Susannah Mitchell

Natural dye studio on the North Coast of Cornwall working locally with native rare breeds and alpaca.

I first planted a dye garden in the Spring of 2020, an ongoing project exploring how a smaller cottage industry textile model can work to benefit local bio-systems and function within nature. My textile practice aims to work directly with the land and involve a community of local producers, sourcing native rare breeds and alpaca from around Cornwall and Devon.

Natural dyeing traditions come from a pre-industrial time; alongside plant dyeing my research often looks at rural and folk crafts linked to the countryside; a slower, more symbiotic approach to making. Drawing inspiration from historical dyeing methodology of the British Isles, my work is rooted in age-old textile practices linked to social histories, a narrative connection back to the dyers of the past.

The studio offers naturally dyed wools, small batch dyed from grown dyestuffs – I am working towards creating a fully circular system once I upscale my growing enterprise in the coming year. Educational resources around growing and using natural dyes, to empower people to learn and experiment themselves is another area in development, alongside the residential workshop programme, aiming for accessibility and inclusivity.