Ailidh Lennon is a weaver and plant dyer who uses traditional techniques to interpret the abstract shapes and shifting shades from the landscape into her handwoven, sustainable textiles that are bound to the landscape of her home, the Isle of Iona. Using single-origin yarn from local sheep, Ailidh works with the natural fleece colour and hand dyes the yarn with plants and lichen gathered on the island. The colours depend on the changing environmental factors of the season, allowing the natural elements to influence the design process and enabling her to be an active participant in the more-than-human habitat.

Balgarvie Weaving is the work of Textile designer Janet Hughes, who works from her home town of Cupar Fife. Educated at the Scottish college of textiles. Janet draws on her industrial textile design and manufacturing experience to offer limited edition fabric and accessories blending contemporary woven structures and traditional weaving practises. Janet enjoys the process and makes her work by hand in her studio on traditional wooden hand looms utilising industrial surplus/ waste yarn. Janet finds weaving to be a methodical and at times mindful craft and through repetition finds creativity. With the setup of her own design studio Janet enjoys the freedom of designing bold yet lightweight fabrics in her signature deflected double cloth structure, playing with colours, patterns and the natural properties of the yarns differential shrinkage to give tactile as well as visual textures to her fabrics that are accentuated whilst being worn.

Bonny Claith luxury scarves and accessories are designed and handwoven by Cally Booker. Cally chooses to work with the highest quality natural materials, because she believes in beauty that lasts. Using yarns which are blends of wool and silk allows her to create a fabric which is light and soft to wear, as well as warm and luxurious. As well as natural fibres, Cally uses natural dyes to obtain the Bonny Claith colour palette. The natural palette has an underlying warmth which is very easy to wear. She uses traditional dyestuffs, such as madder, cochineal and indigo, and up-to-date ecologically sound methods to achieve strong and vibrant shades. Every piece of Bonny Claith tells a multi-layered story of natural materials and traditional skills brought to life through joyful, intuitive design. Like a live jazz performance, every piece is a unique expression of the distinctive and colourful Bonny Claith style.

Based in my South East London at Cockpit Arts I design and weave ranges of scarves and wall hung woven artwork. I have been a hand weaver for over twenty years, working on a 24 shaft loom Dobby loom. I love the fact that these looms have changed little since their development in the 1800’s and still give me the flexibility to design and weave my work with contemporary design ideas. I use natural materials mostly wool, silk and linen and in my artwork add in paper yarns wire and other less conventional materials to create textures and patterns.

Weaving tradition with contemporary design, I create high-quality, handwoven fabrics with a modern, vibrant twist. Traditional patterning combined with my love of design and passion for colour gives my woven fabrics a contemporary feel. Using a variety of natural materials and technical yarns on my Leclerc Weavebird 16 shaft floor loom enables me to create luxurious collections for home wares, gifts and accessories. Inspiration for my fabrics can come from anywhere; nature, architecture and everyday life. Luskentyre beach on the Isle of Harris to the 4 colour printing process CMYK have been the starting points for some of my collections.

Cultivated by an intrigue into what it is to “feel”, I create what I refer to as artefacts. Artefacts to live in and with. Each product is woven and sewn by one pair of hands after thorough exploration surrounding each material. Questioning the way in which we form relationships and attachments to objects in which we as humans cannot always understand. An interest in DIY culture from a young age guided my process, an act of rebellion through making. Exploring how we can rebel against what is expected, what is assumed and what we are told we should be.

Jan moved to Cumbria in the mid 80’s after completing her BA Hons in Textiles. She has over 30 years experience in the textile field working in Higher Education running a Constructed Textile Resource at University of Cumbria, formally Cumbria Institute of the Arts until 2010, when she decided to concentrating full time making and exhibiting her own work. Jan is a member of the award winning Wool Clip, a co-operative of local craftspeople based at Caldbeck in North Cumbria and organisers of Woolfest in Cockermouth. Jan designs and makes contemporary woven textiles for fashion, interiors and accessories. Much of her work involves experimenting with different weave structures to see how they distort when manipulated and felted to create individual handcrafted

Janis Embleton is the designer and hand weaver behind Flight Weaving, based in the Scottish Borders. Janis specialises in small batch and one-off woven items which guarantees a truly individual and unique piece for every customer. She particularly likes to explore the combinations of structure and colour, working with luxury fibres such as linen, silk, cashmere and alpaca and, often, bespoke dyeing to achieve the perfect colour combinations. This aspect of her work is incredibly important and it is the area where she has the most creative freedom, allowing her to develop ideas and research her materials to their best use.

Mariam Syed is a passionate woven textile designer based in Glasgow who loves weaving and exploring new weave constructions. Mariam’s design practise encapsulates everything she is passionate about: weaving, vibrant colours, architecture and geometry. Fascinated with the visual culture of her ancestral hometown Karachi, Mariam is in awe of the vibrant coloured Pakistani trucks set against the magnificent Colonial British architecture. Pakistani trucks look like giant kaleidoscopes of brilliant colours and patterns; much like an art gallery on wheels! Mariam loves the explosion of pattern and pop colours on the trucks and picking out geometric patterns from the city buildings.

I have been a hand weaver and dyer since 1978. These scarves and shawls are all hand woven and hand dyed. My looms have 24 and 32 harnesses instead of the more usual 4 or 8. This allows me to design highly complex structures, and to combine them in a single piece for intriguing variations in scale, texture, and motif. My designs are original, unique, and innovative, with images inspired by nature, modernism, and the fabrics of Latin America, Central Asia, and Africa. Guided by the weave structure, I select silk fibres to maximise visual impact and to balance drape and stability. Hand-dying my yarns gives me complete control of my colour palette. My passion is to create refined scarves and shawls that are beautiful to look at and comfortable to wear.

The name Olla Nua comes from the Irish words for ‘new wool’, reflecting my aim to use this traditional material in a modern and imaginative way. I weave my cloth on wooden floor looms, powered entirely by hand and foot, using a range of yarns spun in Ireland and the UK. I’m fascinated by the natural properties of wool – its tactility, ability to insulate and how the fibre can change subtly or drastically depending on how it is manipulated by the maker. Just as I love working with wool, I hope these textiles bring comfort and a sense of home to the user wherever they travel.

We consider ourselves to be a craftsmen as well as artists. We create pieces that have both the practical function of providing warmth to the wearer, as well as the aesthetic value of enhancing the beauty of everyday life. P's influences were her mother, an avid knitter, and Jack Lenor Larsen, whose wonderful fabrics covered the furniture in her childhood home. We focus on the multi-harness weaving technique called shadow weave. We employ bamboo yarn for its durability, its crisp visual effect, and its silky-soft hand.

My own private work is evolutionary, moving along at an irregular pace, adopting new symbolism and meaning where appropriate and dropping less important images once they have outlived their usefulness. Weaving is a process of growth, the natural way in which one activity flows into another until finally one begins the physical act of weaving. I take pleasure from the way cloth grows before me, the fluid movement of one cloth evolving into the next. Finding this flexibility on a fairly rigid structure is also one of the pleasurable challenges of weaving. This is a never-ending journey of discovery.

Sally Weatherill studied art history and printed/woven textiles in the US before moving to the UK. Here she set up a studio on the Suffolk/Essex border where she designs and produces woven fabrics for fashion and interiors. Distinctive in its rich colour and textural interest, her work draws references from the world of art as well as from daily experience to create designs that are modern yet timeless. She weaves primarily with UK sourced lambswool from a family run business ensuring it is the best quality. Sally’s luxurious fabrics are handmade in the UK in limited editions to preserve their uniqueness.

Based in Edinburgh, we are an independent business with a focus on unique design and sustainable manufacturing. We produce small batches of pure new wool blankets, using surplus yarn - high quality excess yarn sourced within the UK textile industry, which might have otherwise been discarded. This process enables us to minimise our impact on the environment, while producing high quality, limited edition blankets. All our products are made in the UK, supporting local industry and talented craftspeople friends and colleagues we have come to know well throughout our collective 80 years in the industry.

When I was given a traditional floor loom a few years ago, I started upon a weaving journey. I learned weaving skills at a Swedish weaving school and with Pick-One Weave, Edinburgh. I weave homewares and wearables on a traditional Swedish floor loom, in my studio in Burntisland. My inspiration comes from the local environment and Scandinavian textile design and colour palate. I enjoy giving these traditional weaving patterns a more contemporary aesthetic. I weave with luxurious yarns such as fine merino lambs wool, cotton and linen, organic where possible, to create table runners, rugs, cushions, blankets and throws and also scarves and wraps. Each piece is designed, woven and finished by me in my studio. Each piece is unique as I weave just a few of any design and each one has a different colour way or pattern.

Uist Wool runs a spinning Mill & Wool Centre on the island of Grimsay in North Uist, part of the Outer Hebrides an island archipelago off the north west coast of Scotland. Uist Wool is based on the principles of People, Planet & Profit, seeking to benefit the many, establishing sustainable practices and creating a viable enterprise to support the communities of the Outer Hebrides. Provenance is the foundation to our story. Wool is sourced locally, and throughout the Highlands & Islands, selected with care and processed at the Mill with a high degree of quality control at every stage of production. Our pallet is based on natural un-dyed wool colours and blends spun into knitting yarns or single ply for weaving. The Mill regularly commissions independent Scottish weavers to create woven textiles that showcase the ingrained characteristics of different wool types – traditional heritage weight Harris Tweed, fine wraps & scarves in Scottish Merino, warm & durable blankets designed to keep the winter chills at bay.

A windswept croft, on the Hebridean Isle of Skye; the home of Westcoast Weavers. Inspired by the rugged landscape and the soft muted colours of Skye, we weave on traditional handlooms using natural fibres, to create heirloom quality pieces for you and your home. “I would be about 13 or 14 when I saw an advert in the local paper for an evening course in weaving at the local village hall. I remember the excitement of producing my first piece of cloth, that wondrous feeling of seeing it slowly unroll off the front beam. Something just clicked with me and weaving; I immediately loved it. My lovely Dad made my first loom until I’d saved up enough money, from Saturday and holiday jobs, to buy my first ‘proper’ loom. Weaving quickly became a passion that I later developed in textile projects at school and then at college. It was whilst I was at college, studying weaving at Cumbria College of Art and Design, that I first visited Skye, with a group of friends. I knew, almost immediately that this was where I would live one day. It was following a couple of years working in a weaving mill in Carlisle, where head shawls for the Saudi’s were woven, (yes the red and white ones!) a post graduate degree and then 10 years of teaching Art and Textiles in Northumberland, that I moved to Skye to weave full time. I set up our business in the autumn of 2011 and spent that winter weaving and making stock in readiness for opening the studio and gallery, in the spring of 2012