BerkShares April 2025 Business of the Month
Featuring Lineflax and Roving
By Katy Sparks
Cardinale Montano graciously invited me into her charming home for our conversation. It was immediately apparent that she has an affinity for materials that resonate with her on some deep level. Everywhere I looked there was a beautiful object embodying either personal history or artisan craftmanship of some kind. It was a wonderful place to learn about her business and interact with a few of her beautifully sturdy, vividly colored, and richly textured products.
Katy Sparks: Cardinale, tell me about the name of your business. Where does it come from?
Cardinale Montano: When I started my business in 2012, I had just left my position at a local restaurant where I was waitressing and managing. I had decided to really dive into the creative stuff I’ve done my whole life, and I was primarily working with two materials at that time: linen and wool. So, the name springs from those two materials. Lineflax is the name for the long fiber linen and roving is the name for any spun and then roped piece of fiber and so Lineflax and Roving was launched!
KS: How did you originally get into making textiles?
CM: I have 3 siblings, and my grandmother taught us all to knit by age 5 and sew by age 7! My mother taught handwork at a Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, NY where we were raised. Also, my Italian great aunt was a seamstress. Years ago, I was working in my studio in Great Barrington with the woman who owned the space, and she happened to be an industrial designer. In a stroke of fate, I picked up a remnant of GreenGuard certified vinyl which I had never heard of before and started making bags that people seemed to really love. The bags are lightweight, durable, water resistant, and breathable. They look like an upgraded tote bag though some have zippered tops for traveling and I now make cross-bodied bags as well. I initially sold them through One Mercantile before I launched my website where I do online sales. I also sell at American Pie in Chatham, NY and at the Arts Market at the Great Barrington Farmers Market in the summer.
KS: How have the recent uncertainties about tariffs on the global market changed things for you? Have your plans for future production been impacted?
CM: I think anyone who has a creative bent will look at this moment as an opportunity and as an exercise in flexibility really. And the clincher for me is that even in the beginning of my work without realizing it I was sourcing all domestically produced materials. I’d also like to work with hemp, but we don’t produce much in the U.S. So maybe an upside will be more impetus to produce it here. I’m getting into working with waxed canvas which is a little more flexible than the vinyl and I like the sculptural aspect of it.
KS: And how long have you been accepting BerkShares?
CM: Not very long. Initially I was worried about accepting them and not being able to pay enough of my vendors in BerkShares and then getting in the position of having more than I could spend. But when I realized that I can easily spend them for my grocery shopping and at the farmers market and cash them out if I really need to, I wanted to commit to taking them and helping to keep them circulating.
KS: What are your thoughts for the future of LineFlax and Roving?
CM: I love the small business model, and I’ve never really wanted to go big. And I’m committed to keeping production as local as possible. Whatever else I go into, whether it’s children’s clothing or something else I will not do all that myself. But there are people I can reach out to and keep it as local as possible.
