Had a fantastic day with my colleagues and at the weekend - we visited **pery at for a h**p workshop!
Kitty Wilson Brown and Claire O’Sullivan have now grown h**p here for five seasons, recently being featured on the BBC.
This was my third visit and I hugely enjoyed being out in the fields, shaded on this hot day by the tall, green plants!
Claire gave us a fascinating presentation on the history of h**p in the UK - look out for place names and pub names that refer back to our rich h**p history.
A key learning for me was that traditionally h**p textiles were processed as the whole length of the shaft, which ensured strength for rope and long lasting clothing. More modern textile processing (probably focused on far shorter fibres such as cotton or wool) tend to cut the fibres, thus reducing its strength. I will think on that!
In the UK it is necessary to have a licence to grow h**p for textiles. The government has stated its commitment but one challenge is the crop’s appearance which is virtually identical to its cousin…. Just to be clear - this crop does not contain the THC elements that would make you high (we look happy because we had a great day!)
This is part 1 of our visit - I’ll share more about the h**p pricing to textiles soon.
Thanks to Claire and Kitty and Wakelyns for the workshop and hospitality, including a delicious and wholesome lunch.
Photos include us in the fields, a close up of the h**p root - far shorter than I expected what with the lushness - and the final photo is the area where harvest has started.
Contemporary Hempery are running a harvest retreat later this month if you want to go and help with harvest as well as attend a number of workshops with some fab people. Sad I can’t make it this time.
**p
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Hello from steamy London and today’s get together of friends and colleagues from the network.
We met at the fabulous and enjoyed conversations and catch ups.
Great to see , , Veronica from Fibreway, .lifestyle , and - and fab to see our being worn so stylishly.
Looking forward to whatever comes next from these conversations ….
28/06/2026
Last week I made my first ever visit to the Cutty Sark at Royal Museums Greenwich . It was an extremely hot day so scuttled from shade to shade (at least looking cool in my Sanjas Sanja Stories !)
The reason for the trip was reconnaissance for an upcoming event that we’ll be running there…. No spoilers, you’ll find out more soon!
The Cutty Sark ship and museum are really impressive, with exhibits from the Clipper’s history transporting cargo of all sorts but especially tea and wool around the world. Well worth a visit!
Khadi London CIC Where Does It Come From? - Clothing Brand Desi Oon Hub Centre for Pastoralism (CfP) britisharts
30/05/2026
We’re better together!
Collaboration is really important to me - coming together with others to share ideas, pool knowledge and build solutions. It’s a fabulous way to make change happen, plus it is wonderful working with (and having fun with) people with different perspectives and experiences.
Last week at Treo House in London a group of us got together to celebrate the successful delivery of our first production run.
Some of us were colleagues and some new friends but we all shared an interest in collaboration - topic we pondered with facilitation from Treo House’s Gemma. We also enjoyed a delicious supper, accompanied by vibrant discussion.
I’m fortunate to work in several teams across different projects and it was lovely to have five sixths of the Sanja Stories team present ( and - we were missing Abhishek but he has the good excuse of living in Jaipur!). We gave an informal talk about Sanja Stories regenerative philosophy and product, with the team and others modelling (rocking!) their new Sanjas. I’m loving my new indigo ones!
If you want to join the fabulousness, sign up for the next Sanja Stories production run on the Sanja Stories website .
It was great to catch up with quite a few of the team too - Kishore again, .lifestyle and .
If you want to explore collaboration and circularity more then sign up for the upcoming Summit in September, also taking place at Treo House - link in bio.
Thanks to for the fab photos and for funding them.
Sanja Stories is brought to you as a collaboration between
and , from the .
With support from
27/05/2026
In 2017 Joanna Lumley wore one of our scarves on her TV documentary about India. We sold out almost overnight. I was overjoyed. Thank you Joanna. 🙏
Fast forward eight years. A well-known actor becomes one of our first ambassadors for When he shared his support, our following almost trebled. I was overjoyed again.
Same pattern. Different decade. Same gratitude.
What moves me most is that both of them were drawn to the work for exactly the best reasons. The values, the craft, the story — that's what resonated. People who care deeply about how things are made, and who they come from, find their way to this work. That never gets old. The reach came after, the values came first.
It also makes me think about the strangeness of visibility - how years of work can be 'hidden' until a light is shone on it. And of course about all the brilliant makers, projects and innovations out there that haven't yet found their champion. I hope my work helps the invisible to become more visible in some way.
Eight years on, still grateful for the visibility. Still building with the values.
Sanja Stories is brought to you by with support by
Photo: me in Sanjas at 2025 (and blockprint jacket).
15/04/2026
On the final day of my trip to Zimbabwe for Circular Economy week last month, a few of us managed to spend an hour or so at the wonderful Up Market - a sort of farmers/craft market in Massdorp, Harare.
It was wonderful browsing the food stuffs, crafts such as wood work, beading, clothing and accessories, batik and lots more.
As well as the experience I also wanted to bring home local gifts for friends and family so was armed with a list!
I had a long cat with Enoch (1st picture) who works with 100% Zimbabwean cotton, some from , and creates batik art, clothing and accessories. I treated myself and others to a few of those items! (Facebook only).
It was lovely chatting with the stall holders and finding out how they make their items - one lady was knitting handbags as we watched!
My kitchen is much improved by the Zimbabwean cotton batik oven gloves and wooden salad servers and I hope my giftees enjoy their beaded animals, earrings, t shirts, hats and peanut butter…. (Yes I was very efficient in my shopping but the choice and atmosphere made it a pleasure.
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