Emily Quinn
Assistant Professor
I started teaching textiles at ECA in 1999 and then moved to the Scottish Borders in 2003 where I took up my post at The School of Textiles and Design. Alongside teaching I have always continued to work in the textile and fashion industry and have designed textiles for various clients including Pringle Scotland, Hussein Chalayan, Dries Van Noten, Elspeth Gibson, Benetton and Bruce Oldfield amongst others. My husband and I started our luxury Scottish clothing label ‘Jaggy Nettle Ltd' in 2010 and then sister label ‘Made in Grey Britain' in 2015. We sell in Japan, the US, Europe, and online and have a Mill in Hawick with our own print room and studios as well as a shop in our home town of Lauder. We have collaborated with Novesta, Hancock, Faber & Faber, Johnstons Cashmere, Dixon Avenue Basement Jams, Salon de Shimaji, WWF, and Eland International.
Background
I was born in Edinburgh and graduated in printed textiles from Edinburgh College of Art in the 1990's. My love of textiles started as a young girl…my parents both studied at Carlisle College of Art and I was brought up around their love for art and design. They had to be resourceful and creative as a young couple with not a lot. The house was furnished with buys from charity shops and clothing was ‘make do and mend' before this phrase became a trend. They both had a great eye and my mother's favourite saying was ‘in life, there are two ways to be poor'. She was right… she was teaching me to be resourceful and find beauty in the everyday. I attribute my love of collections, mid-century ceramics, textiles, and a ‘good rummage' around a charity shop to my parents. It is a great source of inspiration. I would visit the degree shows with my mother and we always made a beeline for the textile department. I chose to specialise in printed textiles but could have happily studied anything textile related as I love knitting, weaving and embroidery and spend my downtime handknitting.