Craft work
Designer Donna Wilson talks to Janet Christie about the influence of her Aberdeenshire upbringing on her creativity and life
Scottish designer Donna Wilson isn’t about to abandon the wonderfully weird Creatures which helped make her name, but the urge to experiment and grow creatively is leading her in interesting directions, she tells Janet Christie. Portrait by Debra Hurford Brown
Award- winning Scottish textile and product designer Donna Wilson is hitting the high road and heading home for the first time with a pop- up studio sample sale stuffed with her familiar woolly weirdy toy Creatures and ever expanding collection of homewares.
Gazing skelly- eyed and extra headed, the Creatures will be there, along with her popular ceramics, textiles, sweaters, accessories, as well as her new Spring Summer collection, T- shirts, scarves, skirts and wraps. Fans can take advantage of discounts on new and past collections, slight seconds and assorted one- offs from her 16 year archive.
It’s appropriate that Wilson should be heading north as the 41- year- old designer from rural Aberdeenshire has always been inspired by her homeland, despite almost two decades in London. We’re not saying her hugely popular weirdy Creatures, from Peeping Tom to Puddle Man to Angry Ginger, directly reflect us, but growing up on a farm near Banff certainly gave her a love of animals that combined with her wry humour has resulted in Wilson producing a glorious array, from Cyril Squirrel Fox to the four eared, two headed Bunny Blue. The palette of Aberdeenshire is there too, the vibrant colours of the vast skies and seas and rolling farmland, as is a legacy of crafting in the textures and
techniques, felting, knitting, sewing.
“It’s exciting to be able to come up and see the customers face to face,” she says. “Hopefully the knitwear will go well, with it being a tiny bit colder and people being more outdoorsy, and we’ll be bringing lots of weird creatures and odd things you won’t see anywhere else.” With the emphasis firmly on odd, but in a good way.
“My Creatures have always been such a strong thing and I’ve realised it’s because they’re so different, like one- offs, depending on who’s stitching on the eyes – they’ve got character, a homemade element and that’s the appeal. When I’m designing them I place the eyes in different places to see the expressions changing, and that’s what gives the humour.
“And they’ve got a kind of nostalgic feeling about them so you feel a bit sorry for them. My work is quite graphic and the colours a bit odd, and I think people appreciate that it’s still made in the UK. It’s not about mass producing something, more about producing something people will hold onto and make it last because they love it.”
Ask about inspiration and Wilson mentions Scandinavian textile and ceramic designer Stig Lindberg and American Alexander Girard. If money were no object she’d love a Vitra Polder sofa by Hella Jongerius, but she avoids looking too much at other designers’ work in order