Inis Meáin

Inis Meáin Knitting Company was founded on the island in 1976 by Tarlach de Blácam and Áine Ní Chonghaile, inspired by the unique spirit, environment and heritage of the place.

Tarlach was a graduate in Celtic Languages from Trinity College Dublin and had gone to Inis Meáin in the late sixties like previous scholars to immerse himself in the language and culture of the island.  Áine was a native of Inis Meáin working as a teacher in Dublin in the early ‘70s. When the pair married in 1973, they were determined to make their home on the island. Drawing on the island tradition, Tarlach and Áine went on to equip a small factory with six knitting machines and set about working with young islanders whose mothers knitted at home for the tourist industry.