for Ricefield and to come with me to
the Philippines this summer.
I also got in touch with Pam Allen
from Quince & Co., a specialty yarn
company from Portland, Maine that I’m
a big fan of. One of our goals was to
build a company that does good things
on both sides of the ocean, and Quince
is a perfect partner for us because their
entire process happens in the New
England area, so they also embody our
own goals of high quality while doing
good things for the world. Quince was
also one of our earliest supporters at a
time when the project was pretty much
just an idea.
While we were concerned about
our carbon footprint, we also knew
that there wasn’t any wool production
in the Philippines so we didn’t have
the means to source wool locally,
and Philippine fibers would not be
warm enough for an international
market. But the wonderful thing is that
we’re increasingly collaborating with
Quince on the yarn production side as
well. We’re going to be hand-dyeing
some of their yarn to create our own
limited-edition yarn for the fall, and
we’re looking into other collaboration
possibilities.
Using Quince yarn, Anna and I
collaborated to design the Fall 2013
collection that would eventually
appear on Kickstarter, one that features
soaring lines that echo the mountains
of Ifugao. We also got another designer,
Stephen West, to join us. Anna and
I are in Ifugao from early May to late
W E A V I N G A S P E L L
106
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Clockwise from bottom left: This hat and
cowl set is united by rising cables; the
Windschief hat; all Ricefield Collective
products come with a picture of the woman
who made the item, along with a tag that she
has signed and numbered
