Reflecting on: Art, craft and climate day

In a panel discussion with local textiles practitioners, we explored the role of craft practices in socio-ecological transformation. Eleanor White (Senior culture/SHIFT Officer, Culture for Climate Scotland) who co-chaired the panel discussion with Flora Collingwood-Norris (Craft Advocate, CABN), defined socio-ecological transformation as a systemic shift to a regenerative and just society.

The panellists included:

• Emma Duncan, Co-Director of Drove Weavers, the only textile mill in Langholm and one of very few commission weavers left in the UK.
• Rosie Bristow, Co-Founder of Fantasy Fibre Mill and a part-time PhD student in textiles engineering at Heriot-Watt University. Fantasy Fibre Mill is developing open-source textiles processing machinery to turn locally-farmed flax fibre into yarn and garments.
• Seb O’Connor is an Interdisciplinary Ecological Economist and Deputy Programme Director of MSc Ecological Economics at Scotland’s Rural College.

The panel discussion started with hearing the origins of Emma and Rosie’s textiles businesses. Rosie has always been interested in ethical issues in the fashion industry and after reading Fibershed by Rebecca Burgess she decided to grow her own dungarees. This has taken her on a journey of growing flax across Scotland and – upon realising there were no machines in the UK to process the plant into yarn – developing open-source machinery for local small- to medium-scale flax-to-linen processing.

Emma felt passionate about sustaining and regenerating Drove Weavers with the local community, having grown up in Lancashire, a place with a textiles history similar to Scottish Borders. Drove is the only remaining mill in Langholm, a once prosperous textile town in the 19/20th century with over 15 working textile mills employing thousands of people.

The value of craft

Both Emma and Rosie’s businesses are driven by ecological and social, rather than financial, value. Seb connected this to the ecological economics concept of values pluralism, which is described in ‘Relational Thinking: The People and Nature Blog’ from The British Ecological Society as ‘the recognition that valuation of the environment involves dealing with multiple, often conflicting, forms of values that cannot be measured, compared and exchanged using a single common metric, such as money’.

‘What transpired from the afternoon panel was a clear and shared sense of possibility. The proactive attitude of “I will do it then” that both Emma and Rosie have towards their respective practice, in face of setbacks or just realising something does not yet exist is commendable but most of all motivating. With their respective co-founders they have both demonstrated that through research, experimentation, and collaborative work with local stakeholders, solutions are achieved and frequently root back to heritage craft knowledge.’ Ilaria Casini, Craft Scotland

Seb reflected that place-based textiles practices not only provide a climate-adapted resource and local employment, but they also connect us to nature. The colour and texture of the Fantasy Fibre Mill yarn reflects the conditions in which it was grown: the soil and precipitation. We gain ecological insight and connection through these making practices.

Alternative futures

In the spirit of nurturing a collective imagination practice, we asked the panellists to share multisensorial and political visions for their future work:

• Rosie: a regional textiles economy, where we grow climate-adapted saved-seed, process flax using open-source machinery, and the yarn is used by local artisanal mills or practitioners to make valued textiles products.
• Emma: a local textiles industry in Langholm, where there are safe, sustainable and flexible careers for local young people; and, more broadly, a culture where people consider the provenance of their fabrics and clothes.
• Flora: a culture where we value repairing over newness, where we celebrate how many times we’ve darned or mended a garment.

‘I keep coming back to something Seb mentioned: how sometimes we forget that these “alternative futures” we imagine and discuss are often actually “alternative presents”. Pointing to Emma and Rosie’s work, Seb highlighted how craft makers and creative practitioners, through their lateral thinking, are already putting into practice and succeeding with alternative, sustainable business models and modes of productions challenging capitalist methods for profit maximisation.

Events like (…) [this] are thus really valuable moments to celebrate the alternative presents that are already here.’ Ilaria Casini, Craft Scotland

Visible mending

The day ended with a visible mending workshop, led by Flora Collingwood-Norris.

Resources

• Visit our Adaptation planning page to explore the role of arts, culture and creativity in climate change adaptation.
• Watch SPRINGBOARD 2025: Degrowth, community and culture on Vimeo, a session led by the Creative Degrowth Network Scotland on the cultural sector’s role in creating positive post-growth narratives.
• Listen to Farming Fashion, a three-part podcast series by Farmerama Radio. Farming Fashion explores the opportunities and challenges in creating a regional, regenerative fibre and fashion system.
• Explore Caroline Dear’s STRING/LINES: Plants, thread and textiles project, which explored methods of making thread, string and rope from natural materials – a simple act of making that connects people to a landscape.

Feature image photography by: Kat Gollock