The Oriole Mill is a registered d/b/a (“doing business as”) in North Carolina. Its more formal corporate name is Michelson Enterprises, Inc., a North Carolina corporation.
There are two principals. Stephan Michelson is the owner of the building, the business, and this site. You can learn more about him by clicking on The Physical World icon on the upper right of every page on this site. Mr. Michelson (OK, Dr. Michelson) has impressive credentials in economics and statistics, and in music, the relevance of which to this enterprise remains to be seen.
The guiding force (and Design Director) of the business is Bethanne Knudson. Ms. Knudson was the technical support person for JacqCAD Master® Jacquard weaving software for ten years. She Founded The Jacquard Center first as an institution to teach the use of that software, and then to teach Jacquard construction and to introduce non-industry designers to industrial weaving. The Oriole Mill is in many ways the logical extension of that activity. The Mill Access classes of The Jacquard Center now weave at The Oriole Mill.
Many creative designers are becoming associated with The Oriole Mill. Besides working at the mill, producing their own fabrics, several have agreed to teach classes at The Jacquard Center that include weaving at the mill. The best way to interact with those artists is by taking such a class. You can find that class schedule, and a brief biography of each teacher, at TheJacquardCenter.com.
To learn more about the main characters, download our Acrobat document titled “A Short History”. Or, you can visit the Download section of this site to capture this and other documents at any time.