Gudrun Johnston was born in Shetland in the 1970s while her mother, Patricia Johnston, was running the successful knitwear design company, The Shetland Trader. Thirty years later - and now living in the United States - Gudrun has followed in her mother's footsteps, making a name for herself among a new generation of knitwear designers, and has revived the use of The Shetland Trader name. She has been published in several prominent magazines online and travels frequently to teach in the United States and abroad. Gudrun often includes aspects of her Shetland heritage in her designs, mostly utilizing traditional lace patterns in a contemporary context. She loves to design using seamless construction and is always adding new techniques to her seamless knitting skills.