Helen Baber and her family remain at the forefront of Scottish Style.
I was brought up in Nigeria and Bill, in East Africa. We both came to the U.K. for schooling and met at college in Edinburgh. We have since married and raised a family. Our children grew up alongside our business, and we were delighted when our son Jack chose to join us in our endeavour 13 years ago.
We were both quite crafty by nature and used to make jewellery and paper flowers for the house. Bill studied carpentry at school, and I would watch my father make beautiful party dresses for his 5 daughters. Both Bill and I made clothes as teenagers; adapting fashions and designing our own things to save money, so we were both already familiar with the sewing machine. I had studied and worked in textiles and realized that I wanted to design my own garments. Eventually, we began designing and making knitwear together. We’ve never looked back.
Once we started making clothes for a living, we realized that we had found our true vocation. The love of creating new shapes, colours, and styles simply continued to grow.
Today, we are an artisan craft business and produce our entire collection under our own roof. From yarn selection to knitting and hand finishing, we take great care with each garment we produce. We put an enormous amount of attention to detail into every piece that we send out into the world.
Designing is a part of our daily lives – we can be anywhere and become inspired by an idea. Things can get quite interesting once we bring that idea back to the workshop.
We love using merino wool and have had great fun creating a range of jumpers, shawls, jackets, and accessories in a wonderful selection of colours. Oversize jumpers are the current trend, which, of course, we have seen before in our 45-year history!
We continue to develop new ideas and extend the collection, creating fresh garments never seen before. Along with that, there is always the pleasure of meeting someone who loves what we have made and brings it into their life to enjoy.
Scotland is still living the dream of having a home-grown knitwear industry. It may not be as large as it was, but it remains as skilled and unique as ever. The Scottish knitwear industry still has the natural organic features which made it so famous in the first place. We are proud to be a part of it.
Leave a Comment