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…
A long silence….
Half a year later, a new location and a new job, a lot has changed…. Now living back on mainland Scotland, I miss home a lot I am also loving the new adventures which are widening my learning experiences as well as broadening my design skills. More to follow soon, but for now, here are…
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…
Northern Edge Collection Photoshoot
I managed to do a photo shoot in the Reid Building at Glasgow School of Art before our final submission and fashion show. It was really good to see the collection all together and see how things worked together. My collection, consisted of six looks, all made from my handwoven fabrics and used a combination…
The Final Collection
This past year at Glasgow School of Art has gone so fast, it is hard to believe that this time last year I was just about to begin the course. As our Masters show was a couple of weeks ago now, and I am back home in Shetland I thought it would show the ‘before’…
Update Part two…..
As promised, here is the next update of what I’ve been up to lately: After I wove a couple of different heavy weight warps for my jacket ideas which I showed in my last blog, (Weaving and more weaving…) I thought that it would be good to do some lighter weight fabrics which could be used…
Weaving and more weaving…..
The last time I blogged I had started to create artworks for taking ideas into sampling….which was back in November. This year in Glasgow has gone so quickly and its somehow it’s May already! I have just handed in my work for the stage two assessment….which means the third and final stage of my masters…
Back to lines….
Been in Glasgow for a couple of months now and so far, so good! I’ve found myself being drawn back to my usual ways and have continued to create ideas revolving around this idea of line…I think it is something to do with my weaver mind and the grid system that weaving works in…..so anything…
Shetland Summer….
Had a lovely couple of months at home, which was unexpected as I didn’t know how long I was going to get home for when I got back in July….I managed to get some work during August, not textile related, but have been outside most days and have got some great photographs taken and will…
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…
London, New Designers and the Worshipful Company of Weavers Associate Prize
A few week have passed since I was down in London, and everything seems to be very exciting at the moment. London was again, fantastic. The city has such an amazing atmosphere which I love, and I hope I will be back again soon. New Designers seems like a dream now that I am back…
Industrial North Final Collection
We had our Degree Show at the beginning of June, so we were finally able to reveal our collections to industry and the public! Here are some shots from the Degree Show showing my Industrial North Collection: Industrial North A collection of dobby and jacquard woven fabrics inspired by Shetlands northern identity as a small…
The Bonhoga Open 2014
I had a great week home, it was so nice to be back! I had some weaving to finish so spent the first week driving up and down to Yell. I always forget how weird it is when you go back to Shetland after being away because everything is just exactly the same. Before I…
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…
Ending 2013 back home…..
The 14 or so weeks of my first semester of 4th year certainly flew by, and now we are into the start of 2014 which will be the year of change and opportunities, hopefully. My capsule collection was based on themes of Shetland, particularly Lerwick, and outside influences that help to inspire me too, but…
Back to the Borders…..
I’ve been back down in the Borders for eight weeks now….(how?) The days are passing so quickly, it’s crazy, and all my time is spent, yarn wrapping, weaving and thinking about textiles. Below is the view from my loom this year. This is my final year down here, so we are free to decide our…
The final collection….
I went up to Yell at the end of last week to drop off the final collection of fabrics to Andy at the Ann Sutton Foundation. As my summer is almost over it’s been a funny week of saying goodbye to people and packing things up….although, I have been procrastinating like something else and actually…
A Contemporary Shetland Tweed….
Two out of three of my finished samples for ASF Shetland have now been taken off the loom and have been washed and pressed. It’s a great feeling to see a finish piece of fabric! The last sample is about half way through but I ran out of one of the weft yarn colour and…
ASF Shetland 2013 – Stay and Make
I have been spending my summer on the far northern island of Shetland – Yell. A 40 minute drive, 20 minute inter island ferry and then a further 15 minute journey away from my house in Lerwick, I have been driving up and down the A970 three or four times a week to work at…
A busy week in London…..
My busy week in London started off with a visit to New Designers part 1 in Angel at the Business Design Center. As I am going into my Honours year in September, I thought it would be interesting to see the level of work that Graduating textile, craft and jewellery designers were reaching this year.…
A year ago…..
I have been sorting out my stuff for going back to Shetland for the summer, and I came across my work from this time last year for our degree show! It was so weird looking at it all…and its so odd to think how much has changed in a year. Below are my pictures that…
Farlin at the StAnza Poetry Festival – Fife March 2013
Due to a hectic uni schedule which suddenly approached me without any warning it seemed, I was in Gala, for 6 whole weeks without leaving, before I escaped for easter at the end of March. That is a record for me….who normally stays only during the week and escapes to Edinburgh or Glasgow at the…
A busy few months….
So it’s been pretty hectic here in the Scottish Borders for the past two months, but all the hard work will hopefully pay off!! And now we can all relax a little bit as summer is approaching, and we have handed in all our work! The lighter nights are well underway and spring has…
Campaigning for the wool……
At uni during last semester, we had to write a series of blogs for design practice. In the last task we were asked to write an essay developing one of the blogs that we had previously written. I chose to talk about sustainability in textiles because it is something we have to consider more and…
I miss the sea…..
Raewick Beach – West Side, Shetland I miss the sea. Alot. I have been away from Shetland for 3 months now. And I miss the sea sooo much! It’s weird. I miss the noise it makes, in the background of silence. Because the sea is never silent. The tide is always on the move. I…
Farlin Project – Shetland Arts Trust – Bonhoga 2012
I got selected to take part in the Farlin project back in January. Craft makers of Shetland were paired with Poets from Fife and viceversa, the whole point in the project was the passing of information between each pair, to see what the end outcome would be, and how they would influence eachother. I was…
Degree Show – June 2012
Our Degree show was one of the most important events for us graduating students this year. We converted the old Museum building in Shetland into a Gallery space for a week. The large windows provided the space with lots of natural light. There were five of us in our class. Me and my friend Ella…
Heeeey There!
So…I’ve decided to start a blog to help record my thoughts for future projects, my interests and my uni work. I have recently graduated from Shetland College UHI with a BA in Contemporary Textiles…with distinction (very important to add that part!) and I am currently continuing my studies down in Galashiels at Heriot Watt University.…
amy gair 