Since last year, Ellen Rooijakkers and Joan den Exter, along with three other experienced Linen Stewards, have formed the stewardship working group. Together they are working on making the Shared Stewardship transferable. A model that brings back what we have lost over the years. And that is more than just the production of linen. In fact, if we are open to it, there is a lot to learn from this model on a personal, professional and societal level as well. Joan: “I think business and politics can learn a lot from this. If we dare to do that, we will come a long way and we can solve many things together.”

Stewardship

The word stewardship comes from the word stīweard. A combination of the words stig for “house” and wear for “guardian.” Within the Shared Stewardship, the principles of the commons are followed. A common good – in this case, a field of flax – is managed by a group of people who make joint arrangements. In this self-organizing group, everyone is equal. Everyone’s unique qualities are utilized and every voice is heard. This is done, for example, through consensus decision-making, a form of decision-making in which everyone has the opportunity to contribute ideas. Then, as a group, a decision is made that everyone agrees with. If you’re accustomed to the average meeting, that takes some getting used to.

Joan: “At first, I thought that was very strange. It took forever. It slows down the process tremendously and I wasn’t used to that at all.” Joan’s parents owned their own fashion business. She followed their example and, after studying fashion, worked in the textile industry for years. “I come from that harsh, commercial world. For my work as a buyer, I often went to the Far East. I saw how the productions take place there and how we as Western companies told them what to do.” That eventually caused a career switch. Joan: “I saw more and more fast fashion entering the market and began to wonder who was paying for the fact that we have such cheap clothing here.” After a long search, the Corporate Social Responsibility course came her way. Through a research project, she discovered many small-scale companies and designers and was surprised by what was already happening. But she also saw how the existing system was still holding these people back. “I found the theory of transitions and system change the most interesting part of my studies. To reorganize things, we need pioneers.” That’s how The Linen Project eventually came her way.

Ellen recognizes the harshness and volatility that have become characteristic of the fashion world and also the need to do things differently. After graduating as a fashion designer, she worked as a freelance designer and did several styling assignments. Ellen: “I actually started to dislike the fast pace and poor quality very quickly. You become detached from who you are. I wanted to look for the core, and the direction of textiles drew me in.” Joining the Shared Stewardship felt like coming home to her. “Everyone joins for a reason, everyone is looking for something. Maybe not the same thing as me, but that’s nice. Hearing from each other what you get out of this project and how you take that with you. It also connects young and old, you can learn something from everyone. It has greatly enriched my daily life.”

Reciprocity

This way of working is not new. When our world was smaller and more manageable, it was very common to take care of common things together. Here and there you see this coming back. Think, for example, of new construction projects that again make room for a communal vegetable garden. Yet, it seems as if we have become so accustomed to individualism, efficiency and hierarchy that there hardly seems room outside our private lives to do things differently. And indeed, it also requires something different of us as human beings, something we may have somewhat forgotten.

In setting up the Shared Stewardship, the stewards were supported by Pascale Gatzen, who has experience with the similar model of worker cooperatives (members of the cooperative are both owners and employees of the company). In an interview with Nieuw Instituut, Pascale explains that a worker cooperative teaches us to be active citizens again and how such a cooperative serves not only the community but also the individual. “In a worker cooperative, it is above all about the needs and aspirations of its members. It is not about growing profit percentages but about personal development.”

It reminds me of a famous quote by Rudolf Steiner:

“A healthy social life is found only when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection, and when, in the whole community, the virtue of each one is living.”

There is always an interaction taking place between the individual and the community. And between that which is good for us as individuals and for the greater good. That’s exactly the power of the Shared Stewardship. Joan: “It’s a beautiful principle where you build a relationship with each other, but also with the material, nature, the past and the future. It’s very much about those relational aspects and equality. Doing it with each other. That’s such a counterpoint to what’s happening a lot in the world right now.”

In practice

So plenty of reasons to make the Shared Stewardship model transferable. Joan: “Ever since we started, we’ve been getting regular inquiries from people who want to start a stewardship locally.” When The Linen Project received a large grant from the Stimuleringsfonds last year, space arose to get started on this. A working group was formed and a literature study began. Books were read and discussed and twelve stewards from previous years were interviewed. All this information formed the input for a handbook.

This research also led to a pilot, with the new group of stewards being mentored by the working group. That began with setting the right expectations. Joan: “We came to the conclusion that it is important that people know in advance what they are getting into.” Therefore, after an open call, a meeting was organized in which the stewardship was explained. Joan: “We instructed the people who wanted to participate to think about their motivation and what values are important to them. In a kick-off meeting, we discussed this together.”

Mentoring the new stewards is a great way to test the handbook in practice. And then it turns out there are plenty of challenges too. Ellen: “As more experienced stewards, we sometimes have to learn to keep our mouths shut. We can guide, but must also leave room for the group to make their own choices.” 

Pitfalls

Drafting the handbook also came with challenges. Ellen: “You’re researching something, so there are constantly questions and open ends. You have so many things to consider and on top of that, people and nature are different every year. It really is learning by doing.”

The stewards must also be careful not to fall into the pitfalls of the current time. Joan: “It is a joint process, so we have a lot of consultations and see each other often. That takes time and attention. We wanted to finish everything before Dutch Design Week, but as a result we went way too fast. Ellen brought that into the group. Because of our different personalities, there is always someone who steps up when things like this happen.” At the same time, both Joan and Ellen have a down-to-earth view of the process. Ellen: “We do everything together, but of course sometimes decisions just have to be made where most votes count.”

As they guide a group for the first time, they also discover that not all theory works in practice. Ellen: “We as a working group are also experimenting and we all have different ways of working. The trick is to stay creative. To constantly think, even when things are not working out, about how we can continue. But it is incredibly instructive.” Joan: “We’re not at all alike and that’s actually a lot of fun, because that’s often where the most beautiful things come from. Everyone puts their own personality and expertise into it, making it a very rich document.”

A living document

The working group is working on a handbook with a removable workbook. In this way, groups will soon have a good guide to enter into this process together. The handbook will be published open-source, so that it can be supplemented with new insights where necessary. In addition, groups will soon be able to turn to The Linen Project for guidance in this process. Both in growing and processing the flax and in the social aspect. Joan: “We already received a request from the Texture Museum in Kortrijk. They want to start a stewardship. With them we are now looking to what extent they want guidance. Based on that we make a kind of budget and see in the steward network who has time. The stewards in question will receive a fee for their guidance.”

A deepening relationship

As the group finalizes the workbook, Joan and Ellen take a moment to look back. Their participation in the Shared Stewardship and the working group, have made a deep impression and brought a lot of change in both their work and personal lives.

Joan: “When I first came in contact with The Linen Project, I thought ‘what is this? What do they want?’ I was looking at it from a very commercial point of view.” That changed completely when she became a Linen Steward and went to work on the land for the first time. Everything was new. “I used to negotiate low prices for products like cotton. Not concerned with what people have to do to grow and process cotton.” Everyone should have this experience in the fields, according to her. “I now have a completely different attitude to our textiles and to the people who have to work on the land. But also to the soil, the climate and to biodiversity.” Working together within the group has also initiated a change. “In the commercial world, one person is the boss and the one with the biggest mouth gets to speak the most. It’s so much more relaxed to sit in a meeting, knowing your turn will come. You suddenly have all the space you need to listen to others. A huge eye-opener for me. Often we are quick to judge, but listening carefully to others gives new insights. Being seen and heard, that does something. And that equality, we can learn a lot from that in the commercial world. Suppose I were back in a business environment now, I would do things very differently.”

For Ellen, that deepening started when she studied textile history and followed a weaving course. The death of her mother also caused a turning point. Ellen: “I began to wonder what exactly I was doing. I think I have always been looking for a certain beauty, but never knew how to give form to it.” Working with textiles, weaving all those loose threads and using them to create something new. It brought her back to the core and it brought her the beauty she had been searching for. Ellen: “With the stewards, I notice that we are all looking for ‘the basis’ of who we are. Working in the fields and growing this plant together connects. I really enjoy having this in addition to the other things I do. Knowing that the field is there with those people, gives me a lot of peace. Through all the reading I’ve done about these kinds of groups and initiatives, you also find out that you can do everything you want to. I experience that through this project.”