We’re now in the midst of our Regenerative Textile season, collaborating in Scotland and beyond, sewing and sowing together. Read on for more…

Creative Journeys for New Scots: Twilight Talk

Mossvale Centre, Paisley Thursday 23 June 6-8pm. Reserve your free Twilight Talk ticket here

Our speakers celebrate the design journeys of those finding a new home in Scotland. We’ll hear from Lisa Mason of National Museums Scotland about the remarkable story of Serbian émigré Bernat Klein and from refugee mother of 5 Fifi Baslem who is studying textile design in Glasgow.

One Millie All Nations Exhibition 

Paisley Library at Lagoon Centre Wed 22 to Sat 25 June. Help our venue gauge numbers: please note interest here

The skills and stories of Refugee women making Scotland their new home are given focus in their loving creation of hand sewn Linen Millie dolls. They represent textile workers from all over the world, and the legacy of grandmothers, mothers and sisters who have passed their sewing skills down from generation to generation.

With huge thanks to the great team at sewing2gether All Nations, part of Refugee Festival Scotland and supporting Scotland’s Year of Stories. 

A Linen Walk by Design in Paisley 

Meet Paisley Library at Lagoon Centre Friday 24 June 2pm. Reserve your free Walk by Design place here

On this 90 minute walking tour in Paisley Town Centre, urban historian Stephen Clancy guides us through the rise and fall of textiles in Paisley. Curator John Ennis supplements the tour with flax and linen artefacts and reflections on the urban design that has replaced once busy factories, banks and shops. John will offer a brief introduction to the One Millie All Nations exhibition in the Library at 2pm and the walk starts sharp at 2.30pm.

#flaxScotland – an inter/National initiative

Flax growing offers focus for some of the key issues of our time including the importance of locality, growing communities, regenerative agriculture, biodiversity and soil health – as well as an opportunity to revalue textiles.

Are you growing flax this year? Our call out for your posts and pics to include the hashtag #flaxScotland is helping to flag up flax growing initiatives all over the country. Check out some growing stories with a search on #flaxScotland.

We link with Flax growers beyond Scotland too, in particular to Sweden and the inspirational #1kvmLIN project. Maria Claesson of the Swedish Handicrafts Association presented at our recent International Roundtable – view via YouTube here.

Designing Regenerative Cultures 

This month, the star read joining the Journeys in Design Library is the seminal call to action by Daniel Christian Wahl: Designing Regenerative Cultures. For anyone seeking to ‘ask the right questions’, this is a book as much about trust and community as it is a textbook to treasure.

With best wishes from all the team,
John
John Ennis, Curator Producer, 
Journeys in Design