Welcome to The Contemporary Hempery
Our Quest
- Revive the growing of hemp for textile in East Anglia
- Create luxurious colourful pattened hemp fabric
- Work in community to connect people, land and materials
Claire O’Sullivan
Kitty Wilson Brown
Hemp Lover – Enthusiast – Creative Entrepreneur
Textile Artist Weaver Natural Dyer
Claire loves materials and process, how can we get from here to there, make that from this and have more fun doing it?
Kitty is a walking rainbow radiating the love of colour with a wealth of knowledge around working with fibre.
Working together as Contemporary Hempery Claire O’Sullivan and Kitty Wilson Brown are on a quest to revive the UK hemp weaving industry, restore this incredible plant fibre to its rightful place in every considered wardrobe and bring back the mighty Cannabis Sativa to cultivation across the UK.
The use of hemp fibre for fabric in our country can be traced back to the early medieval period when Anglo Saxons wove Hempenspun for their clothes. Since that time the plant was in continuous cultivation.
Yes, for more than a thousand years we grew our own clothes right here, until 1925 the the last Norfolk hemp weaving company closed. Back then no one cared about regenerative crops, we hadn’t yet degenerated our soils with chemicals, but today the fact hemp requires no fertiliser, no herbicide, no pesticide and no irrigation is huge part of its appeal.
Would you like to join us?
Please get in contact if you would like to be involved with community days at Wakelyns learning and having fun processing the hemp: hello@contempoaryhempery.com
Revive the industry
Hemp growing in East Anglia
Before imported cotton, poly cotton and polyester and fleece the people of this nation weren’t walking about naked, no, they were clothed in the natural fibres and textiles produced right here. Textiles woven from wool, from flax and from hemp. Wakelyns is located in the centre of the historic hemp growing area, we are bringing back this once thriving and economically important indistry.
Create luxurious fabric
Showcase the wonders of hemp textile
There’s nothing wrong with plain hemp textile, its soft, hard wearing, practical. Contemporary Hempery is here to showcase what else hemp can be, with colour pattern and joy.
Connect people with each other, and with the land
Soil Soul and Society
In the words of the great Satish Kumar, soil is the orign of everything, we need to put soul back in to our world and create a loving society.
