Drachten Flag Porcelain Thimble

The flag of Drachten

Drachten is the largest centre of the Frisian municipality of Smallingerland. The flag was registered in its current form in 1986, with a design from the Fryske Rie foar Heraldyk. The colours were taken from the village coat of arms of the same name.

The flag is divided into two equal halves. The upper half is red and carries the yellow weather vane of the reformed church: three turfs bound in the style that heraldry calls regency, topped with a crown of three fleurs-de-lis and two pearls. That weather vane was taken straight from the church. The lower half consists of seven equal bands in white and black, referring to the peat digging that shaped the area around Drachten.

How the thimble is made

We apply the design to the porcelain ourselves. The thimble then goes into the ceramic kiln, where it is fired at 800 degrees. Because both the image and the firing are our own work, every flag produces a piece in its own right rather than a product from a single mould.

The town behind the flag

Drachten grew out of the seventeenth century from the villages of Noorddrachten and Zuiddrachten, which were separated by a canal. The canal was filled in at the beginning of the twentieth century to allow traffic between the two parts. Since then the place has grown from a village with a regional role into a centre with urban features.

The flag is genuinely used as well. In 2003 the Drachten sailing skûtsje De Twee Gebroeders was presented with the first copies, so the boat could be recognised during sailing races.

A shape from an old tradition

The thimble is one of the oldest sewing tools there are. It had to catch a needle travelling through thick thread, so it was made of metal, bone, ivory or porcelain. Here that tradition lives in the shape alone: the object has no task, but it does have the recognisability, the gloss and the weight of a genuinely made piece.

Collecting and gifting

Many Dutch villages and towns have a flag of their own, so a collection is never quite complete. The thimble takes up very little room and fits into a row alongside other flags, in a glass jar or on a display shelf.

As a gift it works straight away. Anyone who lives, works or studied in Drachten recognises the flag without explanation, and the object is small enough to fit in an envelope.