Maggie White

A life of painting

Born in Melbourne, Australia. Lived in UK since a teenager.

From her earliest memories, home life was filled with paintings, her father’s, his friends, museums full of the Australian Impressionists, the smell of paint, the side of dusty Australian highways to catch ‘just that light’ as her father watercoloured. It was part of the family DNA.

She took a degree in Art History at the University of East Anglia, focusing on 1880 - 1970 British and European painting, with a fascination in the applied arts, the Omega Workshops, Sonya Delaunay, Robert Rauschenberg…..anyone putting colour and pattern to be worn, sat on, lived with, looked at, hung on walls.

A sliding door moment in her 20s presented the opportunity to put all that colour and pattern onto ‘wearable art’ and ‘Maggie White knitwear’ was born. A lifetime in design, inspired by the suzani of Central Asia, Mondrian’s New York Boogie Woogie, Venetian costume, the bold sunshine of her youth.

Only in her retirement has she taken up a paintbrush. Now she is finding her way and her subjects.

Maggie has been a member of the Chelsea Arts Club since 1980 and divides her time between the Cotswolds and West Cork.

Maggie White Knitwear

The early 1980s were a wonderful moment for artisan, individual, hand framed knitwear design. The American stores lapped it up and the “Maggie White” label became firmly established. Oliver Parkinson, her husband, made sure that the knitwear was sold around the world, from Tokyo to Sydney, New York to Galway.

It was based in a 16th century wool merchant’s hall in Burford, with a traditional workroom, where every piece was meticulously checked and mended. The last pieces were made and shipped in 2006. Another fifteen years were filled with all things fashion and the clothing industry.

They were awarded a British Fashion Export Award in 1999. The Maggie White shop, Burford in the Cotswolds ran for 35 years, and is now closed.