Scottish artist teams up with interior design studio to celebrate the Glasgow Girls
Glasgow’s rich creative heritage is being translated into wallpapers, fabrics and rugs as part of a striking new collection.
Scottish artist Iona Crawford has joined forces with Chelsea Mclaine interior design studio to launch the contemporary interior design and textile project, New Wave Glasgow Girls.
The pieces are inspired by the work of trailblazing women artists from the city’s lively art scene in the late 1800s and early 1900s, best known as the Glasgow Girls. This iconic group of creators pushed the boundaries with their unique styles in painting, illustration, textiles and decorative art. For Iona, who works across painting, fashion and interiors, their legacy creates a powerful connection to the city’s history as a hub of creativity and innovation.
“The Glasgow Girls have always been hugely inspiring to me,” she says. “Not simply because of the work they created, but because of the confidence and individuality with which they approached their careers. Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, Frances MacNair, Bessie MacNicol and Jessie M. King all had such distinctive voices, and I think that is one of the most exciting things about the Glasgow Girls story.”
What does the collection have to offer?
New Wave Glasgow Girls comprises three distinct pattern stories (Silk Dress, Bluebell and Wee Check) which are now available as wallpapers, fabrics and rugs so the collection can be layered easily throughout the home.
“For me, this collection was never about trying to recreate their work,” Iona Crawford explains. “It was about responding to the spirit of what they represented, experimentation, pattern, colour, femininity, nature and an incredible sense of imagination and asking what that might look like now.”
Colour palettes and pattern names are central to the collection’s identity, taken from Scottish words like Coorie, Braw, Gallus and Sonsie. They give each piece personality, warmth and a touch of Glasgow humour and playfulness.
“I wanted New Wave Glasgow Girls to feel unmistakably Scottish and unmistakably connected to Glasgow, but not traditional or nostalgic,” Iona says. “The idea was to take something from our creative history and give it a new energy. These are patterns that can live in a contemporary home, but hopefully they still carry that sense of artistic freedom and personality that makes the Glasgow Girls so compelling.”
Margot Paton, founder of Chelsea Mclaine adds, “What really excited me about working with Iona was the opportunity to bring her artistic language into an interiors collection, rather than simply creating another range of decorative patterns. There is a real story behind New Wave Glasgow Girls and we wanted that story to be felt throughout the collection.”
Follow Iona Crawford on Instagram here | Follow Chelsea Mclaine Instagram here
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