Tag: Irish Grown Wool Council

Recap: Showcase Wool Talks with Links to Videos

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

At Showcase 2024 in January, the Irish Grown Wool Council (IGWC) presented a series of three panels about the past, present, and future of Irish wool. Presented by Rebecca Marsden
Designer, Materials Researcher & Educator The Wool Hub and Forge Design Factory.

Day One

The first panel covered ‘Wool Chronicles: Heritage & Horizon’ and included –

A recorded video of this first talk can be found on Showcase Ireland’s YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN0d3W2c6sc

Produces made from wool. The square on the easel is a type of bio tile created by Ulster University.
Organic farmer Fergal Byne, with yarn created from his sheep by Donegal Yarns.

Day Two

On the second day, the theme of the panel was ‘Wool Yarns; From Ewe to SKU’ and included –

A recorded video of this talk can be found here on Showcase Ireland’s YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ0zbaOyf1k

Donegal Yarns which uses a blend of Irish-raised and imported fibres.

Day Three

The panel’s theme on the third day was ‘Wool Wonders; Different Strands of Innovation’ –

A recording from this day can be found here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=badXx22BpEo

Speaker Ngaire Takano is investigating alternative methods of scouring wool.
A second slide shows an improved flow for scouring.
Dr Tim Yeomans (in the blue shirt) shared about technical advances that could be applied to wool.

Feltmakers Ireland guild member Annika Berglund shared our book ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’ with the audience.

Annika and The Book.

Lastly, as part of the annual Showcase awards, the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland awarded the knitwear company Ériu, which focuses on using sustainable and circular Irish-raised wool, as the ‘Overall Winner’.

Ériu awarded DCCI Overal Winner of Showcase 2024

Event: Feltmaker Needed – Wool and Primary Producers’ Stand – Dingle Food Festival

Published on by Feltmakers Ireland

The Irish Grown Wool Council, established in April 2023, will be hosting a
marquee at the Dingle Food Festival this Saturday, the 30th and Sunday the 1st, in
association with local Primary Producer Farmers.

They would like a member of Feltmakers Ireland to demonstrate feltmaking to the Food Festival’s visitors. They will also be selling copies of the Guild’s recently published book, ‘Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking’. {See the bottom of this post for contact details}.

The Irish Grown Wool Council’s VISION is:
“Bringing Wool stakeholders across the Island of Ireland together to realise the potential of wool as a natural, sustainable and versatile material, by building on its rich heritage, enhancing understanding and appreciation of the characteristics of Irish Grown Wool, facilitating collaboration in product/market research and ultimately applying innovative product solutions to address current challenges and create future opportunities.”

The Wool Council will have various displays on wool products ranging from beautiful textiles handcrafted by local artists, right through to Wool Insulation, which is made using waste wool as part of our circular bio-economy drive under our sustainability slogan – “Waste is a resource in the correct hands”.

MTU Tralee Circular Bio-Economy Southwest Cluster (Catriona Power) hosts the recently created, virtual Wool Research & Innovation Hub and will outline wool research being done by the R&I Hub.

The Dingle Hub, represented by Dinny Galvin, will be doing a display and talk on how, if we had a Biodigester on the Dingle Peninsula or elsewhere in Kerry Irish wool could be scoured locally at scale. Wastewater from washing could be a valuable feedstock for the Biodigester. The UCC team investigating the use of wastewater from a mooted local scouring plant in a biodigester will also attend.

If you are in Dingle for the food festival, call in at the marquee to see our products and meet the makers. Stay for a discussion on how we may develop the wool industry and hopefully get farmers a better price for our wool.

The marquee (stall 56), is based in Orchard Lane, beside Jerry Kennedy Butchers.

For and on behalf of the Irish Grown Wool Council,

Pat Byrne – Chairman

To arrange to demonstrate feltmaking at the festival, email Pat – pat.byrne@theagileexecutive.ie