We stumbled into boat life. It started as a fun idea, but our life is now built around less time clocking hours in a job and more time as a family, in a way that we couldn’t afford with the financial ties of a house.

We’re a family venture. We can’t be anything else when we live on top of each other in a seven-by-sixty-foot boat which is our home,  our workshop, our storefront, and our vehicle.

True, it’s mainly Laurence doing the making, but when we set up to trade on the towpath there isn’t really a boundary between family life and the shopfront.

Behind the scenes it’s the same, with baskets being made in the living space, or the kids’ cabin being repurposed as a workshop for the morning.

Flax is our lost fibre on these isles, dropped by industry two centuries ago in favour of imported cotton. Dedicated fibre enthusiasts are bringing flax-growing back into the spotlight, but while crops are small it falls to our European neighbours to supply the flax for British-made rope.

The idea to incorporate natural dyes came about through a chance meeting in the Peak District, in the poetic way that canal travel tends to produce coincidental encounters and unexpected relationships.

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Despite the nomadic and small-scale nature of Splice+Fid, creativity doesn't happen in isolation. A humble rope basket sees at least five 'people' through its life: the flax grower, the spinner, the ropemaker, the basketmaker, and of course the final owner.

To support this necessary ecosystem of skills and trades, Splice+Fid is a member of Peaks & Plains Fibreshed and the Heritage Crafts Association.