Silk-Screen Printing Workshop Guided Visit in Lyon

Inside a Working Silk-Printing Workshop

Most visitors to Lyon hear about its silk history in museums; here you see it alive. The workshop belongs to a Lyon silk house that still prints fabrics for fashion and accessories, and it is one of the very last places in the city where silk is printed by hand using screens. Long printing tables, stacks of frames and shelves of colours fill the space.

The visit is led by the printers who do the work every day, so you hear first-hand how a scarf or a length of fabric is produced, how long each step takes and why hand printing gives a depth of colour that machines struggle to match. This Lyon silk-screen printing workshop visit is a rare chance to see a traditional craft that has almost disappeared.

How Silk-Screen Printing Works

Screen printing on silk developed in Lyon during the first half of the 20th century. A design is first separated into its colours, and each colour is engraved onto its own screen, a fine mesh stretched over a frame. The silk is laid flat on a long table, and the printers place the screens one by one, pulling the colour across the mesh with a squeegee.

Every colour must line up precisely with the previous one, which requires great skill when a pattern has many shades. After printing, the fabric is steamed to fix the colours, washed and dried, then finished. During the demonstration you see a print being made in front of you and understand why each piece of hand-printed silk is unique.

Croix-Rousse and Lyon's Silk Heritage

The workshop sits at the foot of the Croix-Rousse slopes, the hill where Lyon's silk workers, the canuts, lived and worked from the 19th century onwards. Their tall buildings with high ceilings and large windows were designed to hold the looms and let in light, and the hill still has the atmosphere of a working district, with stairways, small squares and covered passages.

Silk had been woven in Lyon since a royal privilege of 1536, and printing became another important branch of the trade. After your visit, it is worth climbing the slopes to see the weavers' buildings and the panorama over the city from the top of the hill. Combine it with our silk museum guided visit on the Presqu'île for a full silk-themed morning.

Planning Your Visit and the Surroundings

The workshop is at 33 Rue Romarin in Lyon's 1st arrondissement, a few minutes from the Hôtel de Ville metro station (lines A and C) and Place des Terreaux. The visit starts at 10:00 and lasts 50 minutes; please arrive 10 minutes early. A small shop sells printed silk scarves and accessories, with no obligation to buy.

Around the workshop, Place des Terreaux with its 17th-century City Hall and the Fine Arts Museum is a short stroll away, and the riverside quays of the Saône are close by. The visit is indoors and suits any season. Halal food is easy to find in central Lyon, so you can continue your day in the Presqu'île or Vieux Lyon without long journeys.