Maria Rowan

Maria Rowan, Rowanberry Bute designs and sells knitwear accessories and lives and works in the beautiful island of Bute. She specialises in gorgeous hats, socks and gloves. We spoke to her about what inspires her to create such lovely products and what aspects of island life mean the most to her.

Bute is a constant source of inspiration and I walk for miles and miles around Bute with my spaniel.  Many of her ideas come to me during these peaceful moments – the natural colours are so inspiring. The scenery also provides the perfect backdrop for product photography too.

Maria loves using locally sourced wool, and from other islands too. ‘That way we are helping one another too. I love vibrant colours and would like to dye my own yarn using local plants’. It will be so wonderful to see what beautiful colours she can create from the abundance of natural resources which can be found around Bute.

One of the biggest challenges for Maria has been having the self confidence to believe Rowanberry Bute and her work is good enough and putting it out there on social media and platforms such as isle20 – I think we can agree it most certainly is! Until recently Maria worked as an Art Therapist and now runs her small hobby business as well as enjoying retirement.

Finally we asked Maria what being an islander meant to her – “It’s the peace and quality of life I cherish. I love being surrounded by the sea and it has been a blessing in the couple of years especially.”

Visit Maria’s isle20 shop Rowanberry Bute HERE.

From the shop