Pendula Cashmere Co. is located in a small West Yorkshire village at the foot of the Pennines, UK. The nearest large town is Huddersfield, world renowned for producing the very best in fine worsted fabrics. There are currently still a very small handful of mills keeping that tradition alive. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Pendula Cashmere have a micro-weaving workshop with two pedal-powered Hattersley Looms which they found in Scotland and returned to West Yorkshire to refurbish them. We have partnerships with suppliers who have been in existence for over 100 years. In the local area there is an abundance of expertise, if you know where to find it.... sadly there has been a huge decline in people with the skills that the industry needs to progress into this uncertain future.
With this in mind, Pendula Cashmere Co. has been set up not only to return to the traditional methods of hand-weaving and produce beautiful cashmere fabric and scarves, but also to educate and train people who have the passion to learn the techniques and skills involved in the craft of traditional weaving. The processes are hands on which, requires time, patience and passion with a large dollop of skilful repetition. Absolute proficiency at each stage in the process is necessary to achieve the production of these exceptional fabrics. When you buy from us, you're not only purchasing an item of clothing, but acquiring a piece of art, investing in a heritage and keeping this craftsmanship alive.
Yorkshire is an ideal location for the production of textiles due to the abundance of fields and soft water. Before the industrial revolution many families divided their time between farming their small-holdings and weaving. The wool from their own sheep was spun into yarn and woven into fabric on a handloom, all in the same homestead. The Holme valley and Colne valley were crucial locations for the industrial revolution, served by rivers that provided power for the mills and local coal to drive the steam engines. Large mills began to spring up all along the length of both valley bottoms during this time.
The water in the Holme and Colne valleys was equally an important part of woollen and worsted fabric production. Running down through the millstone grit and sandstone Pennine hills, the water that percolated through to the fabric finishers was soft water which was ideal for washing wool and woollen fabric since the water, free from the minerals found in water from limestone areas, allowed the soaps to lather up especially well compared to the hard water areas. This gave the wools and the fabrics exceptional felting properties and led to soft luxurious fabrics, superior to those made in other areas of the country. Thus, Yorkshire and particularly Huddersfield, where the softest water in the Yorkshire area is, became the source of the world's finest fabrics.
Workshops
Pendula Cashmere Co. is situated in Holmbridge Mill Sculpture Lounge - home to a collection of talented artists and sculptors; visit: sculpturelounge.com for more information on the mill and the artists. As part of a creative collective at the Sculpture Lounge; courses and workshops are offered. Pendula Cashmere Co. will be offering courses and workshops in all aspects of fabric production for people at every level of skill and interest, who would like to learn the traditional methods of hand-weaving; from spinning your own yarn from raw fibre, through to the warping and weaving of fabric. You can even learn how to build your own loom, how to set it up from scratch and weave your very own fabrics!
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