Week 6
Prick Your Finger is a yarn shop and textile gallery in Bethnal Green London that’s putting the rock ‘n’ roll back into textile and fashion production. Run by Rachael Matthews and Louise Harries, Prick Your Finger is concerned that British textile production has been lost to unethical manufacturing of disposable fashion.
For Louder Than Bombs, Prick Your Finger turned the gallery into a factory sweat-shop and constructed the world’s first bicycle powered wool mill, which was used to turn unwanted sheep fleeces from within the M25 into a range of seductive yarns. “We’re asking the world to listen to sensible ways of profiting from nature without exploitation.”
Visitors were given an opportunity to learn about the different stages of crafting yarn, assisting with carding and spinning different types of fleece in order to create knitwear of their own. The week at the Wool Hall included charting production line efficiency on the walls of the factory office, providing regular tea breaks to ensure worker satisfaction, and culminated in a chance for participants to clock-in some extra evening hours during Overtime at the Factory Disco.