I love the idea of distortion, the way things can change shape, like in mirrors you'd find at a fun fair

The art and design books that surrounded her at this time became a source of inspiration that fuelled the creative side

of her character while her class

studies satisfied her academic inclination. Oberdieck enjoyed and valued her time at university, but realised towards the end of her course that she wanted to change direction and pursue the artistic and creative vocation that had been present for as long as she cares to remember.

Keen to travel and recognising that so much talent was being nurtured in Britain, she collated a package of ideas, applied

for, and was accepted onto a foundation course at Camberwell School of Art and Design in London.

There she was able to explore her love for, and affinity with, the discipline that is making her famous today. During her time at Camberwell and again to generate an income to assist with college and living expenses, she found a part- time job as a gallery assistant with a graphics company. While there, she realised that although an admirer of structured and graphic shape and design, she preferred to

be inspired by the abstract of organic and

by the form and unpredictable manner of nature itself.

Recognising that her strength and passion lay in textile design, she moved to Scotland and secured a place studying Printed Textiles at Glasgow School of Art. During this time she was fortunate to be offered two work placements that were to become instrumental in her rise to critical acclaim and early business success. The first was with the Anthea Davis Design Studio in London and the second was with Donna Karan in New York, where she obtained a valuable insight into the fast-moving world of fashion. There, Oberdieck's desire to produce the world's most beautiful textiles was further fuelled and returning to Scotland at the end of 1993 she found herself charged with a renewed vigour and completed her course with honours in 1994.

A textile artist in the traditional sense, Oberdieck works onto and into plain fabrics, but it is here that tradition ends. Gentle weaves like silk and organza are bonded together and printed with organic shapes to create a unique product that appears to have greater dimension and much more power while managing to retain its fluidity and simple form. Sumptuous devore velvets are cleverly cross-dyed, discharged and backed with contrasting silk chiffon, while matte satins are printed with random and naturalistic elements that owe more to the shape of nature than the printer's craft. As a colourist, Oberdieck presents an intoxicating palette that catches the breath on first witness. She mixes soft autumnal shades with E-number fluorescents, fuses dusky pastels with rich oxidised metallics, and combines tonal shades of one colour in a mixture that appears contemporary rather than contrived.

''In terms of choosing colourways for my collection I follow my gut feeling about what works best rather than chasing the vagaries of fashion. I guess I'm lucky my customers think I get it right.'' Oberdieck takes the most beautiful elements in nature and contorts them to make them even more beautiful. She explains: ''I love the idea of distortion and the way things can change shape, like in the mirrors you'd find at a fun-fair, but without losing their original presence.

''It's like looking at something through a different eye, with a different perspective. I want to move textile design away from traditional decorative elements and into a more challenging and exciting immediacy.''

Oberdieck's work ethic revolves around textiles that can be applied in various ways, from table dressings to curtaining and from upholstery material to wall hangings. At the other end of the spectrum she creates stunning fabrics to be tailored into fantastic clothes as well as a range of ready-to-wear items such as her trademark scarves and more recently her ''apron skirt wraps'' to be worn over trousers or in their own right. These wraps were a best-seller at London Fashion Week where all available stock was snapped up quickly by Selfridges and Neiman Marcus - a significant achievement considering that this was Oberdieck's first year at the event.

While acknowledging that ultimately commercial success would be more likely if she relocated once more to London, she decided that in the first instance she would prefer to operate her business from Scotland. ''I knew that for the first years it would be better for me to be based in Glasgow as I had forged good relationships with other designers in the area and enjoyed the camaraderie and support this created.'' She continues: ''London's only a short flight away and having many friends and design contacts there meant that I could visit as often as I needed in the first years of my business, while maintaining my Scottish base.''

Initially, working freelance for various British agents left Oberdieck frustrated that most companies preferred the safe option of anything that had been done before. ''If I had been churning out dots and stripes or easy stylised flowers I am sure success would have happened much sooner.''

she explains: ''They just couldn't understand how designs like mine could ever work.'' Realising that her own self-belief would carry her forward faster than anyone else's, she set about printing her own designs and rendering them into the most simple product that she could create. Choosing the humble scarf as a vehicle to propel her into the public eye was an inspired

and clever move. ''Buyers saw them as individual and completed works of art.'' Before long her work came to the attention of the wife of rug designer Christopher Farr, who commissioned Oberdieck to design for her a dress to wear at the launch of her husband's new flooring collection, which he had designed in collaboration with Rifat Ozbek. This was to be a turning point in Oberdieck's fortunes.

A meeting with buyers from Harvey Nichols followed and soon afterwards the store placed their first of many orders. ''Designing for such a high profile retailer raised my personal profile more quickly than I had dared hope and many other stores worldwide became interested in my work.

''I currently sell through a string of outlets in Europe such as Colette in Paris and Piamonte in Madrid. In the States I work with Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Dosa in San Francisco, while in Britain I sell through nearly a dozen different outlets.''

Spring/summer 1999 sees the introduction of her Les Fleurs du Mal collection. Inspired by Baudelaire's famous poem, Oberdieck has taken the traditional elements of flora and fauna and corrupted them with extraordinary colour combinations, such as olive and fluorescent yellow to produce contorted freeform shapes on organza and silk. In this collection lies perfect illustration of the way in which Oberdieck likes to gently attack the senses, leaving one feeling pleasantly disorientated yet longing for more.

A veteran of 100% Design where her work has traditionally sold exceptionally well, and having exhibited at London Fashion Week for the first time, Oberdieck has recently made a considered move to London.

''It was difficult to leave Glasgow,'' she explains, ''but to allow my work to be exposed to the optimum market I knew it would have to happen one day. Scotland has been brilliant for me, but logistically London makes more sense now. With another London Fashion Week approaching and the trade shows looming I needed to make the move.''

Scotland's loss then is England's gain, but as Oberdieck herself is quick to point out,

it's a one world ticket and she is simply taking a ride.

l For stockists and further information contact: Michelle Oberdieck, Unit 167, 27-31 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0AT (tel/fax: 0171 689 0498)