Tag: Circularity

Of Interest: A New Fleece for Life – Presentation – TONIGHT – Co Wicklow

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

Weaving Wicklow’s Sheep Wool Heritage into a Sustainable Future.

Join Wicklow Uplands Council for an audio-visual presentation and discussion exploring how Wicklow’s wool heritage can help shape a more sustainable future.

Hear insights from a National Parks & Wildlife Service Conservation Ranger and from Pat Byrne (Circular BioEconomy expert) as they look at how heritage, ecology, and innovation can work together to strengthen Ireland’s wool industry — and influence policy for real change.

Guild member Sharon Wells will be there with some of her recent community-felted sculptures.

Come join the discussion.

Free event — all welcome! But please register: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/weaving-wicklows-sheep-wool-heritage-into-a-sustainable-future-tickets-1856519783649?aff=oddtdtcreator

Their Instagram: @wicklowuplands

Editor’s Note: Apologies for the last-minute announcement; we only learned about the event yesterday.

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Open Call: Full Circle Awards for Artists

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The Full Circle Awards is a new initiative designed by Circular, i.e. and The Rediscovery Centre, to honour and celebrate the incredible efforts of everyday people who drive positive change through circular living.

They invite people nationwide for nominations to the Full Circle Awards — ordinary individuals making an extraordinary impact by promoting reuse, repair, recycling, and sustainable living in their communities.

There is a category for Creative Circular Artists: For those who transform waste materials into art, furniture, décor, or other creative expressions through upcycling.

Deadline: the 25th of July.

For more information, visit their website – https://www.circular.ie/full-circle-awards

Instagram: @circular_ie_ @rediscoveryctr

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Exhibition: The 7 Senses – Laoise Carey Master’s Project

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On Tuesday, the 24th of June, Laoise Carey will hold a one-day fashion and textiles pop-up exhibition and research project as part of her Masters in Circular by Design.

Drop into the gallery at National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Dublin between 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM to experience textiles with your 7 senses:

  • touch
  • taste
  • smell
  • hearing
  • sight
  • vestibular
  • proprioception

Interact with the exhibits and share your thoughts, responses, and inspirations to help determine whether immersive experiences of fashion and textiles promote a deeper sense of empathy between us, our textiles, and the people and places that make them.

Her Instagram: @laoisecarey

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Of Interest: Public Consultation on draft of National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland
Policy Consultation on draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles

The Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications has released a draft consultation that the public can provide feedback on.

“The aim of this consultation is to seek views on a draft National Policy Statement and Roadmap on Circular Textiles. The document proposes the steps necessary for Ireland to achieve a circular economy in textiles.”

Submissions close: the 7th of July, 2025.

The draft Policy Statement and Roadmap, along with an executive summary, are available for download at the linked website below.

Submissions are welcome from organisations and individuals. They will consider all feedback before publishing the final version of the Statement and Roadmap. https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-the-environment-climate-and-communications/consultations/public-consultation-on-draft-national-policy-statement-and-roadmap-on-circular-textiles/

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

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Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Of Interest: Katrin Thorvaldsdottir’s Sculpture from Seaweed

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Not feltmaking, but of interest concerning sustainability and textiles: For over two decades, Katrín Þorvaldsdóttir (Thorvaldsdottir) has conducted her own research and experiments to learn how to preserve seaweed as a material to use in art and design.

Working with seaweed is a craft, she says. “It is not ‘just take this and design out of the blue’. You have to know the material, you have to listen to the material, so it takes time.”

Katrin Thorvaldsdottir via Guardian article.

To learn more, visit her website – https://katrinthorvaldsdottir.com/

Also, make sure to watch this lovely video about her – https://katrinthorvaldsdottir.com/film/

There is also an interview with her at the Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/nov/09/off-the-wrack-the-designer-using-seaweed-to-create-art-and-high-fashion

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Of Interest: World Circular Textiles Day – 8th of October – Online Conference

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Today, the 8th of October is World Circular Textiles Day. WCTD, held annually, examines global progress in circularity across three key themes: Products & Services, Materials, and People. The organisation’s goal is to report on, reflect upon, and celebrate the advancements in circularity, while also charting a path to achieve Full Textile Circularity by 2050.

An online panel is scheduled for today from 5:00 to 6:30 PM. The Top 10 circular textile garments of the year will be unveiled during this event. Thirty international experts have carefully selected and reviewed these circular textile products using the organisation’s six-point assessment criteria.

To book a spot at this online conference, visit Eventbrite- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/8-october-is-world-circular-textiles-day-2024-5-630pm-tickets-949092720877?aff=oddtdtcreator

For more information about WCTD, visit their website – https://worldcirculartextilesday.com/about/

To read about case studies and activities which aim to make the textile industry more circular, visit the Knowledge Hub Circular Economy’s website – https://knowledge-hub.circle-economy.com/wctd/cases?_sort=1&collections=298%3D0

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Open Call: Apply to the DCCI Irish Business Design Challenge

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The Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) launches this year’s Irish Business Design Challenge (IBDC) for micro, small and medium-sized businesses to apply and showcase their commitment to sustainability through innovative design and circular and ethical practices.

In its fourth year, IBDC celebrates businesses that add value, repurpose products, develop eco-friendly processes, enhance efficiency, and tackle societal and environmental challenges through sustainable design.

This year’s challenge has a prize fund of over €50,000.

Examples of Sustainable Design Strategies:

  • Designing for minimal waste.
  • Prioritising durability in design.
  • Utilising safe, renewable, and recycled materials.
  • Championing ethical production practices.
  • Reducing chemical impacts through design.
  • Implementing energy and water-efficient designs.
  • Drawing inspiration from nature’s designs.
  • Dematerialising products and developing sustainable systems and services.

For more information, visit their website – https://www.dcci.ie/ibdc

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

Webinar: Farming, Fashion and Starting a Textile Revolution

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There is an upcoming free webinar with Li Edelkoort and Philip Fimmano to learn about a new generation of designers and textile makers returning to the farm to rethink the fashion system. By taking a conscious approach to sustainable practice, circular materials and regenerative resources, a fashion revolution is starting around the globe, overhauling how things are done by putting the environment, people and animals first.

From seed to sewing, Polimoda Textiles from Farm to Fabric to Fashion Master Program is part of this movement, reshaping education by proposing a new hands-on learning experience that focuses on farming, fibres, weaving, knitting, embellishments, and design in a radical way. Thinking about textiles and fashion from a holistic perspective.

In this one-hour session, you will learn about:

  • Trends in slow fashion, textiles & distribution
  • Regenerative farming & circular textile practices
  • The origins of fibres, fabrics & resources
  • Education curriculums that teach textiles in a conscious way

When: Thursday, the 28th of March at 3 PM CET.

For more information and to register a spot, visit their website – https://landing.polimoda.com/webinar-farming-fashion-textile-revolution-28mar24

Disclaimer for Feltmakers Ireland Blog

Feltmakers Ireland aims to share information about awards, education, events, exhibitions, and opportunities that you will find interesting. Our sharing is neither paid for by nor an endorsement of these individuals or organisations.

Contact Us: If you have any concerns about content, please email us at feltmakersie@gmail.com.

Questions: For questions about content, please follow the link to the organisation involved in hosting the event.

News: Fibre to Fabric Crowdfunding Campaign

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Not wool, but very interesting as raw wool fleece faces similar processing challenges within Ireland.

Not so long ago, all the processes that make-up linen production – from soil to finished textile– were still alive in Ireland, especially in the northern regions. Sadly, today Irish linen is only woven and/or finished in Ireland; everything else happens abroad. Fortunately, there are still weavers and finishers whose craft has survived, and their skills are a living heritage.

A few years ago, Helen Keys and Charlie Mallon from Mallon Linen started growing flax. Today, not only are they still growing it, but they’ve managed to acquire the machinery and knowledge to process the flax fibres up to the hackling stage.

The missing link is spinning. If only we had flax spinning machinery in Ireland, we could revive our local linen production all across the value chain!

Enter Mourne Textiles, a third-generation weaving company that has a mission to restore vintage flax processing and spinning equipment to create a sustainable circular supply chain from hemp to linen for all of Ireland.

They discovered a complete set of industrial flax-spinning machines. Although old, these machines are still very relevant for processing flax and hemp fibres after they have been harvested, scutched, and heckled.

In collaboration with local farmers at Mallon Linen, and researchers at Ulster University, Mourne Textiles aims to promote sustainable fabric production here on the Island of Ireland by creating a field-to-fabric circular supply chain. Their focus is on producing environmentally friendly fabrics grown and processed locally.

The Mourne Textiles fundraiser runs through the 30th of June. To learn more and give your support, visit here – https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/fibre-to-fabric

Image via Qest website.