“I make patterns that are meaningful.”

Name: Jenna Fenwick
Location: Lanark Highlands
Occupation: Textile Designer 

Jenna Fenwick comes from a long line of seamstresses and quilters. In high school she sewed her own clothes and thought about a career in fashion. When she started working in her Mom’s quilt shop, she was introduced to fiber art and gained an interest in fabric patterns, and knew she wanted to combine her love for drawing with her new love for textiles. 

In her last year at NSCAD University she worked on projects where she could illustrate the design, screen print them into the cloth and create a beautiful finished piece, and she knew she found her passion. After graduation she started Jenna Rose which she opened in Guelph and later moved to Hamilton. 

Jenna still illustrates her own patterns by hand, whether it’s a treehouse she remembers or something simple that inspires her on a walk outside her studio on the farm she and her husband bought in eastern Ontario last year. She then mixes the colours and hand screen prints the cloth. “I love the tactile nature of textiles and the functionality,” said Jenna. “But it’s also finding the inspiration in daily life and having a customer connect with the patterns I find meaningful.”

The tranquility of the studio has given Jenna a renewed sense of focus. With the gardens her and her husband already use to grow food, Jenna plans to take her creativity to the next level and start growing her own dyes. For Jenna it only makes sense to follow her passion to create truly handmade and sustainable textiles.