Inspiration to Apply: Bristol Cloth

Image: Babs Behan. Photo (c) Kim Lightbody.

A reminder that applications are open for the Selvedge World Fair 2021 and we want to hear from you if you are a maker of handmade textiles. The 2021 event, celebrating cloth, culture and creativity, will take place over five days: 31 August - 4 September. The event will represent textile traditions from at least fifty countries; For inspiration, take a look at the Artisan Profile for Bristol Cloth, one of the 2020 exhibitors for England. Bristol Cloth was founded by Babs Behan and Emma Hague to celebrate traditional, environmentally friendly, locally and ethically sourced and made fabric from the South West of England. The Bristol Cloth project showcases British heritage; “We are set to prove that it is still commercially viable to make cloth on our shores, which sustains British tradition, culture, community, land and the economy.”

Bristol Cloth is a regeneratively farmed wool from Fernhill Farm, Bristol, where holistic farming techniques are used to build soil fertility, sequester maximum carbon from the atmosphere back into the earth, and provide the highest standards of animal welfare for happy and healthy sheep with excellent fibre. Naturally dyed with organic heritage plant dyes by Botanical Inks natural dye studio and woven by the Bristol Weaving Mill. The majority of the production is set within a 15 mile radius of Bristol, minimising transportation and reducing the carbon footprint associated with it, while investing in local heritage artisan craft. The entire process is set within the UK, championing British wool and sustaining what this country has always offered.

Every care is taken to be a gentle growing and manufacturing production process, with the use of only biological soaps and water for scouring, processing and finishing and no harmful synthetic chemicals used at any stage on the land, animal or fibre. “With this system we provide a locally grown and made, non-toxic cloth which is safe to grow, make and for local designers and tailors to work. And which is safe to give back to the earth at the end of its useful life-cycle as biological nutrients for the soil, rather than contaminants.”