Celebrate with Vintage Star Cynefin
Our new Vintage Star Cynefin is more than just a beautiful design—it evokes the very heart and home of our craft: our mill. As we celebrate three years of being an Employee Ownership Trust, this blanket honours the place where it all began. The soft, calming shades of Vintage Star Cynefin are inspired by the iconic colours of our Grade 2 listed mill - white-washed walls, grey roofs, and blue trim, fondly known by us as Eluned’s Blue, after Eluned Griffiths. This historic building houses the history, heritage, and craftsmanship that define Melin Tregwynt.
The Welsh word cynefin (pronounced kuh-nev-in) is a rich and layered concept that doesn't have a direct English translation; it can be interpreted in many ways. It is connected to identity and describes the relationships between individuals and their habitat; their sense of belonging and community. It's not just about where you live, but how a place lives in you.
As employees of Melin Tregwynt, we have taken on the legacy of this business – the fourth generation. As we look towards our future as an Employee Ownership Trust, we are rooted in the traditions of our business, weaving in Wales in the same building for over 100 years. Eifion Griffiths, the former owner of Melin Tregwynt, always said if his grandfather returned to the mill today, he might not understand the technology or machines we use now, but the building and weaving would be familiar to him. The timelessness despite technological developments – generations of workers who may not recognise the technology but they’d know the place, the processes, the craft. This is our sense of cynefin.
It begins with the journey down the winding lane from the main road—the glimpse of the sea when you turn a corner, and then the first flash of white and blue peeking out from the hedgerows and trees that fill our valley as you approach the site.
It continues in the mill itself, where the sound of the looms fills the air—each with its own musical identity—and our weavers’ ears, finely tuned over years of experience, can sense the slightest change in rhythm that signals a mechanical issue.
The smell of the lanolin and oil – the familiar tang that has become a part of everyday work life.
The slice of scissors as they cut carefully and confidently through each piece of fabric.
The hum of the sewing machines from hem to hem, like busy bees buzzing from flower to flower in our hedgerows.
The chatter and laughter as our employees go about their day.
This layered connection between land, craft, and community is at the heart of what we do. It is our cynefin.
