Andrew Haldane is a sheep and cattle farmer living near Waipukurau in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand.
In recent years he has also been working to set up Fieldmark, a business in which his wool is made into yarn and commercial floor coverings.
Issues of design, spinning and dyeing, manufacture and marketing have spanned a long learning curve. Haldane’s preference was to market a wholly New Zealand high-end product.
However Fieldmark has evolved as a global operation involving designers from USA, New Zealand, and Australia; local spinning and dyeing companies; and a manufacturing plant in Poland.
You can see Fieldmark product in the new exhibition Smart works: design and the handmade, until 4 November 2007 at the Powerhouse Museum.