Made in Vancouver from Scottish Roots
In 1987, Lorna graduated from the Glasgow School of Art with both honors and postgraduate degrees in embroidered and woven textile design. In 1988 She established a small business making stitched and collaged textiles for the home and sold her pillows and wall hangings in galleries and stores and both the UK And North America. During the 90's she also completed several large scale public art works for hospitals, libraries , mental health clinics and schools in and around London.
Lorna left the UK in 2002 and traveled around the world with her geologist husband and their two small children until settling in 2012 in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. She now regularly exhibits around Vancouver on Granville Island, Bowen Island and at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Inspiration
The colors and climate of British Columbia have inspired Lorna to replace the luscious silks she used in the 90's with warm, wool melton, cotton and linens. The people and cultures she encountered on her travels in Turkey, Borneo and South Africa, have inspired her whimsical colorful stitched portraits. Also, inspired by the beauty of nature, You will find queen bees, leaves and an explosion of florals in her collection.
Techniques
Lorna fuses traditional embroidered appliqué techniques with her own style of fabric manipulation to create her signature stitched and collage surfaces on pillows, blankets, mirrors and purses.
She takes mosaic like pieces of fabric, bonds them onto a wool Melton background and then with mostly a straight stitch, she stitches over and around the shapes in a sketch like , hand drawn style. The stitches not only hold the design together but create a sense of movement and energy over the surface, defining the composition and adding intricate details.
Velvet Printed Designs
Digital technology allows Lorna to print the images of the original collages onto a lush velvet. The prints are then made into pillows blankets and foot stools.. Sometimes appliquéd details are stitched onto the velvet , making the print completely unique with a wee bit of added texture. Please visit the shop for more info.