Fite Fuaite
I called this blog Fite Fuaite, because it is one of my favourite expressions in Irish, as Gaeilge. It means, intertwined/interwoven. I heard it many years ago, and always thought it was the perfect expression to describe what I do, and the kind of person I am.
|
The short version: Maker, researcher and organiser I am a weaver of threads, designs, stories, communities, cultures, people, nature and more. |
The long version:
I was once told, by a tutor when I was studying crafts, I was too scattered, I needed to be a tree, build a solid foundation trunk in one craft-form, and then, when established I can branch out into other mediums. I was really annoyed at the time, I loved all crafts. (Nearly all crafts, sorry ceramics, I appreciate you but you are just not my thing). I couldn’t understand how you can devote your time and energy to just one form, one medium, one path.
Many, too many, years later, now I get it, if you become a master of your chosen craft and you have a better chance of succeeding. I never became a master, I never succeeded in craft as my main occupation, and it has taken me many years to come to terms with my failed attempts to start a craft business. Instead I am a hoarder of skills, I’ll try any craft once, and if I like it, I will become obsessed with it for a short time before moving on. I’m more like a wild humanities hedgerow.
This blog started as a documentation of my thoughts and research, as I studied for an MA in Digital Culture, in the Department of Digital Humanities with University College Cork. I attended the course through distance learning, taking full advantage of all the different types of remote methods and tools, that were around in 2016. (Feels so long ago now! Covid19, has pretty much changed everything remote).
To date, I have had an eclectic career, or in LinkedIn terms a ‘diverse career portfolio’. I worked for many years in the creative arts in Ireland, working as a weaver, knitwear, I even dabbled in puppetry. I’ve created work for parades, festival, films, I’ve organised and run arts events, and taken part in a few exhibitions. Between all this, I’ve run workshops, focusing on sustainability and community arts practice.
Thinking I wasn’t digitally minded, I came to discover technology later than others, almost accidentally, starting as a craft blogger. Using platforms like WordPress, Ravely and Pinterest, to discover and connect with a whole underground movement of makers, who created and shared digitally. (My twitter handle Stitchlily, which is still my username for different platforms was my yarnbombing name). Without realising it, I gradually came to be more involved in digital making, through graphic and web design, social media marketing, and facilitating workshops along the same lines.
During the Covid Pandemic, I worked as a coordinator for a regenerative tourism project, called the LIVE Project. The overall aim of LIVE (Llŷn IVeragh Eco-museums) is to enable coastal communities to promote their natural and cultural assets, creating opportunities for sustainable tourism, especially outside of the traditional peak tourist seasons. I had intended on blogged my way through the work as we created a series of digital and non-digital resources for eco and educational tourism for two peninsulas’, Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales and the Iveragh Peninsula in Kerry, Ireland, but the project was intense. Its not easy to run a cross-sea community project through both the covid pandemic and Britain’s exit from the EU. I hope over the next year, to write about some of the work we did, it was hard work, but amazing at times, and I learned so much from my colleagues in the process as we played around with themes, research materials and outputs.
You can see the research and outputs here:
www.ecomuseumlive.eu, www.discoveriveragh.ie, www.ecoamgueddfa.org
Roll on 2026!
You got this far, that’s pretty amazing, I do tend to ramble. Now, I am reviving this poor neglected blog as I embark on yet another hair-brained activity. A PhD in Public Humanities with University of Limerick.
Wish me luck!
You can find me in all the usual places
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/orla-breslin/
Instagram: @irish_folk_heritage completely biased curation of my favourite heritage things
Personal Bluesky: stitchlily.bsky.social
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/stitchlily
