day IK's digital resources are visited by a large number of individuals from all over the world, to utilise the free resources on the above works, old and new within The IK Workshop Society's dedicated departments in iLinnaeus, but also in iTextilis.

In the latter, more than one hundred monthly essays have been published in different subjects related to textile history. One series of essays looks more closely at the purely practical aspects of such natural history journeys, revealing a fascinating world of the Linnaeus Apostles’ observations. Here you will find essays, to name a few titles: EIDERDOWN, WOOLLEN CLOTHES & FURS – Practical aspects on Journeys to Spitsbergen 1750s to 1820s, TABLECLOTHS AND MATS DURING MEALS – Observations by 18th Century Travelling Naturalists, FEATHERS AND CLOTHING – Observations by 18th Century Naturalists...