Made in Scotland: Helen Ruth Scarves
Last year in our Made in Scotland blog series we interviewed the lovely Laura from Fernweh who told us about the beautiful designs created by Helen at Helen Ruth Scarves and we just had to find out more! Helen is a superbly talented designer who works in bright colours and gorgeous fabrics to create scarves and accessories that are Made in Scotland – not that different to ourselves at Bill Baber Knitwear! Read on to meet Helen and see some of her superb designs available for you now on her website.
Can you tell us how your business got started?
I studied textile design at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and specialised in print during my final year. Towards the end of the final semester I entered a competition to design a silk scarf inspired by the Art School, which I won! This not only gave me a huge boost of confidence but also opened my eyes to the concept of turning my illustrations and designs into scarves to be ‘wearable art works’. Once I graduated and screen printing facilities were limited, I turned to digital print and produced a small scarf collection for a gallery, and it’s really just grown organically from there.
Helen’s hand drawings are transformed into fabric
Where do you look for inspiration when you are designing new products?
The local area around me in the North East of Scotland is a huge source of ideas and inspiration – not only for the wild landscape and the creatures who live here, but also the folklore and history too. Sometimes an idea for a print will come to me fully formed in my mind, or others come together as I’m drawing and researching a story or place.
Can you tell us a bit more about how you make your products?
All my designs start with hand drawn imagery from my sketchbook. As I use a lot of digital processes in my pieces I like that they start with drawings from pen and paper – and will often leave in marks or ‘mistakes’ to keep that element of the human hand in the final design. The composition comes together by essentially collaging my drawings together digitally to create a narrative that flows and works within the square format of the scarf – I’ll also be considering at this stage how the placement of imagery looks when the scarf is being worn, so like to include interesting details in the corners and centre which are most on show when the scarf is folded and draped. The digital designs are then sent to Glasgow to be printed on to rolls of silks and wools, before being sent back to me for hand finishing the scarf hems.
Hand detailing work back at the Studio
What are your most popular products and which are your own favourites?
My scarves are probably my most well known and popular – they are big showstopper scarves and I like to think they will be heirloom pieces that will be kept and handed down. My big wool scarves are my favourite – I change my mind all the time on which one I like best but at the moment I’m loving wearing my Hibernation wool scarf – the mustard yellow is so rich and looks great as a highlight colour with any outfit, and the print is inspired by woodland walks and collecting treasure when out in nature.
Helen’s Hibernation Scarf on the left
If you had to pick one place in Scotland to recommend that people visit, where would it be?
There’s so many places in Aberdeenshire that I could recommend but a personal favourite is Burn O’Vat near Loch Kinord on Deeside – it is a bowl like cave that’s been carved out of the rock by water and you enter by a small gap between the rocks. It feels really magical inside.
Made in Scotland: Camban Studio
Which other Scottish Makers do you love to recommend?
I’d like to recommend Paper Houses Designs, Hackley Bags and Camban Studio
Made in Scotland: Paper Houses Designs
Thanks so much to Helen for talking to us about her lovely business, stunning products and the beautiful natural inspiration she finds in the North East of Scotland! Make sure to check out her Website, Facebook and Instagram to find out more and shop for all your upcoming occasions!