Donna’s magic touch with knitting

It’s unfair and annoying when a designer’s work is copied by high street and online retailers but it can be a powerful motivator to move swiftly on. Donna Wilson took this pragmatic approach when her quirky knitted toys were shamelessly plagiarised and by doing so she proved that her abilities extended much further than knit one purl one. “It is annoying but I try not to get too concerned. You can’t do. The key is to refresh and renew.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Nov 2011, 12:00 BST

“What we do is handmade and very different to the mass-produced stuff,” says Donna, whose Royal College of Art graduation show was a launch pad for her business established in 2003. A mixed media and textiles student, she cast off what she calls her “weird knitted creatures” and the world fell in love with them. “They are inspired by naive childlike drawing and people just want to adopt them,” she says.

She still makes the toys, including Wolfie the wolf “who loves to eat spoons” and Ginge the cat, “who loves kisses and cherry cola”, and they beat the cheap imitations hands down.

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Her range has also expanded to include everything from cushions, throws and textiles to pouffes, ceramics and furniture, which sell across 25 countries.

If you want to see why she is so successful, then visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park this winter. Donna has just been up to the park to put the finishing touches to a magical exhibition featuring an eccentric world of knitted trees and curiosities in her trademark patterns and colours. The upper space in YSP’s visitor centre is now a knitted woodland scene with trees and animals resting on a carpet of luxurious rugs, while the upper concourse showcases a wall of one-off original watercolours and drawings, ceramic plates and soft knitted plants and flowers. In the shop window there are creatures hiding in woodland along with hand-drawn illustrations. Donna also marks the start of her printmaking career with a limited edition screen print for the YSP. The Scottish-born designer, who was brought up on a farm near Aberdeen, has forged a strong connection with Yorkshire and sources her yarns from Z Hinchliffe and Sons in Denby Dale.

She is committed to using UK-based manufacturers and suppliers and her toys and scarves are knitted on machines by a small family-run business in Galasheils on the Scottish borders, while a woman based in Orkney makes all her Cyril Squirrels.

“I love that we are a small team and I really don’t want to grow too massive,” says Donna, who is based in east London.

“I like the fact we have a niche market of people who appreciate the handmade element and the fact that everything is made in Britain. I’m happy just to keep making things and being creative.”

Related topics:Orkney