Hilary Grant returned to LDF with two new pieces exploring a singular idea at different scales and applications. The St Ives Blanket and Wall Hanging are inspired by the St Ives artists’ movement of the 1940s – in particular the colour work that is characteristic of the period, a layered use of colour and shape. The wall hanging is designed down to the last millimetre, every stitch is intentional. Like the blanket, it can be enjoyed almost instantaneously – unlike paper prints or artwork which are often left waiting to be framed. The fully fashioned nature of industrial knitwear production also means that both pieces are made in their entirety, with very minimal waste.

“A great deal of the development behind these pieces is in the colour-work, and finding the right balance of hue, or light and dark in order for the colours to blend and vibrate against one another. This is an intuitive process, by eye, experimenting on screen and then producing a number of colour samples with our mills. We work in a precise way that is close to the way that knitwear is programmed, so the limitations of the medium are assimilated into the design process therefore ideas aren’t lost through the translation of artwork.”

Hilary Grant is a textile design company led by Hilary Grant and Robert Harvey. Based on the northerly island of Orkney, they work with specialist mills in mainland Scotland to produce their textiles. Hilary Grant places a strong emphasis on sustainability and ethical production.