Austrian / British. Marian Mahler was born in Vienna and studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule. She moved to Britain in 1937. In the 1950s she worked for Allan Walton, Edinburgh Weavers and Donald Brothers. At David Whitehead Ltd she was given a mandate to reinvigorate the company by producing affordable textiles with good design. The new roller-printed manufacturing process enabled her sophisticated designs to be reproduced quickly, in rayon and cotton, and at a price that appealed to a younger clientele.