Tucked inside two early Georgian townhouses in the Greenwich area of London, the Fan Museum opened in 1991 “to promote awareness and appreciation of the diverse history, culture and artistry of fans and fan making,” according to its website.
And on a recent sunny Saturday in the museum’s trompe l’oeil-painted Orangery, its founder, Hélène Alexander, 90, was describing the history of fan making to four women and a young girl who were seated around a table covered with paper and other materials. (“Fans are as old as hot weather,” she told them.)
The visitors were there to make their own fans, with the guidance of Caroline Allington, a fan specialist who also has done such sessions at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Wallace Collection, both in London, as well as the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
In interviews by phone and email, Ms. Allington, 69, talked about the history of fans, some artists who have made them and her own first purchase. The discussion was edited and condensed.
