Next up on Meet The Mother Maker series we got to chat to world renowned designer Donna Wilson.

Donna  and her husband and two boys live in East London. Originally from Aberdeenshire, Donna is known for her vibrant and playful homewares and textile designs. Best known for her knitted creatures that light up any living space and instantly make you smile, she has developed a brand that is world renowned for its originality and use of colour, patterns and quirky illustrations. . We got to speak to her about what makes her tick, how she handles being a mum of two and running a successful business and where she draws her inspiration from. 

I know you started out making knitted soft toy creatures when you began studying at the Royal College of Art. Do you still have your first knitted toy that you ever made? 

 “Yes I have a collection of the first ones up on my wall in the studio, it’s really funny to see how they have changed. They started off a lot weirder, then they got tamer and more animal-like and now I’m seeing a resurgence of the weirder ones again. I still can’t quite believe I have made a business making knitted creatures.”

Did you begin knitting by hand or did you use machines? Was this a new craft you had to learn? 

 “My grandma tried teaching me to hand knit but I’m too impatient and I wanted to see results more quickly. When I started art school  I was introduced to the knitting machine. I loved how fast it was to see results and that I could control the pattern, colour and  texture of what I was creating – so that was the beginning of the whole journey!”

At what point did you decide to take it a step further and begin developing clothing, homewares and accessories? 

“I was always one for having my fingers in lots of pies, so at the RCA I collaborated with a Design Products student. We created an amazing floor covering made of 3,500 glove fingers, which introduced me to the world of furniture and interiors. I was also always looking to design other products that could sell in the same shops that the creatures sell in, so that side was always developing along side the creatures. I think the big break for the furniture was meeting SCP, a design shop in East London that also manufactures their own furniture. I collaborated with them in 2009 to design a sofa, arm chairs and collections of knitted ottomans.”

What has been your favourite product to design to date? 

 “There have been so many! One favourite was the puppet show for the Ljubljana children’s theatre, where we knitted the set and puppets for a fantastic touring show called Goose the Bear.”

Has having kids changed the way that you run your business? or the decisions that you make for the business? 

” Yes, definitely. The first few years of having my kids, my business suffered a bit. I was in shock with how mentally demanding having children is! I had to learn to delegate a lot which was a good thing, but I kept working for my sanity, because I felt like my work was one of the things that made me feel like me! But now my kids are 3 and 5 and I have renewed my energy again, I think having kids has made me more ambitious in a way. Now I’m doing this for them as well as just me so that drives me a bit more. “

 Are you a work on the weekend kind of mum? How would you describe a normal working week? are you guilty of working in the evenings? some of us have different times where we like to be creative and other times for being productive. 

“I never work on the weekend ( If I can help it).  It’s a really precious time for me because I don’t see the kids through the week until the evening. I try not to be on my phone too much when I’m with them, as I don’t want them to think of me as a mum that doesn’t stop working. I want them to have my attention. So quite often when they go to bed, I will try to catch up a bit in the evening – but I am really lucky to have a great team that support me too!”

1. ELIAS ROSE CANYON DRESS – 135.00 euros // SESSUN | 2. ANDERS SU LEATHER BAG IN HONEY – 130 EUROS // SESSUN | 3. FLOWER SILK SCARF by DONNA WILSON // £95.00 // DOnna Wilson | 4. MISS KIKI AND CO MUSTARD HEADBAND – £6.00 // Miss Kiki and CO | 5. APOLINA FERN MARGAUX BABY BLOOMER – £24.00£18.00 // OLIVE LOVES ALFIE | 6. ANGULUS MARY JANE SANDALS IN YELLOW – £43.40 // Dapper Baby

1.SANTA ANA RUFFLE DRESS – 148.00 EUROS // SESSUN | 2.STATEMENT DANGLY EARRINGS – -£15.00 // HELLO TERRY | 3.CLOVER SILK SCARF IN PINK – £95.00 // DONNA WILSON | 4.HOLIDAY SANDALS IN MENTHOL– £135.00 – SESSUN | 5. CINNAMON TRAVELLERS BABY SHOES  – £42.00 // Amy & Ivor | 6. KIMONO BABY VEST – £20.00 // Charlotte Mattheiu | 7. TURATAO BUCKET BAG – 95.00 euros // SESSUN

With Mother’s Day being celebrated tomorrow, we are very excited to kick off another one of our blog post series – Meet The Mother Maker.

So, it is with great pleasure that we present to you, the dynamic sister duo behind the children’s fashion label – Wolf & Rita. We have long been a fan of their work since their beginning in 2013 and have long been singing their praises. Both working mothers, Sonia and Claudia have transformed their family run company into an innovative fashion brand that breaks the boundaries and moulds of children’s fashion and their artistic approach to design, enlightens and inspires the industry. We speak to them about making it work, where they draw their inspiration from and how they have built a successsful fashion brand and grown their collections into womenswear and menswear…

” Wolf & Rita : We cultivate the savoir faire and inspiration of the past to create childrens wear for every day use. “

Every collection, we are blown away by their creativity and unique designs. Their recent SS18 collection Hi Mister Ed! highlights include the Alice Tencel denim dress  in trapeze like shape with small collar , the Adelia blouse in Pistachio, Pink and Blue with draped shoulder details in accent colours and my absolute favourite swimsuits particularly the Iris Red and White candy striped one piece. We got to find out a bit more behind the brand, where they draw their inspiration from and what its like to be working mothers.

“It is almost as if we are a part of a “tribe”. As mothers we are the same, we help and are helped by close members of the family, and this greatly helps our business.”

We know that the years of experience gained making shirts in your fathers company enabled you both with the tools and ideas to create something of your own but what inspired you to go into children’s designer wear??  

We thought it would be more interesting to experiment and create in the childrens wear world because we felt that this would allow us to be more free and creative, since we believe childrens wear is still a growing market and it is still possible to have a positive impact on this area.