Knitwear designer
Born: February 27, 1939;
Died: January 22, 2017
PATRICIA Johnston, who has died aged 77, was a designer who ran the successful knitwear design company, The Shetland Trader, and whose work in the 1970s not only inspired her daughter but other Shetland knitters and designers of the time.
As Patricia Royce, she first came to Shetland from London in the autumn of 1965. She was then a travel courier in France and Yugoslavia, but when the Anderson High was short of a French teacher that winter she stepped in readily to fill the gap without any previous training.
In 1966 she married Laughton Johnston and settled in Shetland for 11 years between 1968 and 1979 where her four children were born. In the early 1970s, though not a knitter herself, she requested a neighbour in Bigton to knit Fair Isle garments of her own design and colour-way for her children. When others saw her garments and haps they asked Patricia if she could do the same for them. From this beginning grew her business, the Shetland Trader.
As Kate Davies said of her work in Shetland knitwear in The Book of Haps (2016): “other businesses found a niche in the 1970s hap market by selling directly to customers through mail order. This was the case with Patricia Johnston, who, with a distinctive aesthetic untrammelled by tradition, fearlessly took Shetland knitting in intriguing new directions.
“Under her brand, the Shetland Trader, Johnston’s designs defied received categories of Shetland knitting, combining openwork with Fair Isle, favouring small patterns over large motifs, and experimenting with contemporary shapes and shaping, such as smocks and maxi dresses. Coupled with one of Johnston’s original bell-sleeved and striped designs, a Shetland hap might look strikingly contemporary.”
For a year or two, Ms Johnston ran the Shetland Trader from a shop in Burns Lane, Lerwick along with knitwear of fellow designer Victoria Gibson. However, in 1979 Ms Johnston left Shetland and the Shetland Trader ceased operating. The family then moved to Brighton for a year where she managed Mary Graeme, a boutique shoe shop. In 1984, with most of the family on the island nature reserve of Rum, she set up home in Edinburgh and for eight years or so became a very well known figure as manager of Real Foods in Broughton Street.
In 1992, following a career move of her husband’s she moved to Perthshire where her love of good design led to finding employment in the antiques trade for several years. Very often she would return home on Fridays with objets d’art in lieu of wages.
Ms Johnston returned to Shetland in 2004. In 2007 her daughter and knitwear designer, Gudrun Johnston, inspired by her mother, revived the firm. She now runs the Shetland Trader as a very successful online knitwear designing business recognised throughout the world, basing much of her work on traditional Shetland knitwear.
Throughout her life, even when overtaken by Alzheimer’s in her early 60s, Ms Johnston retained an elegance, presence and empathy for others that all admired and envied. The last eight years of her life were spent in Wastview, a Shetland care home where she could not have been better looked after.
Patricia Johnston’s contribution to Shetland knitwear will long be remembered. She passed on her love of language, travel and design to her children who all travelled far.
She is survived by her husband Laughton, four children Sorley, Beth, Gudrun and Jamie, and eight grandchildren.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here