Owen Edward Snaith is a Scottish designer working across fashion, textile design and mixed media art. Snaith’s work explores traditional Scottish dress, the uniforms of east coast fisherfolk and his own identity. A poetic queer thread weaves throughout his work, which is grounded in craftsmanship, collaboration, and community. These threads inform Snaith’s research and making processes, throughout which he refers back to archival objects, imagery and poetry which are then collaged together to inform his practice. This form of exploration has notably led to the birth of Snaith’s tartan, Incentive, dedicated to the fisherfolk & queer youth of the Scottish east coast – with a full ensemble featured as part of Tartan at V&A Dundee (2023-2024).

Snaith has been featured in publications such as: 10magazine, Vogue, The Greatest, Elle Italia, The Guardian, WWD, Bricks, Crack Magazine and ShowStudio.

Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Eye In The Cave, The Handbag Factory, London (2024); Tartan: Exploding The Grid, V&A Dundee, Dundee (2024); Tartan, V&A Dundee, Dundee (2023-24); Incentive, John Gray Centre, Haddington (2021); LFW Westminster Graduate Show, Ambika 3, London (2021)

‘I am incredibly excited by the opportunities this residency provides to open new avenues in my research by collaborating with specialist makers and designers, utilising archives, museums and local historical resources both in Scotland and Norway. As a result, this residency represents a unique opportunity to fuse the invisible threads that intertwine the Scottish and Norwegian coastal communities, proving that tradition is not stagnant but a forever evolving dialogue of understanding and expression.’