Keeping Glasgow in Cables

This is a motif Arran knit using textured stitches and cables to create a version of The Glasgow Coat of Arms. It features the mythological fish with a golden ring, the tree, the bell and the bird in a new design by artist Mandy McIntosh. It develops an earlier version of the garment which was shown at The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow as part of her exhibition REPEAT PATTERNS 2023.

Mandy McIntosh inherited traditional knitting skills from her mother’s family who came from Gweedore in Donegal. She had female relatives who worked as “out knitters” creating traditional garments at piece rates to be sold on commercially with hugely marked up prices. Mandy McIntosh fashion studied knitwear design at Trent Polytechnic in the mid to late 1980s and was previously employed as a designer for KENZO in Paris. Her subsequent work is immersed in the politics of craft as both an accessible technology and as a means of making explicit statements and narratives which are reflected in the object.

The Glasgow Coat of Arms is a motif often used by the artist to assert the social fabric of this worker’s city. The garment delivers instructions at the now tail end of the Glasgow 850 celebrations and looks rather towards Glasgow’s 851st birthday using the timeless qualities of design that are engrained in the stone and metal versions of the motif throughout the city. This garment uses traditional stitches which are easily learned and the offer of a workshop provides additional support. The graph is a visual form of communicating knitting instructions which allows the knitter to see the route the knitting will take in a more accessible way. This design would suit someone with some basic knowledge of knitting and further learning support is offered with the purchase of the kit.

The work can be purchased as a knit knit priced £150.00. The kit will contain the full quantity (around 25 balls)of Jamieson Shetland Woolbroker yarn in either Moss Green, Peat or Shetland Black, refer to their site for colours. This is pure Shetland wool and it ships directly from Lerwick. The kit also contains a high quality printed copy of graphed instructions on double sided A3 gloss. Purchasing the kit will also provide an opportunity to attend a workshop in Glasgow which focuses on the instructions and cabling, scheduled for mid to late January and February 26. Proposed dates are January 17th and February 28th. There will be an opportunity in this workshop to alter aspects of the pattern eg necklines , sizing and so on with support from the artist. This will be a full day workshop running from 10am to 5pm located in Glasgow city centre at the artist’s studio.

To enquire further please email studio@mandymcintosh.com , subject KNIT KIT with any questions, colour queries and for purchase processing details.