About me
“The common drive behind my creative practices has always been the desire to connect with a place, and to tell its story. This remains the primary motivation for my textile designs, through which I aim to tease out the building’s narrative in its own voice rather than to impose a predetermined style upon it. With this approach I hope to bring about meaningful contributions to interiors which evoke a sense of place, suited to their location and deeply attuned to their surroundings”.
Duncan’s textile design & print practice has evolved from a lifelong passion for buildings, and fuses his interests in architecture and interiors. After completing a Foundation Diploma at Central Saint Martins college, latterly specializing in fashion design, a growing love of ruins led him to independent fine art practice recording Scotland’s abandoned country houses. The resulting eight-year journey, comprising drawing, painting, photography and 3-dimensional forms, culminated in an exhibition held at Berwickshire’s Mellerstain House as part of Scotland’s Festival of Architecture in 2016.
A developing curiosity in restoration and traditional craft skills led to an ongoing partnership with buildings preservation charity The Landmark Trust, for whom Duncan has been producing interior textiles since 2018. His work for the Trust began in reviving patterns from their 50 year archive, but soon developed into creating new designs for their latest restorations for which he hand-prints and makes curtains. In 2023 this body of work gained him a place on The Prince’s Foundation’s Building Arts Programme, run in partnership with QUEST Craft and delivered from the Dumfries House estate.
Duncan now offers his bespoke design & print service to a wide clientele, for private and public spaces alike, and relishes taking projects from inception to completion through research, design and production. Personally hand-printing his fabrics and frequently hand-stitching finished pieces remains an important facet of Duncan’s approach, offering a personal and comprehensive service honouring tradition and craftsmanship.
