Bio Regional Bast Fibre Knowledge Commons & Partnerships by Liflad CIC
1 Nov 2023
Natural bast fibres, such as flax and hemp, can be grown in most European locations and their growth can support carbon sequestration and regenerative agricultural practices. However, the facilities, knowledge and processes to support this at small scales do not exist. In France and Belgium flax and linen operations are at industrial scale and most of the output is shipped to China. Fashion is currently a colonising industry. Climate migrants will soon be flooding to Europe and land based labour is a productive way to provide equitable jobs.
Liflad and their project-partner wish to use geographically similar but culturally different regions – Devon and Giputzkoa – to develop a blueprint for economic and cultural co-operation and to pilot a knowledge commons supporting the development of small scale, bio regional, place-based textile production. This project will focus on flax and linen and research new ways of collaboratively funding the development of small scale processing equipment. Liflad will develop partnerships to explore funding models at the regional/state/macro level so that upfront capital development costs can be shared trans-nationally but open-source plans are implemented locally. Using their landscapes to determine resources, so local, bio regional economies will not compete with each other and can share knowledge freely.
Granted 17,000 euros