Popular knitwear designer Lisa Richardson is a name instantly associated with the Rowan pattern house. With a background in tailoring and homewares, Lisa joined Rowan in 2003. Inspired by shape and texture, Lisa’s designs showcase interesting stitch details, unique garment structure and stylish techniques with a classically understated, yet innovative brilliance reflected in the global status she now commands.
“Inspiration comes from everywhere; I never really switch off. Anyone I spend time with has to get used to being dragged into a shop to see precisely how something is tied at the back, or stopping halfway up a mountain because there’s a perfect scene unfolding. I went to an Islamic Art exhibition in London and their geometric designs work perfectly with knitwear so that will come in useful sometime.”
As Senior Designer and Technical Manager Lisa manages the Rowan pattern editing process, mentors newer members of the design team, and art directs and styles the shoots for the magazine and pattern brochures.
Lisa’s work may seem all-consuming but she still manages to squeeze in time to enjoy running, climbing, biking, swimming…basically anything outdoors.
And if she’s not scaling walls then she is looking for the deepest, stickiest puddle of mud she can find, preferably over-strung with barbed wire and under-laid with slimy stones and sharp rocks, and She’s a not-so-secret ‘Tough Mudder’ and the carrot juice and temporary sugar embargo are just part of keeping her body fit enough to face the challenges she sets it. Lisa does, for a pastime, what many would prefer not to encounter in their nightmares.
Lisa has competed in the British Military Fitness Major Event in Leeds: “The UK’s most friendly obstacle race! Leopard-crawl through a muddy ditch, launch yourself into a darkened trench filled with ice...roll, duck, jump and weave your way through Edmund’s Electric obstacle, see if you can escape from the bog....”
You get the idea. She’s got a new mountain bike and is learning how to do front crawl without gasping. Lisa admits to leading a very busy day-to-day existence, but cites her biggest drive as helping people create something that they will cherish for years to come, a philosophy that perfectly epitomises why her designs are so popular with Rowan knitters today.
