Erika works as a design consultant to the fashion and textile industry, and a writer and contributing designer to Rowan magazines.

Erika puts it best when she says she has been “making things from scraps of fabric and other stuff forever!” Her career in knitwear took off when her granny taught her to knit a little yellow tweed scarf for her favourite TV puppet. The scarf was sent off to the TV station, Erika was rewarded with a signed photo of her hero and she never looked back.

Erika took a degree in fine art, printmaking and painting at Brighton Art College and believes it has helped to inform everything she does.

Her first job in design was with a textile print company, but circumstances forced her to leave this job and take up knitwear design. As design consultant to Rowan, she has been responsible for designing and developing yarns for Rowan and Patons.

One of Erika’s passions is in promoting and developing eco-friendly products and raw materials for the industry, and this work has taken her worldwide. She has worked closely with Rowan to develop their premium fully traceable naturally dyed organic cotton for the handknit market.

Erika initiated and edited the first UK organic magazine Organic Life, and she is committed to organic and ethically sustainable lifestyle choices.

Inspiration comes from whatever or whoever is around her. She particularly likes product design. “I am endlessly fascinated why we go beyond form and function,” she explains. “I love all processes of creating. For me the process is as important as the finished design.” With a fascination for all forms of Japanese culture, pared down design, kitsch, pick and mix and hardware, the Brighton Pavilion, the city, sea and the coast, Erika’s influences are numerous.

Erika has written and edited a range of craft books including Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, Simple Crochet, Simple Knits for Little Cherubs and Bead and Button.  

Erika works mostly from home in her new indulgence – a loft space in her Brighton home. “It’s a large space in black and white, my favourite colours. Surrounded by yarn, yarn and more yarn, sorted by colour and textures,” she explains. With its view to the sea, it sounds like designer heaven.