Malú Colorín is a Mexican natural dyer, designer, artist and community organiser living in West Wicklow, Ireland. She builds, nourishes and maps communities of place and of practice. She is the founder of Talú, a natural dye house and educational hub helping creatives use colour as catalyst to remember our relationship to the Land. Through Talú, she offers workshops, art, and events. Malú is also the co-founder of Fibreshed Ireland, a community-supported movement building networks to craft a regenerative Irish textile system based on local fibre, local dyes & local labour. She is a public speaker and a guest lecturer in the Circular by Design masters degree programme at NCAD.

Her work draws inspiration from the traditional garments of her native Mexico, while embracing the rich heritage of Irish textiles. By working slowly and mindfully, she aims to build an intimate connection with each of her dye sources, as well as the Land where they grow.

Malú’s personal creative practice explores topics of identity, belonging and reciprocity. She is especially interested in mapping the ecosystems of relationships formed between humans, more-than-humans, and place. She utilises a diversity of media to map these relationships, including fibre, thread, cordage, wild clay, plants, rocks and natural pigments. A lot of her work is collaborative, either with other humans or with her more-than-human kin.

Thanks to her background in graphic design, she’s an avid systems thinker, constantly dreaming up ways to dismantle the interconnected systems of oppression behind climate change and social injustice

Two Rivers Mill is a small-scale, family run worsted spinning mill established in Dorset 15 years ago and re-located to Coleraine in 2023.

We specialise in processing alpaca fibre into luxurious high quality yarns for handcraft, machine knitting and weaving.

Our work is primarily commission spinning making tops and yarns in 100% alpaca as well as in blends with other natural fibres.

Our small minimum batch size and flexible approach in managing bespoke product runs ideally suits us to partner with smaller brands and businesses across Ireland, UK and mainland Europe.

We are currently launching a scheme for NI alpaca breeders, encouraging them to commit more of their fleece to the production of yarn and garments with the aim of creating a market for NI provenance alpaca products.

Helen Keys is a farmer, flax grower and co-founder of Mallon Linen,based at Mallon Farm near Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.

For the past seven years, she and husband Charlie have been growing flax, restoring heritage machinery and building a community around Northern Ireland's linen heritage.  They hosted the annual Flax Meitheal at the farm.  Helen is one of the founders of the Growing Innovation Network (GrowIN)
and on the Northern Ireland Steering Group for the Nature Friendly Farming Network.

Quintin Oliver bought the Carnegie Oldpark Library at auction after it was abandoned by the public sector.

One of three in Belfast, 66 on the island of Ireland and 2,500 across the globe, a formidable testimony to Carnegie’s philanthropy: ‘he who dies rich, dies thus disgraced’ he opined!

It is now being restored and repurposed as ’The Carnegie Centre for Weaving’, buzzing with textile creativity, education, sharing and learning.

He will bring his voluntary and privater sector experience (NICVA and Stratagem) to lead the regeneration endeavour.

Claire Anketell is CEO and co-founder of Inspiring Yarns CIC, a Northern Ireland-based social enterprise using textiles, yarn crafts and creative heritage to support mental health, reduce social isolation and create pathways into training and employment. Since founding the organisation in 2021 alongside her sister Janice Moore, Claire has helped grow Inspiring Yarns into a recognised voice within the textile and wool sector across the UK and Ireland.

With over 20 years’ experience in the voluntary and community sector, Claire is passionate about reconnecting people with traditional textile skills while exploring how heritage crafts can support sustainable futures. Through projects spanning community wellbeing, heritage education, cross-border collaboration and sustainable fashion, she has championed the role of textiles not only as creative practice, but as a tool for regeneration, inclusion and economic opportunity.

Claire is currently leading the development of an ambitious initiative to restore wool processing and textile production infrastructure in Northern Ireland. The project aims to create local processing opportunities for local wool, reduce textile waste, support farmers and rebuild connections between agriculture, heritage skills and contemporary textile production.