Our Story

What began with the decision to fill an empty paddock with some adorable, yet rare, suri alpacas, is today continuing to develop into a hub for creative exploration, for colour and imagination, for finding new passions and for reigniting old ones.

Ashculme Textiles is the culmination of a mother and daughter, whose similar love for textile crafts brought them back together after spending 30 years living on opposite sides of the globe. A mother who has spent eight decades with a sewing needle in hand, and a daughter who is passionate about exploring ancient and contemporary ways to hand-make objects of beauty. The name originates from a tiny hamlet called Ashculme – a few houses, the ash trees and the Culme river. This is where Fiona’s husband Cliff grew up and his family still live and it has inspired our true love for sustainable wearable art.

They each work in very different ways, from form, right down to colour selection and pattern preference – with Fiona on the loom, and Roswitha quilting in her own unique style – always coming back to one another to test out ideas.

While Fiona is inspired by the ebb and flow of nature’s rhythms, Roswitha finds inspiration for her contemporary, non traditional style of quilting in the fabrics and colours she is drawn to.

What is Ashculme Textiles? It’s where colour, texture, creativity, imagination, love, family and nature are spun, woven and sewn together – and the finished product is something truly special.

Our Paddock to Package Philosophy.

We make every attempt to tread lightly on the earth around us, in order to keep our operations ethically sound, and keep the gorgeous friends who have made Ashculme Textiles a reality – the alpacas – happy.

Our tribe of Suri alpacas currently has eight members, each different from the next, each unique in look and personality; from the head honcho Prince, who took it upon himself as first the to arrive to lead the pack, to the matriarch Vanity, who lets the others know who’s really in charge.

They make our ‘Paddock to Product’ mission possible. With the help of a nearby family-run mill who turn our fleece into a fine yarn, the materials that make up our wares never travel more than 400km to get from the coat of the alpacas, to the shawl around your shoulders.