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Allison: What is Dunne Cliff?

Rat: I suppose you could ask most people, and they would say they have never heard of us… [Laughs]

But we make clothing by hand in Vancouver. Little collections… and we have our own little philosophy… which prescribes clothing as Essay! Essay… where tensions are balanced, positions accounted for, and deliberations situated within a Time. We use knitwear and garment craftsmanship to write out these tensions and to consider the irresolution between A and B. In a sense our garments are Reflections on the Revolution… in Fabric… [Laughs] They are the swing of the Pendulum! They are an opportunity for Heritage, and for Humour… They are a marriage of the two! We believe they belong together… And our garments serve as our Meditations… [Laughs] On technology, on history. On what could be…

Allison: Why do we use Times New Roman?

Rat: We began with only Marlboro Condensed! [Laughs] We yearned for camp… And we cared deeply for enigmatic cartoonists. Grandfather Murray Dunne was a mid-century industrial illustrator in Vancouver, and Marlboro felt true to his original influence. In the mid-twentieth century he built a cabin on a cliff over Lake Shuswap which the family called Dunne Cliff. We grew up at the cabin. We used to love to drift in the shallows of the lake. We would watch the water’s Reflections on the stones below the surface. And when there was nothing to do we used to dream… to enter the Dream Realm. Dunne Cliff; the Dream Realm! But… somehow the academic thread weaves back into the tapestry. Somehow the Essay re-emerges, the Pendulum swings, and we have the return of the Rational. And we swim, as salmon, back to the virtue of Times New Roman. Times as a place to reflect. Maybe we were always just In Search of Lost Times… [Laughs]

Allison: Tell us about you. Who are you?

Rat: I was very nearly born on a ferry boat. This ferry boat carries passengers across the Salish Sea between Gabriola Island and Vancouver Island. My mother had to get to the hospital on Vancouver Island in the middle of the night and the whole crew had to wake up to drive the boat across the water!

If she had given birth on the boat they say I would have had free ferry boat travel in British Columbia for life. [Laughs]

Allison: Too bad! [Laughs] But tell us more, what do you believe in? They probably have more questions…

Rat: We believe in people, in craft, and in the Dream Realm. We also believe in community, but coupled with originality… see, oops! Another tension. Another Essay… another Marriage!

Allison: Be serious! We need clear answers. Who are we?

Rat:

• Canadian designer

• 2023 - 2026 showcased seasonal runway collections in Vancouver, Toronto, and London

• Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA) finalist for Fashion Design Student of the Year (2023)

• Recipient of the Nancy Mak Award with the Global Fashion Collective (April 2025)

• Recipient of the FASHN DISRPTR Award with Fashion Art Toronto (May 2025)

• Media - CTV News (2023), Cosmopolitan Korea (2024), Vogue China (2025), Vogue Mexico (2023, 2024), and Vogue Italy (2023, 2024, 2025)

• Completed course in Experimental Fashion Knitwear at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (July 2025)

• London Fashion Week - off-calendar showcase (February 2026)

• Interview with Vainqueur Magazine (April 2026) (listen here)

• Media - Vogue China, Vogue Italy, Forbes Magazine (April 2026)

Allison lives in Vancouver and creates pieces by hand at a small studio in the West End.

Dunne Cliff pieces are available at Front & Company on Main Street in Vancouver.

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Contact: dunnecliff.orders@gmail.com

IG: @dunne.cliff