GRACE was started over twenty years ago after Alison, having returned from India with a backpack full of sari silk, was looking for a unique way to share her experiences from abroad. Many years later and Alison continues to scour the globe in search of unique materials to use in her designs. From Marrakech to Kyoto, Oaxaca to Jaipur, her designs are storytellers, they speak of their history and traditions of craft, of adventures abroad, foreign marketplaces, culture and creativity. Alison and Grace Design have been featured in many publications including The Huffington Post, MSN, Oh Joy, CBC, Global TV, The Toronto Star, Miss Moss, Creature Comforts and Canada's Financial Post. In 2013 Alison was selected by Toronto Life magazine as a Canadian designer to watch out for and in 2012 Alison was chosen out of more than 850,000 Etsy sellers by Etsy to be a featured artist at their first ever pop up event in New York City. Alison runs her business full time from her studio in Victoria BC.
Grace is a Canadian accessories brand focusing on high quality handmade craftsmanship with bohemian globally sourced one of a kind embellishments. I select every material - I travel to find my pieces and I have also built a list of contacts around the world from whom I purchase my unique textiles. I believe it is my individual eye for print, pattern and unusual colour pairings that give my work a distinctive look. My product designs are dictated by the textiles I find and I will work around what the fabric has to offer in the way of amazing patterns or colour combinations. I use a lot of leather in my designs and incorporate very small pieces from my global finds. By using just a small piece of the vintage textile combined with leather, this ensures that I can create a high quality, durable and long lasting product while also utilizing each textile to its fullest extent. I make my own patterns and sew each piece in my home studio in Victoria. I source all of my leathers and hardware locally. I make every piece with occasional production assistance during peak times.
We respectfully acknowledge that the Filberg Festival takes place on the unceded traditional territory of the K'omoks First Nation, Gila 'kasla...Hay ch q'a'.
