In 2016 Gillian Bridle moved to Shetland, making the journey in her sailing boat, Tess Bess, to Scalloway where she now resides. She rents a studio there, from which she runs her design and illustration business.
Gillian specialised in knitwear design as part of her BA in textile design from Manchester University, however it is illustrative design that is now her passion. Gillian works in a number of different mediums including paint, collage, paper cut and shadow box.
She writes: "In the past I have undertaken a lot of commissions that I like to call ‘lifescapes’, designing for cards and prints, but a new environment inevitably leads to a different direction, and on moving to Shetland I have been designing and making more. I walk and I sketch and I photograph my surroundings; ideas come and go, I distil my impressions until designs emerge which I can apply to fabric and paper. Training as a textile designer, the progression back to fabric designs seems like a natural one."
Gillian was one of the category winners at last year's Shetland Open, and as such is one of the four artists whose work is featured in the winners' exhibition, Traces, in the Upper Gallery at Bonhoga from 29 April to 11 June.
We are delighted to launch Gilly's exclusive new range of prints, greetings cards, tea towels, lamp shades and cushions in the shop and craft cabinets at Bonhoga Gallery. The new designs have been taken from her original paper cut artwork, featuring bold Shetland imagery.
