Nell Swift | Textiles

Nell Swift is a weaver in natural fibres utilising custom built hand looms. She weaves garments and textiles for the home in reclaimed natural fibres-producing the least impactful fabrics in a low to zero-waste method. She is motivated by a need to de-scale production levels, produce and value quality fabrics, repair what we have and see fabrics for their technical and artistic value.

Nell was awarded the DCMF grant to fund the purchase of a drum carder to turn her limited yarn waste into new yarn. She aims to produce a tweed yarn which will echo past pieces of her work, a ghost of original projects and a yarn snapshot of her practice. The carder will allow Nell to close the loop in her practice to be zero waste from textile waste.

Nell has already gone to great lengths to reduce the environmental impact of her creative practice - her looms are restored or custom built, her studio is highly insulated, passive solar and built from construction waste using removeable foundations. Rainwater is harvested for wet finishing and solar PV provides additional lighting and dobby control.

Imogen Taylor-Noble is a researcher, maker, kiln builder, teacher, questioner, activist, re-wilder: using what she has to make what she can, within the broader scope of a socially engaged ceramics practice.

Imogen’s focus for a long time has been investigating how it is possible to be not only a green maker, but to explore regenerative approaches to making ceramic objects, as well as how to be a carbon neutral ceramicist. Her ceramics practice also encompasses teaching, where she shares ideas about responsible making, glazing and studio management with her students.

Imogen was awarded the DCMF grant to fund the scoping phase of a project to investigate the possibility of making 100% industrial waste stream glazes to use in her practice.

Imogen will work with local companies to use their waste sludge to research, make and test glazes on her own work and offer to her students in place of readily available ones on the market. Testing the model and recipes so that they could be made available commercially on a small scale.

Using these sludges in place of regular glaze ingredients can divert these pollutants and can also prevent the environmental cost of the extraction for them in the first place.

Beca Beeby is a blacksmith and sculptor turned small-scale: her organically formed jewellery and sculpture are inspired by microscopic and macro exploration of the natural world. Having worked with 'industrial' metals such as cast iron and steel, Beca has recently downscaled her work to enable a faster, more playful development of ideas and to work in a way that is less wasteful and less damaging to the environment.

Beca draws on her previous experience in casting but scaled down and developed to utilise the lost wax casting method to suit her needs. Though Beca carves her pieces onsite she must send her work off to a casting foundry to be cast.

Beca notes that at each step the environmental impact of what she does is considered, from recycled materials and packaging to non-toxic acids and a solar powered workshop. She avoids polishing compounds due to their environmental impact, instead using a pin polisher as needed. 

Beca was awarded the DCMF grant to fund the purchase of a kiln, the final piece of the puzzle to enable her to cast her own work using the lost was casting method. Beca will cast using beeswax instead of the polymer waxes usually used and, unlike the casting foundry, she will be reclaiming the wax in order to use it time and time again.

Casting her own pieces will mean no unnecessary transportation of goods, reducing carbon emissions, and the kiln we be incorporated into her solar powered workshop

Josephine Birch is an illustrator and printmaker specialising in monoprint and lithography. On the strength of her drawing, Josephine has been the recipient of multiple awards, exhibited worldwide, awarded multiple residencies and is a published illustrator. She is currently self-building her print room in an industrial farm unit in South Devon with a view to teaching and editioning.

Lithography is categorised by the Heritage Crafts Association as an endangered craft, meaning the discipline has sufficient craftspeople to transmit the craft skills to the next generation, but there are serious concerns about its ongoing viability.

Lithography is a costly process that requires specialist equipment, likely contributing to its decline. Much like other lithographers, Josepine’s work starts on location through drawing and painting but then she has to travel to Bristol, the closest lithography provision, to be able to print!

Josephine was awarded the DCMF grant to fund the purchase of two vital pieces of studio equipment: a gum blanket for a recently purchased off-set litho press, and a large spindle roller required for inking lithographic plates.

This purchase would enable Josephine’s studio to become a specialist workshop space for lithography in Devon, creating more rural arts opportunities for the local community and a specialist resource for devon-based printmakers. Josephine will also be able to teach this specialist subject, increasing an endangered craft’s viability and keeping the process alive.

Printing and teaching in house will not only drastically reduce Josephine’s carbon emissions but will also cut the carbon emissions of other printmakers who may have had to travel to Bristol to use this specialist recourse too.