Hand Manufacturing, Value + Conscious Design

It takes me approximately 10 hours to knit a hat from start to finish. This includes washing, (not including drying) tying in the ends and making a pom pom for the top. It’s got me thinking about hand manufacturing and the costs/time/impacts associated. I knit these hats with 3 needles, completely by hand, it’s not

Home + Hats

I have not written a blog on this page for quite some time, over the past fours years I have been working as a designer in the Scottish textiles and manufacturing industry for various companies which has meant that my own design work has taken a bit of a back seat. Over the past few

Simone Landwehr-Traxler – ‘Spinning the Yarn’

I went along to see Simone Landwehr-Traxler’s ‘Spinning the Yarn’ exhibition, displayed at House for an Art Lover in Glasgows Bellahouston Park a couple of weeks ago. ‘Spinning the Yarn’ hopes to travel to Shetland in 2018 along with a performance piece which I hope to see at home, however I took the opportunity to

Shetland Summer…

I managed to get home for a few days in August, which was lovely. I really appreciate how special a place Shetland is when I return, there really is no where like it. The open space and the sea. The pictures speak for themselves… Amy.x

New York…

In March we traveled over to NYC for a five day trip which promised adventure. The city, in which I have never been to, was totally mesmerising. It was exactly what I imagined and much more. The urban landscape for me is always inspiring especially in contrast to the open space landscape I grew up

Made….

Another section from Pitti Uomo in June which I found really interesting was ‘Make’. The idea around this moves away from large production retailers and focused on makers who sell and make in smaller production runs. As this was in Florence a lot of the designers taking part in this section has focussed on ‘Made

Pitti Uomo – June 2016

I was lucky enough to go to Florence in June and attend the Pitti Uomo menswear show. Four years ago I went to Pitti Filati the yarn trade show as a student and I had a brilliant time. Although the last time I visited it was in January, it was so nice to be back

November and being home…

After my Masters finished in September I decided that I really wanted to go back to Shetland for a bit, just to take some time out and to have a break. So far, not much of a break has been had, between working part time for Jamieson and Smith – The Woolbrokers here in Lerwick and

The Weave Shed:

The Weave Shed is a great blog/website focused on all things weaving. Sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Weavers and Central Saint Martins, the site has pages full of designer profiles, textile information, jobs and competitions. As a follower of the site for a few years now, on Tuesday I was lucky enough to have

Final collections, tweed reseach, mill visits, yarn road trips, weaving and fundraising…….

Nearing the end of my last year and I can’t believe that the past 12 weeks have just disappeared! It’s a bit scary…..we are now on a three week break for Easter (not really a break as such) as my days have been busy filling in technical specifications for my final collection, filling in missing