♥ Client: Design Museum
♥ Collaboration: PMP
♥ Year: 2025
♥ Location: Anglesey/London
♥ Collaboration: PMP
♥ Year: 2025
♥ Location: Anglesey/London
A Tapestry for Anglesey (Ynys Môn)
Wales has a long and rich history of weaving stories into textiles, preserving the country's culture, memory, and identity for future generations. Continuing this legacy, A Tapestry for Anglesey was commissioned by Future Observatory at the Design Museum for Tools for Transition, a new display of regionally specific design research.
The work responds to Public Map Platform (PMP), an initiative bringing together young people and community mappers on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) to explore the place they call home. The tapestry serves as a creative response to PMP's ongoing research within the Future Observatory network.
Over the past two years, PMP has focused on co-creating an interactive digital map designed to help local authorities and communities visualise what is happening in their areas. Their approach weaves together environmental data, cultural memory, sensory information, and storytelling, supporting planning that reflects the lived experiences of people and place.
The tapestry's design was developed through a co-production workshop with PMP's team of Community Mappers on Ynys Môn. Participants were invited to reflect on their experiences of mapping the island, responding to prompts such as "Was there a moment in the mapping process that felt especially meaningful or relevant?" Their responses, a mix of reflections, drawings, and stories, revealed emotional and cultural layers of place that can't be captured through data alone.
These fragments were later shaped into an illustration conveying the themes and narratives shared by the mappers, with the design reflecting the three key layers of the public map: social, cultural, and environmental.
The tapestry tells many stories at once. Relics of Anglesey's industrial past, aluminium and copper mining, and references to the island's future with nuclear energy frame the edges of the piece. Scenes from mapping events appear throughout, depicting moments of community life: local schools, water sports, crafts, and cultural activities. Together, these images form a vivid portrait of life on the island, drawn from the perspective of those who know it best.
The tapestry was handwoven by Dash & Miller using British wool on a Jacquard loom, a tool originally developed for patterned cloth and later an influence on early computing. In this way, the work bridges digital mapping and traditional craft, connecting precision with care.
The piece stands as a testament to the power of co-creation, honouring the importance of making space for stories, voices, and memories in how place is understood.
A Tapestry for Anglesey forms part of Future Observatory: Tools for Transition and will be on show at the Design Museum until August 2026.
Wales has a long and rich history of weaving stories into textiles, preserving the country's culture, memory, and identity for future generations. Continuing this legacy, A Tapestry for Anglesey was commissioned by Future Observatory at the Design Museum for Tools for Transition, a new display of regionally specific design research.
The work responds to Public Map Platform (PMP), an initiative bringing together young people and community mappers on Ynys Môn (Anglesey) to explore the place they call home. The tapestry serves as a creative response to PMP's ongoing research within the Future Observatory network.
Over the past two years, PMP has focused on co-creating an interactive digital map designed to help local authorities and communities visualise what is happening in their areas. Their approach weaves together environmental data, cultural memory, sensory information, and storytelling, supporting planning that reflects the lived experiences of people and place.
The tapestry's design was developed through a co-production workshop with PMP's team of Community Mappers on Ynys Môn. Participants were invited to reflect on their experiences of mapping the island, responding to prompts such as "Was there a moment in the mapping process that felt especially meaningful or relevant?" Their responses, a mix of reflections, drawings, and stories, revealed emotional and cultural layers of place that can't be captured through data alone.
These fragments were later shaped into an illustration conveying the themes and narratives shared by the mappers, with the design reflecting the three key layers of the public map: social, cultural, and environmental.
The tapestry tells many stories at once. Relics of Anglesey's industrial past, aluminium and copper mining, and references to the island's future with nuclear energy frame the edges of the piece. Scenes from mapping events appear throughout, depicting moments of community life: local schools, water sports, crafts, and cultural activities. Together, these images form a vivid portrait of life on the island, drawn from the perspective of those who know it best.
The tapestry was handwoven by Dash & Miller using British wool on a Jacquard loom, a tool originally developed for patterned cloth and later an influence on early computing. In this way, the work bridges digital mapping and traditional craft, connecting precision with care.
The piece stands as a testament to the power of co-creation, honouring the importance of making space for stories, voices, and memories in how place is understood.
A Tapestry for Anglesey forms part of Future Observatory: Tools for Transition and will be on show at the Design Museum until August 2026.