The citizens of Ohne established a committee to find out what the community wanted to produce. Linen was an option. Linen does not require very fertile grounds. Linen used to be produced almost everywhere in Nothern, Western, Eastern and Central Europe and there seems to be a collective memory that the production of linen means a lot of work. The village of Ohne can count on an impressive spirit of doing things together and so the committee fearlessly went for an XL field of Flax in the middle of the village.

The sowing was framed by a party and when a hundred had to help with the harvest the party was even bigger. The harder parts of the work started after this party, the straw had to stay on the field for some weeks to be ready for producing the fibres. The summer was wet, the straw had to be turned and turned and bundled and carried and in the end only the bravest remained since the fire brigade had their own party on the crucial day.

Then a Tour D’Europe started for the straw – travelling to the Netherlands, to Belgium and to Hungary and to Schleswig-Holstein turned it into fibres and yarn. Now the textile designers of the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach are finding out what kind of fabrics can be made of it.

In October 2013 the first final product made from the linen is presented: Klara Nitsche, a student from the Mönchengladbach University, designed 'Lesestoff' and wove the fabric for it, 'Lesestoff' can be translated as reading matter and reading fabric.

One big question still remains open: How can we sell this pure gold as a product in the shop?

The village of Ohne with the brothers Van Looij (NL), Castellins (BE), Hungarolen (HU), Holstein Flachs (GE)