Angora
Organic Wool
Print
Dyes
About us...
Emily James
I have spent six years studying art and design; during this time I have developed my ideas and personal style, and discovered what it is I am passionate about. Enthralled by the power of appearance, I chose to study fashion and clothing when I left school; however it is the potential of clothing and textiles to bring about social change that has really inspired me.
During my degree I was introduced to many different processes, including natural dyeing in my second year. For me there was no turning back. I have since been continuing my own research into natural dyes, as well as developing a method of screen printing. In order to eliminate as many of the harmful chemicals involved in printing textiles as possible, my method requires the use of hand cut stencils and natural leaf forms, as well as Soil Association accepted mordants and tree gums. Although this limits what can be done, I see real beauty in the individuality of every print I produce, and believe it is this that makes them special. I have been greatly inspired by antique and tribal textiles. I find that often it is their simplicity that I admire as much as their complexity, and I am always humbled by the dedication of the maker to their work. Evidence of the hand keeps us mindfull of the creator.
I believe the creation of textiles to be a basic human skill -our ability to clothe ourselves sets us apart, as humans and as individuals. They play a huge part in every person’s life and constitute probably the biggest industry in the world, as well as the most polluting. I see textiles as a language that can, and should speak to everyone.
I am passionate about the use of natural fibres, as well as the traceability of textiles. To be aware of something's origins helps us to appreciate the work that has gone into it, and the value of the finished piece. I endeavour to work with sustainable sources and ethical businesses. I am interested in the use and re-use of textiles, and hope to create pieces that will exist for many years, either in their original state or otherwise. I believe in challenging the ‘throw-away’ attitudes of our society, and instead simply working with what we have already got.
Sue James
I have no formal qualifications, but I cannot remember a time when I wasn't fascinated by natural fibres and textiles. I have knitted, sewn, spun and dyed for much of my life, with spells of feltmaking and weaving thrown in for good measure.
At the age of 5, about the time I started school in the 1960's, my grandmother taught me to knit. I don't remember any struggle with this - or any particular interest - until I had produced a rose pink, slightly shining square of a wonderful, intriguing texture. I carried my little square everywhere, it meant more than any other object. My mother, a keen dressmaker, handspinner and weaver, taught me to use a sewing machine and by the time I started at secondary school I could understand the making of clothes. I learnt early to think for myself and make my own designs.
I have always felt that the connection with textiles should be as important to us as that to food, and that, since the rise of urbanisation and industrial processes, those connections have been eroded. Little value is attached to our clothing, our linens, our furnishings; when we buy we expect that they last forever but then discard them when the latest fashions arrive. We constantly look for the new and the innovative, for complexity and multi levelled interest. Many have no idea how their acrylic jumper or their wool coat came to be, how the colour is developed and applied, animal, vegetable, mineral...or the true cost.
Textiles at their simplest can ground us, literally a continuous thread with the past. A great aunt was a pattern cutter, and using my mother's spinning wheel connects me to her, as knitting does to my grandmother. I love wool for its history and its stories as well as its material qualities - the same applies to natural dyes. There's a simplicity to the process, hidden in the mystery that comes with disconnection and mass manufacture.
It wasn't until I was in my late 20's, after much searching and experimenting, that I resigned myself to the realisation that the amazing texture of that little pink square was, after all, just the reverse side of simple stocking stitch.