Gaby Durnford

Personal statement

Gaby is a designer, maker and tutor at Bath Spa University, teaching on the Textile Design undergraduate course. She started her award-winning UK kids brand, Marjorie Minnie, in 2015, creating contemporary knitted interior accessories for family and home. 

In her previous role as a Technical Demonstrator in Constructed Textiles, Gaby has accumulated over 20 years of technical knowledge on both industrial and domestic machines. In her creative practice she works alongside a small family-run factory in the Scottish borders to produce her British Made knitted designs, hand-finishing them at her home studio in Bath. 

Sustainability and quality are at the forefront of both Gaby’s business and teaching practices, producing heirloom products through her creative enterprise that are designed to last a lifetime and be passed down to the next generation. As part of a team developing learning criteria for the next generation of designers, this challenge is always a vital consideration in her work. 

Gaby has entrepreneurial small business experience, selling her designs through both ecommerce platforms and bricks and mortar stores. Designing, making, photographing, styling and marketing her work online, Gaby has run competitions in collaboration with baby milk brand Aptamil and worked with national gift company Don’t Buy Her Flowers on bespoke designs for their Stand Up To Cancer campaign.

In 2021 Gaby won gold in the Best Gift Brand category for her heirloom soft toys at The Junior Design Awards. Junior Magazine and industry judges championed her designs for creativity, sustainability and originality over more well-known competitors in her category, such as The White Company. More recently she was invited to be one of the 500 founding Co’s of Holly Tuckers’ new curated marketplace Holly & Co.

Academic qualifications

• BA (Hons) Textile Design, University of Derby

Prizes and awards

• Best Gift Brand (Gold Award) - The Junior Design Awards 2021
• Howard Ellis Award - The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters

Memberships

• The Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters

Teaching specialism

• Constructed Textiles