speakers
Karin Flatøy Svarstad, Norway
Founder of North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference. Karin works as a textile artist, cultural mediator and for district development.
Title: North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference
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Nathalie Ketterle, Germany
Vice-President, European Wool Association AISBL
Founder and Head of Kollektion der Vielfalt, a wool initiative for native sheep breeds in Germany
Title: The European Wool Journey: Innovations, Collaborations, and Insights in Revitalising European Wool
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Jenny Shepherd, Isle of Man
Sheep farmer with Manx Loaghtan Sheep on a 200 acres farm
Title: A glimmer of hope for the future of Manx Loaghtan Sheep
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Meg Rodger, the Hebrides
Meg Rodger lives on the Hebridean island of Berneray where she has a flock of Hebridean sheep and runs the Birlinn Yarn Company.
Title: Birlinn galleys, Seafaring Sheep and a cloak fit for a Viking heroine
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Ronnie Eunson, Shetland
Ronnie Eunson is a farmer who runs Uradale Farm in partnership with son Jakob.
Title: What Shetland Wool Week has meant for Shetland’s farmers, knitwear industry and the wool market
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Viveka Velupillai, Shetland
Viveka lives on Uradale farm. She is Honorary Professor at the Department of English at the University of Giessen, Germany as well as Visiting Professor at The Language Sciences Institute of University of the Highlands and Islands.
Title: Loops on wires: How traditional skills have helped preserve Shaetlan
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Marita V. í Lágabø and Barbara Vestergaard, Faroe Islands
Barbara and Marita are the women behind the exciting project Vesturgarður. They will tell about how they found a simple and nature-friendly way to wash the Faroese wool.
Title: It started with a thought
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Jens Ivan í Gerðinum, Faroe Islands
Jens Ivan í Gerðinum works as Agricultural Adviser on The Agricultural Agency, Búnaðarstovan.
Title: “A retrospective view on wool from a farming practises perspective til present day”
Svanhildur Pálsdóttir, Iceland
Former project manager at the Icelandic Textile Center. She was leadpartner in the NORA-WIN project. Svanhildur is a farmer’s wife and a big wool, yarn and knitting enthusiast.
Title: Wool in the North, Tours for the Curious, Conscious and Creative.
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Heidi Greb, Germany
Ellen K. Frederiksen, Greenland
Ellen is teacher, and a farmer’s wife in Qassiarsuk.
Ellen will talk about, their farm with sheep, wool and tourism. She will tell about the start of sheep hold as occupation in Greenland, UNESCO and wool processing.
Title:Greenlandic Sheep Wool: From History to Modern Use. A Journey Through Greenland’s Sheep Farming and Wool Traditions.
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Siggi Gunnarsson, Iceland
Ceo at Ístex, íslendskur textilídnaður
Siggi will talk about how it is possible for Ístex to wash all the wool, they produce, compared to most other big yarn companies, who send the wool abroad for scouring to big scouring plants.
Title:Washing Wool in the North Atlantic
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Jane Cooper, Orkney
Jane Cooper is farmer on Orkney and author of the book ‘The Lost Flock’.
She will talk about how a group of people in Orkney saved a unique line of the UK's rarest breed of sheep, the Boreray, and developed markets for their meat & other products to secured their long-term future.
Title: The Lost Flock
Reda more here
Michael and Helga Tullock, Orkney
Michael and Helga Scott will talk about their family croft, Cruesbreck and the flock that has been handed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.
Title: The North Ronaldsay Flock - past, present and future
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Open stage speakers:
Alison Gault, Ireland
Senior Lecturer in Textile Art, Design and Fashion, Belfast School of Art, Ulster University
Title:Creating a traceable Irish grown yarn through the Future Island-Island Project
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Jan Broda, Poland
Professor at the Faculty of Materials, Civil and Environment Engineering of the University of Bielsko-Biala (Poland)
Title: Utilisation of wool from Polish mountain sheep
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