It begins with a single thread.
Among many others, it weaves its way in and out. Across color and dimensions, terrains and textures, it’s spun wild and pulled tight. Crisscrossed and carried along by nimble fingers, working quickly. In and out. Creating something the naked eye may never conceive, a labyrinthine collection of cats’ cradles passing one another on their way to their final pressing and transforming under the might of machinery into something sublime. A collection of colors that a person can feel and interact with, understand and be at one with. It is the tangible expression of wild possibilities. Combining to create something few of us could ever quite imagine. The idea that one small thread can be a part of something larger than itself.
The Wild Atlantic Way stretches across the west coast of Ireland. All along its magnificent journey, there are towns and villages to be discovered and within them are incredible people who make them worth visiting. One of these towns is Downings perched on the coast of Ireland’s most northern county, home to McNutt of Donegal, a family-owned business with six decades of experience in the wool and linen trade. Founded behind old mill walls in 1953 by Bill McNutt, the original ambition for McNutt of Donegal lay in handweaving tweed before a creative explosion in Donegal in the mid-’60s and into the early ’70s would see them move towards power looms. During this industrial revolution which carried on into the next decade, the family business pivoted from tweed to Irish linen, becoming a go-to for renowned fashion labels due to the high quality and freshness of their fabrics, until in 2008, that all changed. With the global economic crises and the world in turmoil, McNutt found themselves with their back up against the wall, the quality of their product taking second place to cheaper alternatives, forcing them to make the decision to sink or swim, and swim they did. In the last ten years, McNutt of Donegal has returned to what they know best, wool. Using their looms and creative spirits to make everything from cashmere throws to lambswool scarves, taking influence from their surroundings of Downings Harbor and the beautiful people who work within its walls to inform their creative endeavors.
And today the family spirit is as strong as ever at McNutt, with Bill’s son William at the helm and his chosen family all playing their part to show that something incredible is nothing without everyone coming together and playing their part, weaving in and out.
McNutt of Donegal
