Hands-on crafts, especially those involving wool, offer more than just creative expression, they can significantly enhance wellbeing. A recent study by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University found that engaging in activities like knitting, crocheting, and other crafts positively predicts life satisfaction, happiness, and a sense of purpose. These benefits were observed across diverse groups, regardless of age, gender, or health, highlighting the universal value of crafting. With its accessibility and ability to foster focus and emotional regulation, wool-based crafts provide a unique opportunity to improve wellbeing while connecting with tradition and creativity.
For fibre artist Julia Desch, this connection is deeply personal. Rooted in a family history shaped by post-war resilience, Julia’s lifelong relationship with wool blends creativity, craftsmanship, and care. Through her work, she explores how working with wool can foster emotional balance, sensory connection, and comfort which offer a gentle, grounding counterpoint to today’s fast-paced, screen-focused world.
Julia Desch : Wellbeing and war
Julia Desch is more than just a fibre artist and a textile designer and maker, she is part of a long tradition of creativity, craftsmanship, and care. Now 82, she comes from a family of artists and has been shaped by a lifelong love of natural textiles and wool. The connection to the natural world runs through all her work from hand-dyed and felted (not woven) wall hangings to sensory wheels and garments made with her own Wensleydale wool. For Julia, making isn’t just about art, it’s about comfort, connection, and wellbeing.
Born into a post-war Britain, Julia’s earliest creative memories were shaped not just by her mother’s artistry, who was a textile artist but also by stories from her father, a Royal Naval Engineer. When she was ten or twelve, she met veterans of the Second World War – older men who quietly bore the scars of war. She recounts that they would share with her that solace was not through words, but through shaping, crafting and exploring with their hands. She continues to recount memories that are etched into her being, remembering that on Wednesdays and Saturdays, even amidst the trauma of war, they would sit and sew or knit. Something sane in an insane world, Julia recalls them mentioning. These men had learned to mend uniforms in the field, finding a lifeline in crafting. It left a lasting imprint.
Craft continued to be woven into the fabric of Julia’s childhood. At school, the curriculum always included handicrafts like sewing, knitting, weaving baskets. As she got used to the pace of crafting with her hands, making things was automatic. The knowledge and the ability to create, with no questions to the impulse. “It was a ‘Right.’ And there was always a tangible end result. Something you could hold in your hand. That’s how it began for me.”
This curiosity, when nurtured, grows into experimentation. “Once you’ve mastered a simple technique, you start asking questions: Can I do this differently? Can I make this unique?” That creative impulse became a powerful link to mental health. The journey from basic stitch to expressive pattern is not just technical, it is sensory, even spiritual. “Craft engages your sight – do you like the colours? Your touch – do you like how it feels? And those sensory experiences feed the brain.”
Wellbeing and Wensleydale wool
Today, Julia stands out as a British wool artisan and producer, renowned for her work with Wensleydale wool, a long-stapled, lustrous fibre that has often been overlooked, yet holds remarkable sensory richness. Known for cultivating and hand-dyeing this unique wool, Julia departs from the flat, muted tones of her youth, embracing a natural dyeing process that yields vibrant, resonant colours.
With conviction, she shares: “The colours go deep. They resonate,” the resonance is partly due to the unique structure of the fibre itself.
Over time, her practice has become a fusion of animal fibre and material culture. Her ongoing exploration of Wensleydale wool celebrates its unique properties and wide range of applications,from raw fleece to fine fibre sculpting, demonstrating both the beauty and versatility of this extraordinary wool.
Julia Desch is a strong advocate of her craft, right from the source to the product. She invites study groups and schools to experience the whole ecosystem of wool. “It’s not just about fibre. It’s about animals. The land. The sense of touch.” She brings children and schools face-to-face with living sheep, linking the softness of fleece to the warmth of the living creatures. “Our hands hold many sensations that go to different parts of the brain,” she explains. “Whether it’s stroking an animal or rubbing the corner of a feely or a blanket, touch feeds the brain, especially in young children.”
In an increasingly screen-dominant world, Julia speaks passionately about what we’re losing: “Touch is disappearing. Children are growing up without it. That damages us.” For her, wool is part of the solution. People often tell her they feel an instinctive urge to pull her wall hangings from the wall and wrap themselves in them – driven by a deep, almost primal need for comfort and connection. “We all need that,” she says.
The quality of materials plays a crucial role. Do you enjoy what you’re touching? Does it calm you? One bad experience – like a scratchy wool jacket – can turn someone off wool for life. But as we come back to Wensleydale wool, when handled with care, is something else entirely: soft, and deeply comforting.
Children exploring wensleydale in a craft project ©Julia Desch
Wensleydale Wool : A Short History
Wensleydale is a valley in North Yorkshire, England, named after the village of Wensley and nestled within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This region is not only known for its scenic beauty but also for being the birthplace of the Wensleydale sheep, a breed celebrated for its long, lustrous fleece.
The origins of the Wensleydale Longwool breed trace back to 1839, with a ram named Bluecap, bred by William Outhwaite of East Appleton. Bluecap was the result of crossing a Dishley Leicester ram with a Teeswater ewe – producing a sheep with a large frame, a distinctive blue skin, and exceptionally fine wool. Though Bluecap is often credited as the foundation of the breed, its development spanned decades of selective breeding, particularly during the Industrial Revolution, when demand grew for larger carcasses and finer wool.
Today, Wensleydale wool is prized for its silky texture and depth of colour when dyed, making it a unique and valuable fibre in artisan production.
Black Wensleydales from Julia’s former pedigree flock ©Julia Desch
Developing ventures for wellbeing
Building on the unique tactile and visual qualities of Wensleydale wool, Julia Desch has developed Sensory Wheels, a project rooted in the therapeutic power of touch. Inspired by the tradition of Tibetan Prayer Wheels, these contemporary interpretations are designed as art objects and as tools for sensory engagement and emotional grounding.
The project places a strong focus on wellbeing, especially for children and individuals with special needs. The felted Wensleydale panels that are naturally dyed in soft, resonant colours, offer a rich sensory experience. The fibres encourage mindful interaction, helping to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system and support emotional regulation through touch.
Julia’s approach draws on evolving scientific research, particularly the work of Prof. Francis McGlone on affective touch and Prof. Robin Dunbar on social bonding. Her aim is to restore the role of healthy, meaningful tactile experiences, especially in school environments where sensory deprivation can limit development and wellbeing. At its core, Sensory Wheels reconnects us with one of the most instinctive forms of human comfort: the soothing power of touch, made possible through material, craft, and the slow rhythmic turning which reduces agitation or anxiety.
“It doesn’t matter how humble the technique is. Humbleness is what enables it to be passed on-from grandmother to mother to child-for millennia.”
Julia Desch
Julia Desch as an individual believes in working as a community. She draws focus to other projects that look at textiles and wellbeing.
In 2005–2006, Julia led a community-based project called Sheep to Shawl, funded by the National Lottery. The initiative focused on sharing skills and knowledge related to rare breed wool fibres.
Julia’s work reflects a global, cultural tapestry, yet it is always rooted in simplicity.
In an age where mental health is under scrutiny, they remind us that healing is in our hands.Their life’s work is a call to touch, to feel, and to make. To engage with wool not just as material, but as an important source of wellbeing.
