About Us

Looby Macnamara is an active member of the permaculture community. She has served on the board of trustees for the Permaculture Association (Britain) for four years and is currently the chairperson. She teaches permaculture design courses and has her diploma in applied permaculture design. She has co-ordinated 2 camps for women in permaculture & the permaculture NetTogether - the biggest permaculture event in Britain. She has a degree in Human Sciences from University of Sussex. Her interests have taken her to Nepal where she has made connections with the local grassroots organisations such as the Himalayan Permaculture Group and the Nepal Permaculture Group. She is working on developing a sustainable market for products related to rural development programmes that aim to improve livelihoods of marginal communities, as well as crafts from small businesses.

Chris Evans has lived and worked in Nepal since 1985, co-founding the Jajarkot Permaculture Project, which successfully spread new ideas in line with existing cultural traditions. He ran the Nepal programmes for Appropriate Technology Asia from 2002 to 2008. Chris started his career as a VSO volunteer in a community forestry programme in Nepal after graduating in Forestry in the UK. Based in the remote western district of Jajarkot, he quickly realised the shortfalls of international development and so in 1988, when he came across the concept of Permaculture, he embarked on an ambitious alternative. Starting with a local friend, £500 and an acre of degraded farmland in the district centre of Jajarkot he founded a demonstration and training centre which grew organically into the Jajarkot Permaculture Programme (JPP), a diverse array of projects spanning 4 districts, 65 villages, 8 resource centres (working farms), 120 staff and volunteers, and a membership of 12,000 farmers. He stayed with the JPP until 2001 when he started to work with community groups which were spawned from the original programme. In 2002 he started work with Appropriate Technology Asia's Nepal programmes, working in the district of Humla, one of the remotest areas of the country. ATA's local partner in Nepal is the Himalayan Permaculture Group (HPG), of which Chris is an advisor. Beside his grass-roots experience in Nepal, Chris has taught permaculture in UK, India, U.S.A. and Mexico.

Both Looby & Chris teach permaculture in Britain with Designed Visions. See www.designedvisions.com for details of their forthcoming permaculture courses.

Louise Chodecka joined Spirals of Abundance in 2010 and takes care of the day to day running of the company. It is Louise who you would speak to if you contacted us with any questions, and it is also Louise who takes care of dispatches, so if you have any special requests, please let her know. Louise is passionate about Peoplecare (an ethic of Permaculture) and is keen to support communities both her in the UK and Nepal.Louise balances working for Spirals and an accountant, whilst also moonlighting as a Mum, Breastfeeding Peer Supporter, carer and general handyperson. She completed her Permaculture Design Course in the same year as joining Spirals.