About Canberra Spinners & Weavers

Canberra Spinners & Weavers Inc (CSW) began in 1966 as the ACT Branch of the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Australia, and has changed its name more than once on the way to becoming the independent incorporated association it is today. Its stated goal is "spinning, weaving and fibrecraft education and sharing to adults and young adults from the Capital region in a welcoming community."

In 2016 CSW marked its 50th anniversary and received a Canberra Gold Award from the ACT Chief Minister in recognition of five decades of community contribution. A street in the new suburb of Whitlam, Baas Becking Street, is named for founding member Solveig Baas-Becking. The club's full 50-year history is written up in "Crossing Threads: 50 years of Canberra Spinners and Weavers", available from CSW as a download.

60th anniversary programme, 2026

Six decades on, the year's celebrations run across three seasons:

Warped and Twisted — the annual members' exhibition, 1–9 May, opening 2 May at 2pm.
Open Weekend — Friday 21 to Sunday 23 August, demonstrations, mini workshops and a historical exhibition at Textile Works.
Tuggeranong Arts Centre retrospective — 23 October to 21 November, showing members' work from the last decade.
Design Canberra Festival exhibition — 6–14 November, themed "Dissent", including an Open Studios Weekend on 7–8 November.
Members' 60th birthday lunch — 21 November.

Fay Skyring Gallery

CSW's on-site gallery is named for Fay Skyring OAM (1932–2019), a life member and nationally significant weaver who hand-wove upholstery fabric for suites in Australia's Parliament House and altar linens for several churches and cathedrals, and received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2017.

The gallery hosts member exhibitions year-round, including the annual "Warped and Twisted" show, a collaborative exhibition tied to the Design Canberra Festival, and solo shows for early-career artists through the Emerging Artist Support Scheme and the Melissa Calver Fay Skyring Scholarship. Gallery bookings: csw.gallery@gmail.com.

About this redesign

This site is an unsolicited redesign of CSW's real website,canberraspinnersandweavers.org.au. I like it: the organisation is real, active, and generous with what it publishes — history, meeting times, course content, even a maintained memorial page for members who've passed. What it gets wrong is structure, not substance. Its navigation lists around nineteen pages at the same level, so a first-time visitor sees a memorial page and a "how do I join" page competing for equal attention, the Saturday drop-in time is stated twice on two different pages, and the one page called "Current workshops" loads with no actual workshops in it. This redesign keeps CSW's real information but groups it into six sections — Home, About, Activities & Meetings, Membership, Equipment, and Visit & Contact — so a beginner, a prospective member, and an existing member can each find what they need in one or two clicks.