A giant ball of colourful yarn with the Bradford skyline around the edge of it against a blue sky.

26 July 2025

A Good Yarn: City Centre Roll

Luke Jerram & Bloomin' Buds

Roll with it! We’re making a huge new artwork from the very fabric of Bradford.

Event Details
Date 26 July 2025
Times To be announced
Location Bradford City Centre
Ages All ages

Bradford’s textile heritage is the inspiration for A Good Yarn, an extraordinary new creation for Bradford 2025. It’s the brainchild of Luke Jerram, the artist behind Museum of the Moon and street piano project Play Me, I’m Yours, in partnership with Bradford’s Bloomin’ Buds – with a soundtrack from the Broken Orchestra and a helping hand from the people of Bradford.

A Good Yarn is a huge ball of yarn – and we mean huge. We’re collecting fabric and clothing donations across Bradford District. We’re plaiting them into a rope stretching more than a kilometre. And with the help of community groups in BD10, we’re winding the rope into a ginormous yarn ball, three metres high and wide – then rolling it through the streets of Bradford in July. Look out!

We’re not just collecting fabric, though: we also want to collect your fabric-related stories, from memories of Bradford’s industrial heritage to stories about a favourite old piece of clothing. The Broken Orchestra will be collecting your yarns about yarn and turning them into a soundscape for an exhibition, when you’ll also be able to see the giant yarn ball before it’s recycled at the end of 2025.

A Good Yarn rolls are weather dependent.

About the Artists

A photograph of a smartly dressed man stood in front of an image of the surface of the moon
Luke Jerram 

Luke Jerram

Luke Jerram is a UK artist who creates extraordinary sculptures, installations and live art projects around the world, often for public spaces. His previous works include Museum of the Moon, which has been presented in more than 40 countries around the world; First Breath, a light artwork celebrating new life; and Play Me, I’m Yours, street pianos installed in cities from Tokyo to New York.

Bloomin' Buds

Bloomin’ Buds are a Bradford-based theatre company that works to increase access to the arts for working-class communities in the district. Based at Albion Mills in BD10, Bloomin’ Buds are passionate advocates for bringing voice and empowerment to working-class people and communities through the arts.

The Broken Orchestra

The Broken Orchestra are known both for their genre-defying music and for their innovative work in producing work for public space and community arts. Their projects transform public spaces into sonic canvases, using field recordings, spoken word and original compositions to reflect the stories, voices, and textures of local communities.

Credits
Commissioned and produced by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. Supported by Bradford District and Craven Mind and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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