The small-scale textile factory and workshop produces and repairs shawls and clothing for local people and for export. The industrial shed clamps to an arterial road raised on a flood levee, stepping down the sloping terrain to finally land at the banks of the vital trading conduit, the River Glaven.

Using a ‘worsted’ fabric blend of harvested water reed fibre and imported cotton wool, the factory aims to elevate the artisanal approach to textile weaving. Through a dialogue between the artisan and the customer, the textiles become a record of the personalities and lives of the settlement.

The three core processes of textile manufacture: scutching, spinning and weaving are each located in units that together step down from road to riverbank. Connecting them is the system of warps, threads and fibres that are lifted above the customers’ heads from the machinery in a tapestry of heddles, harnesses and shafts. This maintains a continuous thread through the structure, from the scutching unit through to weaving.

Amongst this busy production, the user finds delight in this celebration of process, as light filters through the porous surfaces created by these overhead warps and wefts.