We are a father and son duo with a Fleece Forward approach to the fiber arts. We believe that by working with quality fiber and equipment, our customers can make efficient use of their time spent crafting, while creating garments that last a lifetime.
Henry bought his first wood lathe at the age of eight and founded our company in 1970 after four years of apprenticing with renowned wheel maker Anthony Cardarelle. Joined first by his father, and then several family members and friends, Clemes & Clemes grew throughout the 1970s and 1980s as we supplied spinning wheels, hand cards, drum carders, and fleece for the burgeoning fiber arts movement that continues to this day.
Roy grew up in our family’s wood shop and, like Henry, is a master craftsman and wool aficionado. Roy has written articles for both PLY and SpinOff magazines and is the president of Lambtown Festival. In a testament to our quality and craftsmanship, he routinely repairs and refurbishes drum carders and spinning wheels that were made before he was born, sending them back into service for the next thirty to forty years.
We are both woodworkers at heart, so our tools feature wood rather than metal or plastic when feasible. We source locally and domestically whenever possible, with the rare exception being carding cloth which is custom made to our specifications in precision factories in Europe. All of the fleece in our Good Clean Fiber program is purchased from ranches in the US.
We are based in the East Bay hamlet of Pinole in the San Francisco Bay Area. While we do not have a retail storefront and our shop is not open to the public, we attend fiber festivals around the country to vend as well as to teach the art of fiber preparation to hand spinners, felters, producers, and professional fiber artists.
