About
Mati Ventrillon is one of the remaining knitters on Fair Isle, Scotland. She learned the skills from older knitters, after moving from London to a croft in 2007. The motivation for her work comes from the island’s knitting tradition. Her designs are inspired by museum pieces.
Mati trained with local Shetland artist Barbara Ridland in 2011 to improve her knitting and garment shaping techniques and had a commission which gave her the opportunity to research the garments worn by the crew of The Bruce Expedition in 1904, resulting in the design of the ‘Fisherman’ jumper. Following this, she launched an online service of bespoke Fair Isle garments in 2012 and became an alumni of Crafted UK, designing the ‘Oxford’ jumper which featured alongside her portrait at the Oxford Street Fashion Flags Campaign. The ‘Oxford’ jumper was featured in Chanel’s Maitre D’art Collection for AW15/16.
She has participated in a number of exhibitions and fairs including Crafted UK at Somerset House (2013), Mad for Tea at Fortnum and Mason (2013), Crafted: Makers of the Exceptional at the Royal Academy of Arts (2014), Made London (2018) and Selvedge Magazine Virtual World Fair (2020).
Mati has been part of the Shetland Arts and Crafts Association since 2014 . In 2020, she launched her book ‘Knitting from Fair Isle’ and she is currently working on a design collaboration with DAKS.
