BUSINESS MEETS SOCIAL.
The social enterprise was set up by Sophie Holt, who has facilitated adults with additional needs in various settings across Shropshire and Devon. Sophie’s real passion is to offer a therapeutic environment, support, work experience and training in a productive and commercial space, to people that are often excluded from standard workplaces. PIGMENT considers its trainees to be within the fabric of the business, which supplies artists, dyers and the wider textile industry.
PIGMENT provides therapy, ownership, achievement, and pride for its trainees, accommodating each individual’s needs accordingly. Activities, tasks and training are applied through a bespoke package to help people to reach their potential. Sophie wishes to see a world where neurodiversity and different abilities are celebrated, rather than excluded.
Sophie has an Award in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture, care farmer training, a Horticulture Level 2 qualification, Enhanced DBS certificate and Safeguarding and First Aid qualifications. Insurance details are provided on request.
WHAT WE DO.
We grow high quality dye plants alongside supporting adults with additional needs into training and employment
We sell Organic dyes, dye kits and dyed fabric
We farm in regenerative and Organic systems to improve soil health, water resilience and increase biodiversity
We facilitate social engagement with fashion and its sources
We champion independence for vulnerable and/or socially isolated adults through support, training and employment
MISSION AND AIMS.
Mission:
To create a safe and nurturing outdoor space which is productive, yet therapeutic for people of all abilities to come and just be, to learn, to be part of and to contribute to. To broaden the Organic and natural dye market by selling dyes, fabric and furniture to designers, makers, amateur dyers.
Aims:
To grow high quality Organic plant dyes alongside providing horticultural therapy and supporting adults with additional needs into training and employment
To welcome trainees into the fabric of the business; to involve them in decision-making and sharing the businesses’ successes
To farm in regenerative and Organic systems to improve soil health, water resilience, increase biodiversity and to better social engagement with fashion and its sources
To promote nose-to-tail textiles. To be mindful in all activities, considering waste, resources and local economies
To celebrate neurodiversity within the workplace
To champion independence and confidence for vulnerable and/or socially-isolated adults, providing training and access to employment for all
OUR ETHOS.
We work honestly with customers, competitors and partners. We follow the same philosophy that many modern, small-scale growers do here in the South West – to collaborate and share ideas and experience to emphasise our overall social and environmental impact. To make the world a better one.
Effective communication is key to the way we sell our dyes, take on commissions and develop people’s skills by offering therapy, experience and training. We want anyone that works with us to feel they are being considered and valued, and are informed about the work that we’re doing, and the impact we want to be making. We also seek feedback in all areas of our work, striving to improve.
We are ever-mindful of our impact on the environment around us. We are Organic certified with the BDA, we strive to create very minimal waste, to only invest in natural materials and to consider how we can continue to improve the soil and wildlife at the farm as guardians of the land.
THE FARM.
We are based between Ashburton and Buckfastleigh in South Devon at Baddaford Farm. Baddaford Farm is in a shallow valley just outside Dartmoor National Park. It has such diverse natural habitat amongst its agricultural use, with pockets of woodland and grassland and a beautiful lake.
We are part of the Baddaford Collective which has five business members – Vital Seeds, Green Ginger Organics, Incredible Vegetables, Red Earth Herbs and us! The ethos of the collective is “to make a small part of the world more like the world we want to live in”. We share resources, find synergies and collaborate as much as we can.
