Flax Routes to A Regenerative Future | Twilight Talks

Book here via Eventbrite.

Join us for some truly fascinating chat from an expert panel as we hear how long fibre flax for linen is on the rise again in Scotland. The country’s proud flax and linen heritage is inspiring innovative contemporary projects, from the fields of eco-education and regenerative farming.

A big welcome to Jenny Bruce, Colleen McCulloch and Rosie Bristow, each practitioners with a collaborative ethos underpinning their work, offering three complementary presentations with Flax as the common root. More about our key speakers below.

• 5-6pm View Flax Futures at John Muir Birthplace
• 6pm Gather in the Town House Gallery for light refreshments
• 6.30pm Our Twilight Talk begins
• 7.30pm Q&A and informal chat, with close at 8pm

You are invited to view the current Flax Futures exhibition at the John Muir Birthplace Museum at 5pm then to cross the road for light refreshments from 6pm at the Town House Museum.

Our Panel presentations begin at 6.30pm sharp with an introduction from Journeys in Design lead John Ennis; there will be time for Q&A and a mingle afterwards too. Please note, though entry is free, advance registration is required as places are limited. Our Twilight Talks are recorded: we are not able to exclude attendees from this archive.

Our Twilight Talk is part of a creative cluster of events, registration via Eventbrite

• Flax Futures exhibition at John Muir Birthplace Museum runs until 15 September, celebrating the exceptional potential of Scotland’s ancient fibre crop.
• Linen Routes in Dunbar Sunday, the latest of our Walks by Design, 2.30pm Sunday 10 September, traces flax and linen heritage and contemporary urban design
• Seed to Shelf Demo, 4pm Thursday 14 September, geared to those keen to grow and process flax, whether in home garden pots or schools and community plots.

Jenny Bruce, Artist Educator originally from Caithness, draws on dual passions for heritage and science. Jenny has established an Outdoor Classroom initiative in Edinburgh’s Hopetoun Crescent Garden, involving neighboring schools. Her current Flax Class collaboration with St Mary’s Primary School was presented to HM The Queen Camilla at Dovecot Studios this summer and currently forms the centrepiece of the Demarco Archive Exhibition.

Colleen McCulloch, Masters Graduate, Ecology and Environmental Sustainability, Aberdeen, has travelled widely in support of local and sustainable food, animal and fibre farming, from nearby Ormiston to as far a field as Mongolia. With expertise in co-design and community engagement, Colleen has established farmer led Field Labs working with Soil Association Scotland, and is currently coordinating Fibre Flax trials across the country.

Rosie Bristow, Masters Graduate, Textiles, Heriot-Watt University, has researched the role and design of flax processing machinery in the production of linen. After field trips to the agro-industrial flax growing districts of Europe, Rosie is now launching a Micro Mill in East Lothian in an effort to draw flax processing closer to growers in Scotland. When not tending flax or tinkering with machine parts, Rosie can be found making music with ‘Holy Moly and the Crackers’ including a stint at Glastonbury this summer.

Journeys in Design is a cultural initiative with a regenerative design focus, offering rolling programmes of exhibitions and events. Our Twilight Talks bring together contemporary makers, curators and researchers to explore the role of design in our contemporary cultural landscape.