Annlan—meaning sustenance—is a research project that blends oral tradition with contemporary technology to explore how flax could strengthen a local circular economy rooted in the commons.

Building on the earlier Catalyst Award-funded work, which explored the Uist food system and how the community could combine innovation with traditional crofting practices, with the aim of improving the resilience and sustainability, the Change Award-supported project will see the group grow a flax crop and build linen processing machinery based on designs created to be part of a textile commons. In collaboration with local wool producers, the community aims to use fleece—an abundant by-product of sheep farming—to produce a flax–wool blended fibre with a home-grown provenance. As well as fibre production, the project will also investigate alternative uses for flax, examine economic models to understand how flax production could interconnect with and sustain a local circular economy, and publish a practical flax‑growing guide.

See Catalyst awarded project: https://williamsontrust.org.uk/projects/dualchas-dynamic-connections-between-community-and-the-land/