I am a designer, educator working at the intersections of fashion, farming and fibre. The purpose of my Fellowship is to find knowledge, small-scale machinery and co-operative methods to support the growing, processing and production of bast fibres such as flax, hemp and nettle. The aim is to develop home-grown linen, natural building materials, paper and packaging materials, oils and many other products using simple, on-farm processing and artisanal methods.

I have been involved in sustainable fashion for over 20 years and in that time the use of fossil-fuel based fibres and the production of fast fashion has increased exponentially. Through undertaking an MA in Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, I came to understand it is not possible to fix a broken system so we must develop a new one. Flax and hemp can help farmers with regenerative crop rotations; they can support supply chains to phase out plastic and chemicals. This justifies UK textile production and will help create fulfilling, purposeful, sustainable livelihoods. I hope that knowledge gained from this Fellowship will be distributed globally but acted upon locally for the benefit of communities, instead of for corporate profit.