SWANS ISLAND BLANKETS

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Summer 2010

Slow Love for Swans Island
The story Dominique Browning tells in her book Slow Love has become iconic. In 2007 she was given four days notice that House and Garden, the magazine she had edited for 13 years, was folding, and that she was no longer employed. Slow Love is the story of how she came to understand that this forced transition was a gift. Exiled from Manhattan she began to garden on the coast of Rhode Island, and to see her life through new eyes. “I was tired of clenching my fists around hope. Finally I let go. In return I found peace. And gratitude.”

We have been inspired and fascinated with her journey, what she calls falling “open to the miracle of this world”. Dominique recently spent some time in midcoast Maine where she was “reminded of this Slow Love idea: Create!” We were one of those creative enterprises she visited and were happy to receive her at the Swans Island studio. Her description of her time here was typically gracious. Our approach for the past 20 years has been the same: do things right, slowly and with love, and the rest will somehow fall into place. Dominique has articulated this thought in a personal and universal way in Slow Love.

Grant for a New Dye House
An observation frequently heard around our dye house and weaving studio is that we appear to be the only people left grinding our own natural dyestuffs, hand-dyeing and hand-weaving wool, and hand finishing and picking the fabric we create. On particularly exasperating days one of us might turn to another and remark: “Now we know why nobody is still doing this-we are recapitulating the Industrial Revolution!” We have recently received some encouraging help in our efforts to remain true to ancient crafts in an efficient manner. Swans Island is the recipient of a Maine Technology Grant to develop new technology to be used in a dye house addition we are beginning to construct. We have also been awarded a Community Block Grant through our town of Northport, Maine to aid in the purchase and fabrication of equipment and in the construction of the addition that will serve as a new dye house, dye lab, warehouse and shipping area. Without these grants Swans Island would not be able to carry out our growth plans, and we are grateful to have been selected. Our hope is that by the beginning of 2011 we will have taken a novel turn from the course of the Industrial Revolution, continuing to dye and weave by hand in an authentic but slightly more efficient manner.

Decorator Show House
High Street in Camden, Maine leads north out of town becoming the Belfast Road and eventually Atlantic Highway in Northport, where the Swans Island studio stands across from Penobscot Bay. Just outside Camden, High Street is lined on either side with trees and nineteenth century sea captains’ homes, New England shingle cottages and graceful inns. This July a venerable clapboard house on this scenic road was transformed into the First Annual Decorator Showcase Show House as a wonderful addition to the 63rd Camden Club tour that benefits the younger generation's interest in gardens, and has since 1984 supported high school graduates pursuing a degree in earth sciences such as Horticulture, Botany, Landscape Architecture or Environmental Studies. The central parlor was designed by Deborah Chatfield who used work from local artists like Eric Hopkins and Thos Moser to create the ultimate Maine room. Deboraha commissioned Swans Island to provide upholstery fabric made from our blue and white checked winter blanket, woven from Nash Island wool. We were as excited as anyone to see the results: our first foray into furniture. Sarah Szwajkos is a highly respected photographer accustomed to exploring and recording the rhythm and story found in homes and personal space. Her photos of this innovative event reveal an old Camden home as envisioned by talented Maine designers.

Bill Laurita for Swans Island

Past Newsletters
Spring 2010
Winter 2010
Fall 2009
Summer 2009
Spring 2009
Winter 2009
Fall 2008
Summer 2008
Spring 2008