Faroese Gold

A little over an hour after leaving Edinburgh our plane descends through a thick layer of cloud and we get our first glimpse of the Faroe Islands. Beneath us a lake splits the south of the island of Vágar in two.

It is the largest lake in the Faroes and where it meets the ocean the waterfall Bøsdalafossur plunges into the Atlantic, creating a stunning and iconic image. I later learn that islanders from Leiti on the east call it Leitisvatn, but to inhabitants of Sørvágur on the west it is Sørvágsvatn. To avoid constant argument pragmatic locals simply refer to it as ‘The Lake’.

I can just make out the contours of a heathery hillside against the darkening sky and there, among the small pitched-roofed huts, Faroese sheep are scattered over the landscape like bobbles on a knitted jumper. These animals, like the North Ronaldsay sheep, are a Northern European short-tailed breed and seeing them closer, grazing in the airport car park, I see that they have longer legs, larger frames and more distinct markings than their Orcadian cousins.

The Faroes have always been a place I’d like to visit and so I was delighted when I received an email one morning in June inviting me to come up and speak at the fifth North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference.

The first of the conferences was held on North Ronaldsay in 2011 and after hearing about North Ronaldsay’s mini mill and communal sheep management system from Sinclair Scott at last year’s conference in Iceland, event organiser Dorthea Joensen was keen to have a North Ronaldsay representative at this event. Mill manager Jane Donnelly and her husband Peter were unable to attend themselves, and so I headed north with a suitcase full of samples and products.

The Conference was held 10 - 14 September in Torshavn, the colourful capital of the Faroes situated on the island of Streymoy. Driving to Torshavn from the airport we took the 3-mile underwater tunnel linking the two islands and got our first experience of the fascinating transportation infrastructure of the Faroes.

With a population of 49,000 people spread over 18 islands, the archipelago is served by 17 land tunnels, two underwater tunnels, 3 bridges (one of which is the famous “Bridge over the Atlantic”), 7 Ferry services and a helicopter service.

The islands have a proud history of supporting art and culture and the second of the subsea tunnels has a fascinating light show by Tróndur Patursson, an internationally recognised Faroese artists. In 2014 all political parties committed to another two sub-sea tunnels, one over six miles long and the other designed to have a roundabout under the sea.

The event was held at the Hotel Føroyar which sits on the hill above Tórshavn and enjoys views of the harbour and Nólsoy, the island which protects the town from easterly storms.

In echoes of North Ronaldsay, Nólsoy is the flattest of the Faroe islands and has two lighthouses (built to help smugglers fight a trading monopoly imposed by Denmark), and many residents make the 20-minute commute to work in Tórshavn (though by ferry rather than by plane).

The conference consisted of three days packed with talks, exhibitions and excursions rounded off by a gala dinner where delegates enjoyed some traditional Faroese chain dancing.

An interesting and diverse range of speakers – agriculturists, artists and designers, crafts people, scientists and wool brokers – shared ideas and approaches on ways to promote the wool and meat of the native Northern European short-tailed sheep, stimulating lots of thought-provoking discussion.

Jens Ivan í Gerdinum from agriculture centre Búnadarstovan (organisers of the latest conference) gave an interesting insight into the historical background of their wool, once known as “Faroese gold”.

With its long water-shedding fibres it was ideal for Faroese sailors’ clothing over the centuries but more recently found it hard to compete with cheaper artificial fibres and softer fibres from breeds such as merino. Árni Brattaberg from Faroese knitwear company Sirri explained how there is so little value in the wool today that instead of paying farmers for it, they work on a barter system whereby in exchange for their wool farmers are invited to choose items knitted in Sirri’s factories.

Former high school headmaster Daniel Hansen gave a fascinating account of the creation of Fræðasetur um forystufé (which translates as “The Study Centre on Leader-sheep”) in north-east Iceland, and spoke of the benefits the study centre for these rare sheep has brought to the wider community.

As one of the main aims of the conference was to explore ways to develop the wool and wool products, there was particular interest in hearing what has been achieved on North Ronaldsay with the mini mill and the ongoing development of the quality of the yarn.

I spoke of how the community obtained funding to source and purchase the equipment from Prince Edward Island in Canada and how mill manager Jane Donnelly has developed the quality of the yarn by removing the longer guard hairs to end up with a much softer product.

There are now groups on the Faroes, Iceland and the west coast of Norway, all keen to set up similar mills, and steps to organize a mini mill support network are under way.

Mill equipment can be recycled too, as Dana Macphee explained when talking about the community benefit society Uist Wool, which is opening its new spinning mill and wool centre next year on the island of Grimsay in the Outer Hebrides. They bought up redundant, second-hand wool processing machines from various parts of the UK and will set them up in their purpose-built centre.

Another speaker was Gudrun Rógvadóttir, one half of Faroese knitwear label Gudrun & Gudrun which shot to international fame when their famous ‘Lund jumper’ featured in the Danish hit series The Killing. With emphasis on sustainable fashion and organic knitwear they produce cutting-edge pieces that can be seen on catwalks the world over.

Top designed by Gudrun & Gudrun.

Gudrun explained how the business began in 2000, at a time when Faroese wool and sheep skins were being burnt as there was no market for them. Upset at the situation, she approached future business partner Gudrun Ludvig and suggested they do something.

They started small and built their brand on a strong Faroese identity utilising traditional hand knitting and organic lambs’ wool. She described building a universe around the brand and how strong visual images are their business card to the world. Using the pristine and beautiful landscape, they tie the uniqueness and pace of island life to the concept of ‘slow clothing’ and emphasise how all of their products are carefully designed and produced by hand.

Afternoon excursions gave delegates the opportunity to see more of the islands and enjoy the beautiful and mountainous Faroese landscape.

One such outing took us to the west side of the island of Vágar where, in the village of Bøur, locals demonstrated traditional Faroese hand spinning and knitting in a renovated warehouse, and delegates enjoyed coffee and home baking. From the slipway below we enjoyed amazing views of the fjord and the islands of Drangarnir, Gáshólmur and Tindhólmur, with its strange peaks like a witch’s fingers.

We also visited Faroese knitwear companies Navia and Snaeldan and went to the village of Kirkjubøur on Streymoy. There we saw a farm that has been inhabited by 17 generations of the same family and the nearby ruins of St Magnus Cathedral. Built around 1300 but never completed, the cathedral is the largest and most beautiful medieval building in the Faroe islands.

Reflecting on the conference it is clear that the native sheep are central to the identity of the islands. The Old Norse word for sheep is faer and the Danish name for the Faroes, Faeroerne literally means “the islands of sheep”.

The sheep are used as the logo for local products such as Black Sheep beer and are to be found everywhere – grazing on mountainsides, around car parks, on the sides of roads, even occasionally up on the traditional turf roofs.

A growing global awareness and interest in traceability and sustainability is opening up new markets. Establishing links between communities who have so much in common makes us all stronger and extends our collective reach.

As I write this back home on North Ronaldsay, I can see cars heading down towards the beach to help with punding (the gathering of sheep on the shore into stone enclosures called punds) as 35 native sheep have been ordered and are to be shipped from the island to be served at Aarstova, one of the top restaurants in Torshavn. Ancient and unique and running wild on the shores around our island, the native sheep are part of our culture and heritage and could yet play a major role in the future of North Ronaldsay.

The next North Atlantic Native Sheep and Wool Conference will be held in the Lofoten Islands from the 21st to 25th September 2016.