Blacker Yarns was created from the knitting yarns side of Blacker Designs which was launched in 2008 as a brand of The Natural Fibre Company, our specialist wool mill at Launceston on the Devon-Cornwall border.

So as well as buying British wool for Blacker Designs' scarves, throws, cushions and blankets, we also use the wool for our own range of specialist knitting yarns sold under the Blacker Yarns brand.

The mill specialises in adding value to fleece supplied by farmers and turning it into high-quality knitting yarn which they can sell for themselves and generate a new or growing source of income from their flock.

Although we have been spinning wool at The Natural Fibre Company since 1991, the services we offer have changed dramatically since 2005 when managing director Sue Blacker and her family bought the company from its previous owners.

When she moved the company from Lampeter in Wales to a new home in Cornwall at Launceston on the Devon border, it signalled the start of a minor revolution.

In 2007 we introduced worsted spinning, and in the summer of 2008 added an on-line shop and a dye plant. As well as matching specialist colours supplied by customers, the dye plant is also producing its own range of yarns in a range of colours carefully created to tone with the natural fibre colours.

All this was made possible by European Union Objective 1 funding, the fund managers Finance Cornwall and a number of private, outside investors.