Grace Bowman, Interviewed by Kyla Campbell
In the everchanging fashion landscape, young designers are more than just the next cohort of creatives to join the scene. Young designers are the face of fashion – the future of fashion. With talent like that of Grace Bowman, the future of Irish fashion is in good hands. Grace is a Belfast designer who has just completed her final year as a Textile, Art, Design, and Fashion student at Ulster University. Despite only just finishing her BA, Grace has already accomplished so much so early in her career. From completing a placement at the world renowned Inis Meáin Knitting Company to gearing up to showcase her work in Ireland Fashion Week, Grace is showing the world what it means to be a sustainable, bespoke knitwear designer.
Her graduate collection, titled Island Light, was inspired by her time living on Inis Meáin. It’s comprised of a 7-piece capsule knitwear collection made from organic cottons and dead stock linen yarns, sponsored by the Inis Meáin Knitting Company. While the collection is inspired by the natural beauty of the island, Grace looks beyond just the physical. It’s the island’s blooming wildflowers, the full moon that would guide her nightly walks, the changes she witnessed during her year, the way that living on the island felt; Grace is able to translate the physical and metaphorical into pieces of wearable art. We were lucky enough to chat with Grace about her experience as a designer, the world of knitwear, and what she has planned for the future.
On Designing, Knit, and the Inis Meáin Knitting Company
How did you start designing?
Grace: Oh gosh, it’s funny. I actually started with more of an art background… though it always drew from the same place. It’s all about the natural form and nature, especially Irish landscapes and things like that. So, I guess it always kind of connected to what I’m doing now, which is that translated into actual garments.
Starting this course, it was a really good foundation entry into textiles. You kind of started in everything and then you specialize in what you’re wanting to do. So, obviously, I chose knitwear and then refined that down into womenswear designs. I’d love to branch into unisex, menswear, and really do it all. But at the minute when it’s a small brand, it’s just easier and more sustainable to be focussing on one kind of silhouette and size, but I’m always open to change. I think I am quite open to just trying lots of things, honestly. I still do quite a lot of art type stuff in the background, actually. But obviously for my degree and Ireland Fashion Week and everything like that, my brand is G. Bowman Designs. So, it’s garments.
Tell me about how you got into knitwear, specifically. What do you like about knitwear as opposed to using other design techniques?
Grace: I hadn’t done much before starting this course. I’d done a bit of hand knitting here and there with my family who taught me bits. Specifically with this course, there’s lots of different machinery. I decided to do a placement, so I went to Inis Meáin – the Middle Aran Island just off the coast of Galway – and that was where I did a knitting placement for a year. That really helped expand my knowledge within the textile industry, specifically knitwear. They do a lot of designer men’s knitwear. That just gave me really good insight into how knitwear’s produced and the sustainability behind it. So, I guess that and a mix between just practising on this course, deciding what I really liked.
I like the ability to create from natural fibres. I’m drawn to sustainability, so I think the ability to just create fabric yourself is so intriguing. Obviously with garment construction, you’re sort of relying on other places to outsource where your fabrics are coming from, but when you have the cone of yarn in front of you, you’re able to build whatever you’re wanting. So, it offers you that creativity to just really start from nothing and then make an actual garment.
I like the technicalities of knitwear as well. It can be quite challenging, and you can kind of make it as difficult as you want it to be. I like playing about with different kinds of traditional techniques, as well as more modern ones. There are all the big knitting machines, you can even get computerized ones. We don’t have those in my school, but on my placement, I did delve into that. It’s a growing industry and there’s always going to be knit, so it’s good to be a part of.
What has your academic journey been like? How did it guide you to your placement?
Grace: I kind of went straight from school to this course, and within this course there’s so many different areas. You can do embroidery print, knit, garment construction. Obviously within knit, you can do the art side of it, you can do the design side of it. You can do couture, runway, all of that. I was put into the textile industry in the kind of high-end luxury designer element. That’s closer to what I’m making and my brand, like bespoke one off pieces.
Some people on my course in the past have done the placement, so we sort of have a connection with the family. It’s a family-owned business down there. I guess I’ve always had an intrigue in clothing. I think this degree probably was the start of me really homing in on garment construction and the feelings brought on by picking what to wear. Everyone dresses so differently. And like even just within the industry, there’s the whole spectrum of fast fashion to more bespoke, handmade, handcrafted, one of a kind of garments. That would be more my genre. I avoid fast fashion, mass produced, I don’t even look at those stores now. It’s kind of just not even in my vision. So maybe there’s a category that I do just sort of ignore, like I home in to more the Inis Meáin Knitting Company route.
What was it like working for the Inis Meáin Knitting Company?
Grace: It was really good. You’re introduced to such a good mix of people. They started the brand as being a place for islanders to work and there’s lots of family-based connections, so you’re brought into this family community. Obviously, you have the industry side of it all and seeing how they’ve turned such a small business into now an international brand. It’s everywhere. It’s really interesting to see behind the scenes of that, just even how it’s possible. We had such a small team there, there was like 25 of us working in production. It was really good to see the whole process, so going from the machines to hand finishing, to packaging, to promotion, and things like that. Especially when you’re just starting out in the industry. And it’s good for the technical training.
It’s also an experience personally and professionally as well. I just loved living on the island so much and all the connections I made there as well as within the factory. You run into the same people every day. Like the people you work with are also the people you’ll see on the island. So, it’s a very tight community.
I’m from Belfast. I’ve always lived up here, but I was living down there for the full year. So even that is an experience in itself, just moving. I was living there alone, and I would travel to Galway every weekend to do a food shop, and for things like that. It was different than here. People joke that it was isolated. You’re physically isolated, but I really don’t think it was an isolating environment, because the community was so close. I think you could be more isolated living in a big city, you know?
On Ireland and Ireland Fashion Week
What does it mean to you to be a designer from Northern Ireland?
Grace: Oh gosh, putting me on the spot [laughs]. I think it’s really nice having opportunities like Ireland Fashion Week to show how much Irish design has been developing, how impactful it can be. Obviously, if you look at on a map, we are a very small country. So, I think it’s good that we’re getting more of a voice and more of a platform to showcase designs. I really like to show the Irish landscape in my work and just really embrace all of that. I feel like working somewhere like Inis Meáin, I was very focussed on building connections in Ireland in general.
And you’re designing for Ireland Fashion Week 2026! First of all, that’s so incredible. It’s such an amazing opportunity to have so early in your career. What has the experience been like so far?
Grace: It’s been really a good experience so far. We did our first boot camp with them, so that was a nice introduction to meeting the other designers and everything like that. As far as my own work and my thoughts behind it, a lot of my brain has been preoccupied by the graduate collection and prioritizing uni work. So, it isn’t going to be an actual production till the summer. It’s not in production right now, but it will be!
I do have some kind of rough ideas. I like to do sampling first, think about the yarns I’m using, think about what machines I’m using, you know. I play about with different techniques and that kind of helps inspire the overall garment. I don’t really start with a sketch. I usually do sampling and translate that into a final garment instead. So, at the moment, I’m thinking I’ll still be using the deadstock linen yarns. I have some that I’ve been saving. And yeah, I might mix them in with some organic cottons or something like that, but it’ll be sticking with the kind of spring summer vibe.
The theme of Ireland Fashion Week for our runway is Irish dance, kind of homing in on traditional music and Irish dance. I’m taking that in a more abstract sense, thinking about the movement and the expression of dance. I’m especially reflecting on my time on the Aran Islands and the traditions there. Like in the pub, you would have the Friday music session, so there would be people playing the harp. You have the local people that would be doing that as well as then tourists and friends and family visiting that would also play and sing and dance. You’d always see new things, new expressions, and that general joy. I think that’s what I’m trying to encapsulate.
I’m thinking of lace work and maybe some motifs, and maybe some kind of loose cabling. Cabling is actually not something I really touched on in [my graduate collection], so I think I’d like to practice some of that.
How was the experience of boot camp and meeting the other designers?
Grace: It’s so nice to be put in an environment where you’re surrounded by other creatives that are motivated and are at similar points in your career. Like most people are in the up and coming stages, your brand is building. Even just things like talking about where you’re sourcing your materials, thinking about where you’re showing your materials, thinking about your connections. It’s a good place to share your creative knowledge and help each other. It’s very collaborative, so that’s been really nice. There are a few people I know that have been picked for it, and then obviously lots of people I didn’t know but am now getting connected with. So, it is good.
And then just connecting with higher ups, more industry-based people as well. There’s a good mix. And with the industry connections, you definitely have guidance. They’re very good at guiding you for like social media and brand expansion and promoting yourself, promoting others, promoting Ireland Fashion Week. It all ties in together. And I think they’re looking into lots of funding, which is obviously good for future shows and future people joining because you know it is hard to start, especially when you’re trying to be sustainable and have other kind of conscious things put in place.
On Sustainability
It’s clear that sustainability informs a lot of your work. Tell me what sustainability means to you and your brand.
Grace: I think most people are aware that sustainability is really something that you should be trying to practice and should be supporting where possible. Obviously, a lot of big companies green wash and things like that. It’s hard to know, really, even when you buy products yourself. It says, you know, sustainably sourced, it’s local or whatever, and it might not be. So, I try my best when I’m picking yarns to think about how they’ve been made, think about where they’re coming from.
For my final year collection, I was really lucky. From my time spent on the island, The Inis Meáin Knitting Company sponsored me for my yarn this year, so they’ve sent me some dead stock linen yarns to use. I’ve played about with those, incorporating that. And then just trying to source them. Even websites like eBay or charity shops, you can find second hand yarn or dead stock colours that people haven’t used and have been donating. I just think circulating those kinds of materials is better if you can.
Obviously, at my stage where I’m not someone who has a lot of like extra funding to be throwing around, it is harder. It’s very easy to see why people opt to pick synthetics and just cheaper alternatives, but yeah, where I can I try to be sustainable. I think over time, I’ll be able to get more sustainable because, you know, you get used to seeing where you can get different yarns and things like that. Even packaging of products and things like that, I hopefully want to try and stay as sustainable as possible or as reusable as possible.
Within my garments, I’m hoping to create one of a kind pieces that will last forever. I try my best to make them constructed quite well and just durable. A lot of my designs are pretty substantial. They shouldn’t be falling apart… hopefully [laughs]. So yeah, I just trying to embrace that. Not creating just a fast fashion piece that someone will buy and throw away and not care for, you know? There’s intentional sustainability behind my designs and within even the branding on my page and hopefully the buyers as well. It’s a conscious choice to pick that over, you know, maybe 3 cheaper fast fashion options or something.
On the Future
What’s next for you?
Grace: Oh, my gosh. Oh, the big question [laughs]. Obviously, my graduate collection is coming up now, so there’s photo shoots, final collections, all of that. Hopefully there’ll be some networking around that and meeting people.
I’m hoping to do the graduate residency here, which would be another year. With that you get to do stuff like teaching, so you’d be teaching people here, some of the techniques you’ve learned, and you’d be able to showcase your own work again at the end of the year. You have access to the machinery in here and things like that. So, from my brand’s point of view, it’s an opportunity to do more work, more commissions. So, I think expanding my skill set, I guess, and expanding my brand. I would be open to more one-on-one commissions, I think, at the minute. Obviously with Ireland Fashion Week, that’s in the fall. So that’ll hopefully set me up for the year a little bit if some people see my work there.
But yeah, really, it’s just building the brand. Just trying my best. Funding wise, I’ve applied to some different funding and things like that, so you never know. There’s lots of different opportunities, so it’s just like making the most of that.
We were so lucky to have to opportunity to chat with Grace about her work. You can find Grace on Instagram, @g.bowman_designs, where you can find her graduate collection, Island Light. To see more of Grace’s work, tune in to Ireland Fashion Week 2026, which is happening October 7 – 12.
Head to our page to find more interviews with emerging designers and check out our Instagram (@stylecartel) and TikTok (@stylecartelmedia).
Interview conducted by Kyla Campbell (@kylacampbell_).
Photos provided courtesy of Grace Bowman from her graduate collection, Island Light.