Alison Macleod graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone college of Art in 2004 with a BDes(Hons) in Printed Textiles. After graduating, she worked for a design studio in London and then spent a year travelling and working in New Zealand.

In 2007, with the assistance of PSYBT and HIE Innse Gall, Alison chose to move back home to the Isle of Lewis and set up her own design business, Tiger Textiles. "Tiger" is the family nickname passed down for generations, which is common for Hebridean families.

As an artist and designer, Alison has a large repertoire of traditional and computer-aided skills. By combining these skills, she creates textile prints suitable for the interior and fashion industry.

A mix of collage, stitch, pencil drawing and paint mainly creates the original artworks, which are the basis of her prints. The textile work is mostly inspired by the Hebrides - history, culture, natural surroundings and colour. Research for the work created includes gathering old stories and poems as well as sketching, photographing and collecting pieces found within old shielings and houses.

Alison also creates wall blocks, which are hand painted with acrylic on blocks of wood. The wall blocks are a collection of beautiful colours designed to make people smile. Inspiration for those comes from nature, music and Japanese art. As they are hand-painted, each block is unique and can be made to the customers’ requirements with personalised text.

Tiger Textiles has recently been awarded investment funding from NESTA (Starter for 6), which will allow Alison to research and develop her innovative printed designs. Current projects also include collaboration with fashion designer Judy Clark.

As well as private commissions, Alison has been commissioned to create a screen-printed wall panel as an end product for a BBC documentary, which is now hanging in the Lismore Heritage Centre. She has also designed the logo for the company Sea Harris www.seaharris.com.