Laura's Loom

Laura's Loom - Working with British wool since 2008

Simply Designed, Beautifully Made

Although we feature the work of over 60 makers from East Anglia at Make Holt we could not find anyone local that produced high quality blankets in British Wool. We have known Laura for several years and Aviva has used her beautiful yarn in her weave projects. Provenance is very important to us and Laura certainly has a wonderful story behind all of her designs.

Laura says:

Fifteen years ago, looking out of my window at sheep grazing in the neighbouring field, I wondered if I could figure out how to turn their fleece into weaving yarn, not by hand-spinning but by finding a path into what was left of our British wool textile industry.

For the previous fifteen years I had woven mostly with silk and merino, very satisfying but all of it imported.  Here, on my doorstep, was a resource going unused and unloved.

The farmers who I first approached back in 2008 are still supplying me with their wool, as are about another dozen of them spread around the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria.  They didn't seek any glory but they did seek a useful purpose for this bi-product of sheep farming which they all felt was going to waste.

It has been a very satisfying journey and I am gratified to witness a renewed and steadily growing interest in our native wools which can contribute so much to a more sustainable way of life and a healthier planet.