Born in Truro, Cornwall, Vivien attended the Redruth Art School before achieving a teaching certificate at Canterbury. From there she studied textiles and psychology at the University of Georgia, USA.

Living and working in Cornwall, she receives many commissions for her intuitive patterns that are ultimately translated into needlework and textile pieces - either for display or for use as jackets, scarves, wraps, etc. As she comments there can be five or six separate processes to a finished piece of work, and she has developed her own style of dyeing embroidery which make her work distinctive in colour, texture and design.