Shetland Student Wins 3 Week Paid Placement in The Black Isle

A BA (Hons) Contemporary Textiles student from Shetland College UHI has won a design competition with Prickly Thistle, a company based in The Black Isle.

Nicole Taylor, who is in her third year of study, was given the opportunity along with fellow students to take part in a ‘Gift Box’ competition. Students were asked to prepare ideas for a product to be added to the Prickly Thistle Gift Box line - this would include consideration of fabrics, colours, techniques and stories for their product whilst also complimenting the current Gift Box collection in relation to target markets.

The winning product design from Nicole was a cushion that explored the story of the Faerie Pools of Skye. The textile product design was paired with a small candle which would give off scents that are found at such pools and the glens of Skye. Nicole said “it was important for me to incorporate textiles found in nature and I was keen to combine hand woven techniques into the product.”

The prize for winning the competition will be a 4 week paid placement to develop the gift box idea further with Prickly Thistle. Nicole will also benefit from a percentage of sales for each gift sold as well as having the important professional experience to highlight within her CV.

Faye Hackers from the Shetland College Contemporary Textiles department said “This was an important element of student’s Professional Practice module this year and the experience was one which all students enjoyed. Nicole’s work really exceeded what was expected of her and her product presentation to the owner of Prickly Thistle was an excellent standard. All the students really did a great job.”

This was echoed by Clare Campbell owner of Prickly Thistle, who also said “Working with the team and students at UHI Shetland has been a real pleasure. I was thoroughly impressed by them all, the facility and excited about having one of the students working with me during the summer. I hope it is the start of a long fruitful relationship, working with the highly qualified students will no doubt be of great benefit to this Highlands based brand and in return give them some insight as to how a local textiles company operates with global ambitions.”