Wool directory
Wool Directory online - connecting SW wool producers to wool users
A new free online database initiated by the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World in collaboration with Claire Crompton of Give Fleece A Chance.
Knitted sheep, from Claire Crompton's Give Fleece A Chance project, on Dartmoor (Photo: Claire Crompton)
Why a Wool Directory and who is it for?
Wool is currently enjoying a renaissance among wool users as a sustainable, versatile and locally sourced material. What is missing, however, is an easy way for wool users – spinners, weavers, dyers, artists and product makers – to connect to the producers. The answer is the web-based Wool Directory - a free and easy to use database.
Wool producers – market your fleece or yarn to potential buyers and connect with others in the wool supply chain.
Wool users – connect with producers, share information and promote your products.
The new Wool Directory is the latest in a series of projects, which, over the past two years, CCANW has initiated to raise the profile of wool, its use by makers, designers and artists, and its contribution to the economy and local distinctiveness.
The Directory has drawn interest from artisan users from as far as Finland who have been interested in the variety of wool types offered.
Wool Culture Forum IV - November 2011
Our forum in November in collaboration with the Dartmoor Hill Farm Project featured many interesting speakers in cluding Norwegian social entrepreneur, Lise Hauge, Director of Wooltech, Ltd.
Lise has kindly provided us with an edited version of her inspiring powerpoint presentation featuring her patented felting machine providing work and activities for local rural communities. Please click on the link below:
LIse Hauge, Wool Culture forum presentation
A user’s testimony
This project will be very useful in bringing together and galvanising the different people in the supply chain and sharing information, products and services in a way that has not happened before. I think the web directory is a fantastic and incredibly useful idea and I look forward to being in it!
Yuli Somme, feltmaker and proprietor of Bellacouche
How to join
The Wool Directory is free and easy to join. See www.wooldirectory.org.uk for further details.
Give Fleece A Chance
Claire Crompton, a Cornwall-based textile designer, developed Give Fleece A Chance, a collaborative knitting project creating a flock of sheep using wool sourced from the South West. Her research forms the basis of the Wool Directory and she is involved in the setting up and running of the Directory.
For more information on Claire’s project see http://givefleeceachance.com/
CCANW wish to thank the project's funders The Prince’s Countryside Fund, Dartmoor Sustainable Development Fund and Greater Dartmoor LEAF incorporating funding from the EU, defra, LEADER and SWRDA.