From Soil and Place: The Flaxmobile Project and the Cultivation of a Local Textile Ecology

The Flaxmobile Project began in 2022 as a mobile facility for educational immersion in flax fiber processing and sustainable textiles. It aims to reconnect craftspeople with their materials through re-establishing knowledge of fiber flax growing, establishing networks of connection between textile producers and makers, and providing craftspeople with access to local linen fiber toward the development of new materials and products. This paper investigates the ways in which textiles are created through a complex and dynamic arrangement of people, processes, and the environment to consider how to shift from a mindset of individualism to an understanding of textile practice as an interconnected ecology. To this end, the central characteristics of ecologies are explored and applied to textile production using Transition Design as a methodology to understand how we might disrupt our reliance on materials made overseas. Ecologies are living systems, strengthened by plurality and diversity, based on mutual relationships, and dependent upon a balance between humans and the planet. This project aims to help craftspeople re-situate themselves within their local textile ecosystem by providing them with valuable skills and knowledge for their collective survival and sustainable future.