Inspired by a love of New Zealand’s native flora and fauna, founder and textile designer Ingrid Anderson is an environmental enthusiast. Co–director Craig Anderson has a longstanding affinity for local design, heritage and contemporary art. The brother and sister team formed a company together in 2008 to grow the business that Ingrid had started a decade earlier.

Trained as a screen printer Ingrid turned her passion for great design and for textiles into a flourishing boutique printing enterprise. Up until 2007 every item was hand-printed and hand-sewn in Northland. As the business has grown these core values have remained as part of the business philosophy – all products are printed, sewn and made in New Zealand. Ingrid Anderson’s textiles are produced with a passion for vibrant colour and design, as well as a love of the environment. The fibres or base cloths used are 100% natural fibres. Quality and individuality are paramount.

Using hand-cut paper techniques as an integral part of the design process, Ingrid Anderson designs are distinctive, graphic and full of intensity. The bold cut-paper design and glorious colour makes a striking hit in any room and the geometry of her patterns looks fantastic en mass. A popular choice for magazine stylists for their dramatic use of pure colour and retro style, Ingrid Anderson’s contemporary designs have featured widely in magazines and make popular gifts both locally and internationally.

In 2008 a joint project was established with the Project Crimson Trust to create a funding stream for the work of the trust using a proportion of sales of the Pohutukawa design sold on their website.

Ingrid has also been directly involved in funding raising projects for the Warkworth Hospice via their annual Wearable Art Award. Working with local designer Judy Tindall and donating off cuts of fabric, the collaborative 2008 entry in the competition made from Tea Towel off cuts was a Merit Award winner.

In 2009 the Ingrid Anderson textiles moved into new territory with her iconic designs being woven into wool fibres. She says, “The woven wool fabrics are an exciting development for our business, enabling us to produce commercial grade fabrics with outstanding wear-ability. Best of all, however, this new textile range encapsulates our desire to work locally, and with natural materials that have as minimal an environmental impact as possible.”

Inviting comparison with local designers Frank Carpay and Avis Higgs and further afield to Finish textile house Marimekko, Ingrid Anderson cues her designs into the modernist period. Often described as “retro” the solid-colour designs create a language of colour that is unique and contemporary, full of experimentation and curiosity about the natural world.

For more information visit her website http://www.iatextiledesign.co.nz