Threads of Nature: Weaving Sustainability into Style

Written By R Space

This year’s Summer Solstice festival at Brink will be a 10 day series of events, panels and workshops to showcase the best of what Belfast has to offer in terms of making changes for the city across the themes of how ‘We Eat, Live, Wear, Power, Waste and Travel’. On Tuesday 17th you are invited to delve into the intersection of textiles, sustainability, and regenerative practices at BRINK!'s Threads of Nature day.

Event Highlights:

  • 10–11am: Educating for a Regenerative Future for Textiles and Fashion
    Panel discussion on reimagining fashion education with Prof. Alison Gault and others. (free, drop in)

  • 10am–1pm: Fibreshed Ireland: From Plants to Colours
    Workshop with natural dyer Malú Colorín on transforming plants into textile dyes (Booking required)

  • 1–2pm: Lunchtime Screenings: Hot Poets
    Screening of spoken word pieces from the "We Feed The UK" campaign, blending poetry and environmental themes. (free, drop in)

  • 2–5pm: Screen-printing workshop with textile designer Duncan Neil
    Workshop with natural pigments in hues that can be derived from the plants (Booking required)

  • 2-3PM: Sow What? Seeds, Soil & Fibre Futures
    Panel discussion with Helen Keys , Richie Walsh and Cormac Dolan (free, drop in)

  • 3-4pm: Thread Counts: From Fast Fashion to Future Fabric (Panel)

    Panel discussion global giants to grassroots makers; Christian Volkmann (Patagonia) Joel Anderson (Kindred of Ireland)

  • 4-5pm: Textiles for liberation: weaving the future we want to live in
    Talk with Malú Colorín – co-founder of Fibreshed Ireland. (free, drop in)


BRINK!'s Threads of Nature day delivered as part of The Flax Meitheal project.

At its core is the spirit of meitheal (pronounced meh-hal), an ancient Irish tradition of cooperative work, where neighbours come together to support one another during labor-intensive seasonal tasks. More than a method of working, meitheal embodies a broader ethos of collective care, shared knowledge, and mutual aid. The vision is to inspire a movement for a fairer textile future - one where natural, locally grown fibres are at the heart of a regenerative, place-based system.

The partners in this project are Brink!, Artpark Hoher Berg, Fibreshed Ireland, Mallon Linen, and the Linen Bienalle supported by Culture Bridge.

R Space
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‘Hertiage Threads’ at the Island Arts Centre