In stitches

Imagine a whimsical world where a fox perches in a windowsill, puffy clouds litter the worktable, a pincushion doubles as a cupcake and a box of oddly shaped creatures huddle together in a box awaiting noses...

This is the West Dulwich workshop of designer Donna Wilson, where seemingly anything is possible. "I moved in three years ago. Before that I was just working in my basement in Herne Hill in a shared house; there were about five of us. I basically filled this little room with my machines and knitting.

"I have to wash everything once it's knitted because you have to felt it, so everybody was finding bits of wool in their clothes - they were going, 'Come on Donna, you need a studio!'"

Having grown up on a Scottish farm, Donna graduated from art school in Aberdeen only to find jobs there in short supply. She moved to London to work in the office of a cashmere company, but after a year she'd gained a place at the Royal College of Art. There she won an MA - literally with flying colours.

Today some of the world's most influential shops carry her work, ranging from interiors accessories to furniture to fashion, but in those early days it was her fanciful knitted creatures that grabbed the attention of the design elite.

"I started making these sort of dolls in between first and second years at Royal College, and started taking them around shops. I met the owner of Couverture on King's Road. They bought 20 a month from me, so I got £400 a month, paid my rent and it was really regular, really fantastic. I had people commissioning me - they always were wanting more and more and more."

Meanwhile, Donna's tutor pushed her to expand beyond dolls. "She told me, 'Ok you can do those dolls now, but when you're at college you need to develop something else, challenge yourself.' So then these weird ones came out. At the final show they sold out, and I just thought, 'Great, I'm going to keep doing this.'"

Her work was selected for the Designersblock show, where the visionary owner of the New York shop Moss - which the Sunday Times calls "the world's best design store" - came knocking. "Murray Moss bought the whole lot of them for his shop. That was another thing that kind of propelled them."

London's answer to Murray Moss, Sheridan Coakley, was the next to appreciate Donna's vast talent, snapping up her creatures for his shop SCP. "He'd seen my work in different places and I think he thought he'd give them a try. They sold really, really well. He also started asking me to sell cushions and blankets and all of the products across the whole range. And then he asked me if I'd like to do some furniture for them."

Donna claims she's been very lucky, but in reality her willingness to try almost anything that's asked of her - from craft to fine art, furniture to fashion, charity projects and even publishing - suggests she's created her own luck. "I've got this thing, I can't say no to anything. And I have been really open to lots of ideas, where some people might go, 'Oh god, no that's not my thing.'" So today in addition to coasters, trays and rugs, her interiors range includes a footstool and sofa, with yet more furniture in the pipeline.

She's now taken on another studio and employs several staff, as well as a team of outworkers from Orkney to Bournemouth. With distributors in Japan, France, Korea and the US, she supplies 100 stockists in the UK herself. Her creatures were featured by the label Steve J and Yoni P in their recent fashion week catwalk show, while the international climate change charity Together commissioned her to create draught excluders for their latest campaign.

She opened a solo show in January to launch the 10th anniversary of The Lighthouse, Scotland's centre for design and architecture, and her book The Knitted Odd Bod Bunch (CICO, £12.99) came out in March. This year she also plans to introduce more creatures and expand her fashion accessories range.

It's becoming a booming empire, but Donna remains staunchly down-to-earth. "I do feel like I'm a designer but have a craft sort of mentality, so even though I'm trying to get things manufactured, I want to get them made by hand. They are special things, they're not just throwaway items.

"They're something that a lot of people have put love and attention into. When I send them off to certain outworkers, they've got their own sort of handwriting, which is what I quite like. They're the same creatures but they've got different personalities because of the person that's made them."

Maintaining these qualities as the business expands is one of her biggest struggles. "I try to keep it all made here and not in China or mass produced somewhere. I'm finding it more and more difficult to do that, but I just feel quite strongly that I should help support the industry here a little bit and in Scotland."

By now, however, I've learned that no challenge is too great in Donna's world, so when I depart her company - trailing tiny fluffs of wool behind me - I feel absolutely convinced that she'll pull it off.

www.donnawilson.com

Click here to view our Donna Wilson gallery

In stitches

Members Comments

Add a Comment