Formation of the Co-operative and Atelier

Gwlan Teifi was established in 1999 and registered with the Wales Co-op Centre. It was an extraordinary departure for members of an industry famed for both competitiveness and resistance to change. The event was precipitated by the recession of the late 1900s, when the decline of the woollen industry in Wales became critical.

The co-operative was the brainchild of Byron Williams, a recently retired college vice-principal and JP who, with his family, had returned to live in Wales. Byron and his wife Jeanette had been enthusiastic collectors of textiles on their various travels and were keen to prevent the disappearance of the last of the Welsh weaving mills. The extraordinary reversal of the fortunes of these few Welsh mills owes much to the Williams' enthusiasm.

Gwlan Teifi meets regularly at the Woollen Museum: Byron Williams Company Secretary (left), Jeanette Williams, Roger Poulson, Gwlan Teifi Chairman, and Raymond Jones, Melin Teifi (right).

Fortunately for all, there were other initiatives which helped to underpin the initially fragile structure of Gwlan Teifi. One was the redevelopment of the National Woollen Museum, home to the co-operative, and now an imaginatively themed presentation of Welsh industrial and cultural life.

In 2000, Ceredigion County Council announced an award for extraordinary business initiatives. Curlew Weavers and Naturals applied and an award was given to both on the understanding that they would undertake to be mutually enhancing. The outcome is documented in the publication "A Welsh Collection".

Carmarthenshire in the meantime offered design assistance to weavers through a sophisticated IT textile imaging program at Coleg Sir Gar. Elvet Woollen mill was able both to produce new designs and to re-structure early Welsh - American style handwoven fabrics. These are now part of its regular production.

Coleg Sir Gar also offered a European cross border initiative for small businesses, and Naturals was offered a place on a two year Welsh-Irish textiles marketing project.

Small contract spinning for wool producers was introducd to Gwlan Teifi by the Natural Fibre Company (then in Lampeter, now in Launceston, Cornwall) which was for several years the only such mill in the UK. New small spinning mills, following in its wake have further established the connection, and Gwlan Teifi are now the main UK weavers supplying a flourishing rural fibrecraft industry.

Gwlan Teifi adopted the name "Atelier" in 2006 as a statement of its continued intention to preserve the skills and pass on the best traditions of the historic Welsh woollen industry.

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