My passion for textiles was nurtured as a graduate of Ryerson’s Fashion Design program and enriched through learning how to weave.

Following graduation from Ryerson, I yearned to learn how to create the fabrics I saw in my mind’s eye but could not find in ready-made material. I was fortunate to meet Stella Gopsill of Sue-Sam Looms. Stella taught me to spin and weave fabric. My first project used my lumpy, bumpy handspun and worsted wool as the weft on a worsted wool warp to create a Chanel-inspired jacket. Weaving was essential to my creativity until life got in the way for more than 20 years.

I wanted to reconnect with weaving and a creative habit, so I enrolled in an Extended Studies Weaving program, followed by learning surface design techniques.

Our natural world inspires me. My work focuses on colours from the earth. I create earth-inspired and sourced textiles, exploring traditional and non-traditional techniques to imitate nature’s colours, textures and patterns.

Plant material, earth pigments, and images from nature inspire my textile designs. The resulting impressions inspire the fabrics for one-of-a-kind coats, shawls and scarves.

My label, Della Terra Designs, translates from Italian as ‘of the earth.’