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Donna Wilson: The Creature Collective
Wednesday 5 June - Tuesday 31 December
Dive into the woolly wonderland of Donna Wilson!
Welcome to The Creature Collective – twenty years in the making, this display embodies a sense of nostalgia and the playfulness of childhood, storytelling and folklore, with each creature drawing inspiration from the imperfections and oddities of life.
The creatures are ‘perfectly imperfect’ – all made by hand, so no two are exactly the same. Come along to meet over 100 creatures including Cyril Squirrel Fox, Joey Giraffe, Wilfred Wolf, and many more, all brimming with Donna's playful sense of humour, love of nature and lifelong passion for craft and making.
Meet the designer:
Donna Wilson is a renowned Scottish textile designer known for her whimsical knitted creatures. Her journey into creating these unique items started in the early 2000’s while she was a student at the Royal College of Art, London, and marked the beginning of what would become a hallmark of her design career.
The creatures are inspired by a combination of Wilson’s childhood experiences, her love of nature, and her appreciation for traditional crafts. Growing up on a farm in Aberdeenshire, Wilson was surrounded by animals and the natural world, which sparked her imagination, and love for whimsical , playful forms, and sense of colour.
In 2020 Wilson opened The Knit Shop in Dundee, a micro-factory bridging the gap between design, industry and education. She still remembers the closure of the local knit factory and setting up The Knit Shop is Wilson’s contribution to keep the tradition of knitwear and textile production in Scotland alive, so that these precious skills are not lost forever.
