New Wave Glasgow Girls ~ A Celebration of Glasgow's Creative Legacy
A Collaboration between the Iona Crawford Atelier and Scottish interior design practice Chelsea Mclaine on a bold new collection inspired by the pioneering female artists of the Glasgow Girls.
The collection brings together art, interiors and Glasgow’s rich creative heritage to create New Wave Glasgow Girls.
Inspired by the pioneering women artists associated with the Glasgow Girls, including Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, Frances MacNair, Bessie MacNicol and Jessie M. King, the collection takes the spirit of their work as its starting point and reimagines it through a distinctly contemporary interiors lens.
Emerging from Glasgow’s vibrant artistic scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Glasgow Girls challenged conventions through their distinctive approach to painting, illustration, textiles and decorative art. Their work was characterised by a strong sense of individuality, experimentation and an embrace of pattern, nature, colour and the decorative arts.
For Iona Crawford, whose own artistic practice spans painting, fashion and now interiors, their legacy provides an important connection to Glasgow’s history as a city of creativity and innovation.
The result is a collection that feels both rooted in Scotland and resolutely modern, expressive, tactile and full of personality.
New Wave Glasgow Girls comprises three distinct pattern stories: Silk Dress, Bluebell and Wee Check. Each story is available across a selection of wallpapers, fabrics and rugs, creating a versatile collection designed to be layered throughout the home.
The collection draws on the visual language and spirit of the Glasgow Girls rather than directly replicating their work, translating elements of their world — from botanical references and expressive forms to the interplay of colour, pattern and texture — into something entirely new.
The colourways and pattern names are also an integral part of the collection’s character, with names drawn from Scottish language, culture and personality.
From Coorie and Braw to Gallus and Sonsie, the names inject the collection with the warmth, wit and irreverence that are synonymous with Glasgow, while celebrating the richness of Scotland’s language and cultural identity.
For both Iona & Margot Paton of Chelsea McLaine, the influence of the Glasgow Girls is both personal and creative. Artists such as Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, Bessie MacNicol, Frances MacNair and Jessie M. King each forged highly individual creative paths, contributing to a movement that helped establish Glasgow as a centre of international artistic significance.
Their willingness to cross boundaries between fine art, illustration, textiles and decorative design is particularly relevant to a collection that brings painting into the world of interiors.
One of our final images, featuring our Ros Wallpaper
You can view the full New Wave Glasgow Girl Collection here.
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