Wensum Reflections

Three woven kilims, handcrafted with the highest quality of handspun wool from the old Wensleydale, Yorkshire, sheep breed after which the yarn was dyed with the plant-root 'madder', rubia tinctorum, a dye that promise to stay colourfast for over two hundred years.

The kilims were woven in my studio in Norwich where I then lived. To get to the studio I passed the river Wensum and the dyers quarters of old. Indigo Yard is now a cul-de-sac for the trendy homes built on the riverside. An old market square in Norwich by the very name of Maddermarket testifies to the madder root once being one of the chief wares for the dyers in the thriving weaving industry there. In old manuals one can read that the river Wensum ran red from rinsing the madder-dyed yarns.

The kilims measure 80 x 12 x 0.6 cm. They are super soft, and yet strong, as well as having an intensity of colour and a slight shine. The colours range from rich reds through to brick orangey-brown.

This is the ultimate in de-consumerism, in helping to build a circular economy, free of harmful toxicity and fully sustainable.