Talented textile designer Ruth McEvilly and iconic popstar Madonna might not know it but they have a lot in common.
For they are both ‘living in a material world’, in Ruth’s case, quite literally.
Material and fabrics especially tweed are Ruth’s elixir in life.
After working across the globe as a textile designer for 23 years, Ruth has successfully sewn together a new chapter in life by launching her own creative venture Compass Rose Studio.
Tweed and Celtic inspired
Inspired to branch out on her own after the local textile mill where she worked closed, Ruth uses locally made tweed combined with Celtic inspired prints to create a unique range of distinctive cushions, accessories and artwork for the home.
“Compass Rose Studio is a combination of homewares and gifts,” said Ruth who lives in Longside near Peterhead.
“I used to work as the textile designer at the Smiths of Peterhead textile mill so when the mill closed, I bought some of the fabric.
“That became my creative outlet and how the business started.”
Tin mugs and notebooks
Textile design is certainly woven into the geometry of Ruth’s soul as nothing excited her more than working with tweed and Celtic knot work which is woven into everything from her tea towels and tin mugs to make-up bags and notebooks.
“Can you ever have too much tweed,” quipped Ruth.
“A lot of people have bought the notebooks because they’re handy little things, make good gifts and you can re-use the cover.
“The makeup/wash bags are also really popular as are the tin mugs.
“I also make cushions which are hand silk screen printed and I like to put quilted fabric on the back of them and sheen embroidery to give them extra dimension.
“Most of the cushions are also backed with tweed, there’s always some tweed involved.”
Lavender bags
Orders have also been stacking up for Ruth’s handcrafted storage bags, needle cases, lavender bags, compact mirrors and plant pot covers.
She also collaborates with her husband Ged to make homeware from reclaimed timber.
“My husband makes lots of things out of recycled wood,” said Ruth.
Sustainable
Recently he made some lamp bases from wood and he asked me to design the lampshade so I’ve created one with fishes swimming across the middle and it’s the Celtic knot work.”
Sourcing materials locally is very important to Ruth as is being as sustainable as possible.
“I really try to source things sustainably, that’s really important to me,” said Ruth.
“All my fabric is printed on organic cotton, the inks are all biodegradable and environmentally friendly.”
Crombie
Naturally creative with a skill for problem solving, Ruth excelled through school before landing a place at the University of Huddersfield where she studied for a degree in textile design.
As part of her course, she took up a year’s placement at the famous luxury fabric firm company, Crombie which once had a mill in Grandholm Mill in Aberdeen.
“Crombie was a textile mill that was renowned,” said Ruth.
“Everyone used to talk about the Crombie overcoat.
“One of the fabrics they wove weighed 720 grams per metre so you can imagine that by the time you made it into a coat you were basically walking around with a couple of kilos on your back.
“It was a great place to work.”
Travelling the world
Ruth’s work as a textile designer took her all over the world.
One place she’ll never forget is Japan and their love of handkerchiefs.
“Japan was a really interesting, place to visit,” said Ruth.
“What fascinated me in the department stores was that they had a whole department for handkerchiefs.
“So every time I visited, I used to come back with these really fancy handkerchiefs for my dad.”
From Aberdeenshire to El Salvador
Together with the running her own business, Ruth also works as a moving consultant for global relocation company Sterling Lexicon.
“I help people to move to places like Africa,” said Ruth.
“It’s can be a challenge as you’re co-ordinating relocations across the world.
“My biggest challenge was a move from El Salvador to Equatorial Guinea.
“It’s helped my geography greatly.”
Workshops
Ruth, who is the former chairwoman of North East Open Studios, a not for profit organisation promoting arts and crafts in the north east of Scotland, hopes to set up creative workshops with other local crafters.
“I’ve always wanted to have workshops in the studio and invite other people to do workshops too,” said Ruth.
In the rare moments when Ruth has time to relax, she’s never far from the studio.
“It’s funny because even when we’re not working in the studio we enjoy sitting outside the studio, looking out over the countryside with a glass of wine,” said Ruth.
“We also enjoy walking.”
And one of her biggest fans is based in Canada.
“Our son Sam lives in Canada,” said Ruth.
“He used to use our studio as his own shop so if he had a friend’s birthday he would always come to the studio for presents to give them, it was literally the shop of mum and dad.”
To find out more about Compass Rose Studio go to the website, Instagram or Facebook page.
