This is a blog to document a research project between me, a clothes-maker and Katie Pollard, an artist working with natural dyes and founder of Borrowed Colour.
From our base in Newcastle upon Tyne, we are embarking on a journey to explore different approaches to local textile production in the UK, with a view to understanding what this might look like in the North East.
We will be visiting people and places who are working in areas of regenerative textiles, craft, natural dyes, community, learning and growing.
We’ll be recording conversations, ideas and processes along the way, as a useful resource for us and as a way to share what we are learning as we go.
Over the last few weeks, we have been making lists, untangling thoughts, creating databases of all the people we want to meet (there’s a lot!), listening to podcasts and discussing ideas.
We’re not totally sure where this journey is going to take us, but to give us some structure in these first steps we’ve come up with what we are calling ‘pillars of interest’.
They are: Community, education, process and anti-capitalist ways of working and we’ll be expanding on each of them at a later date.
If you are reading this or any future blogs and would like to connect with us, please get in touch!