OLIVE
I’m the designer-maker behind the award winning #zero-waste brand Olive Pearson Designs.
Based in my home studio in Glasgow, I specialise in contemporary knitted accessories for fashion and interiors. I design and make everything myself from own label limited edition collections, to commissions for corporate and private clients. Launched in June 2015, my aim is to create unique, slow-fashion, ethical and sustainable products for customers - heirloom pieces, made to last.
A lover of colour, geometry and small scale repeat patterns since discovering spirograph as a child, I am fulfilling a lifelong ambition to design and make my own patterns and products. My distinctive designs are 'simple', repeat geometric patterns that play with perceptions while mixing contemporary colours and patterns with traditional knitting techniques. Designs are inspired by observed detail in both the urban and natural environment - from manhole covers and architectural details to wave patterns and ripples in the sand. Abstracting these details and translating into a repeat pattern creates an elegant synthesis between the inspiration and wearable art. Each design is named after the building, street, area or detail that provided the initial inspiration. New designs and colour combinations are constantly evolving and being researched with my camera while archive designs are always available to order.
Olive is on the Crafts Council Directory and is a selected maker of Design Nation.
SLOW FASHION ETHOS
Instead of having my designs manufactured in large quantities, I have chosen to handcraft everything in smaller quantities. By working this way I can maintain quality, reduce waste, reduce my carbon footprint and offer customers a unique 'slow fashion' product. This practice also enables me to provide customers with a bespoke service, making accessories in sizes, colours and yarns to suit their individual requirements. Fashion and interiors accessories and fabrics are all knitted to size, are fully fashioned (shaped) and crafted using a manually operated knitting machine before hand finishing - stitching seams, washing, pressing and labelling.
SUSTAINABILITY
I source the raw materials (yarns) for my fabrics as responsibly as possible from ethical suppliers who comply with international Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and non-mulesing animal welfare standards and use only natural fibres: merino lamb’s wool, cashmere, silk and cotton. The majority of my products are made with wool which has some amazing natural properties including that it is biodegradable and fire retardant - not to mention it is super soft, warm and breathable.
Zero waste and recycling are very important to me so I buy small quantities (cone ends) of different yarns from graduating students and mills. Short ends of yarn are used to attach my labels, showing the weight, colour and quality of yarns used to make each piece of fabric.
Wool products can be returned for repair - or if beyond repair, upcycled into new products.
BIO / EDUCATION
Originally from Renfrewshire in Scotland, I gained qualifications in geography and cartography from Glasgow University before working as a cartographic editor-designer in Glasgow and Oxfordshire. Designing award-winning, one-off maps for the publishing industry, I loved the process of balancing colour, line, symbol and text detail to create a beautiful marriage of form and function. Redundancy in 1995 motivated me to take the plunge into freelancing as a consultant and editor-designer - an experience that taught me invaluable business skills.
Changes in the publishing industry made me want to change direction within the field of design and after completing a Portfolio Course I went on to gain a degree in textile design from The Glasgow School of Art in 2012. Although I had always loved hand knitting - a skill I had learned from about age 6, it was while at GSA that I was introduced to the advantages (and speed!) of knitting machines. These gave me the freedom and flexibility to work with finer yarns to create my signature fair-isle style and textured designs. My degree show collection was inspired by manhole covers and they continue to be a valuable geometric resource for new designs. After graduation, I sold designs to international fashion houses, exhibited artwork, and freelanced before finding my true vocation - creating my own unique brand to showcase my designs and passion for pattern.