Conversation 1: Possibility

Our Conversations to shape the future of the Fibreshed Scotland Community have started extremely well. We put strong emphasis on starting where each individual is, and co-creating the future we’d like to see. Time flew by, and at both meetings several groups of participants remained chatting beyond the 90 minutes we’d planned.

This week we explored ‘Possibility’ and, in particular, this question: What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to inspire you and transform the Fibreshed Scotland community? Responses were wide ranging, beautiful, and clearly clustered around a few themes. Here’s a taste of what people said:

• Building Community:
  • The possibility of genuine collaborations (and relationships) with other stakeholders in our community, with like-minded goals.
  • Coming together with like-minded people who share a vision of using Scottish fibres and finding a way forwards to make this a reality.
  • To move out of my solitary life in my studio
• Collaboration and Skills building:
  • To be open to collaboration and open source sharing
  • To share resources, pursue collaboration outside of studio practice and come together with like minded people to brainstorm possibilities
  • Absorb knowledge from like minded growers and makers to inform my own practice both as a designer and a communicator.
• What we value and celebrate:
  • Sustainability at the heart of every decision we make.
  • Change the messaging around fashion, about investing in clothes and keeping them going. Handing them down, different fibres for different layers.
  • The possibility of value returning to British wool
  • It’s possible to value processes that can’t be scaled; it’s possible to make less, buy less, use less
  • Opening the many meanings of value
  • a spirit of celebrating our individual talents, and how they can join forces to produce something joyful, and sustainable.
  • A powerful voice for good. Building awareness and appreciation. Encouragement.
• Local Scale, availability and resilience:
  • Keeping the specialness of small scale, be led by the land and honour provenance, but in community not isolation
  • The possibility to make locally made things accessible to more people, in terms of availability, resilience of the industry and affordability
  • possibilities of fibre processing scouring, carding, spinning, in small to medium quantities
  • Hubs of mini-mills throughout Scotland working independently but helping each other
  • To find a way of building a business that can both support the community I live in and offer a product that consumers want to engage with/purchase.

Thank you to everyone who made these wonderful contributions - and to Kate Dyer who facilitated the meetings. You’re warmly welcomed to the next round of conversations on 8th Nov (7pm) and 9th Nov (1pm) where we’ll continue to build our community through Conversations about Ownership.

Tags

• Conversations