Meet the designer

The Designer behind Ev!

Ieva ( i-e-v-a  )Dickson is an artist specializing in avant-garde knitwear and other textile work. Most of her work is inspired by couture runways, movies, television or theatre productions. As an artist, Ieva prefers working with unusual materials and believes everything can be used in some sort of shape and form.

 Her true passion is creating avant-garde garments and accessories and then bringing them to life in photoshoots, runway shows and films.

Tell us about yourself:

Well, I was born in Lithuania, but when I was a teenager I moved to Northern Ireland.  At school I was artistic but textiles were never my thing and I hated knitting with a passion! I remember being poor at textile work. At one point my teacher even used me as an example of how not to do art! Oh, I was bad at it, messy and I just really hated it.

Oddly when I moved to Northern Ireland it all changed. I was so lucky to have wonderful tutors in the SRC college where slowly I discovered that I had a true talent for textile work. All of a sudden, I had this desire for textiles and didn’t know how to progress! Things like embroidery and knitting now swiftly came naturally to me but I was fighting against it. It took me years, I questioned my talent. At first, it was scary because I was convinced I was supposed to be bad at it. It just shows that for some things we need time and change which sometimes can be scary, but if you embrace it instead of fearing it something wonderful could happen.

Where do you take your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from everything around me. It might sound dull but using your life as experience and inspiration is a very powerful thing. I believe using your own emotions as a motivator can help you create more meaningful and deeper work. I love to take inspiration from other artwork too, like theatre and movies. Female empowerment is a great motivator for me. I'd say that's why a lot of my knitwear pieces look like armour. I enjoy creating a strong, dominant look when wool that is soft and delicate. Having that type of contrast is fabulous.

Why hand knitting?

I honestly don't know. It used to stress me out whenever I was learning to knit, dropping stitches and how long it took me to make the basic pattern, but now I find it very therapeutic. I think just because I am quite a restless individual it keeps me occupied, it is like a new type of yoga. I do love machine knitting too, but I can experiment more when knitting by hand.

What do you love most about your work?

There is nothing more satisfying for an artist to see how your work comes to life,and how it inspires and brings joy to other people. I adore photoshoots and catwalks theres a unique buzz you get from the experience and i also see the models reactions when they wear my work. I do ask my customers to send me pictures and videos of them wearing my pieces as well.

Why recycled materials?

Simple, we waste too much! Too much of everything, food, materials etc. If humanity would live with the future in mind, we wouldn’t have to struggle in our present. So as an artist I want to do my bit to help the planet and show that using recycled and even upcycled materials, ethically sourced and natural materials we can create some beautiful and unique pieces without having to take more from around us.

What's in the future?