Inis Meáin

Inis Meáin is one of the three Aran Islands, thirty miles off the western shore of Ireland. For centuries the women of the island knitted the fishermen's garments. Their diamonds and cables, tree of life and moss stitches echo the seas and skies around them, and the stone walls. Inis Meáin Knitting Company was founded on the island in 1976 by Tarlach de Blácam and Áine Ní Chonghaile. Tarlach, a graduate in Celtic Languages from Trinity College Dublin, had come to the island in the late sixties to steep himself in the language. Áine was a native of Inis Meáin teaching in Dublin. When the pair married in 1973 they resolved to make their home there. They first worked on projects that brought electricity and running water to the island, and a harbour. Then they equipped a small factory with six knitting machines and took on young islanders who might otherwise have emigrated. The company still designs and makes every piece in its island workshop, finishing each by hand. It chooses not to mass produce, changing the settings on its machines several times a day to make up to 50 styles a season. Yarns in wool and silk come with cashmere and alpaca, and with linen, from mills across Europe and South America. Alongside the decorated Aran styles once kept for formal wear, the house revived the plain grey and navy workwear the island women knitted for everyday use.