The atelier

I grew up in a village, surrounded by countryside. I got into the habit early of watching what the year did to it: the blossom that covers the trees in spring, the fruit of the summer, the leaves changing colour, then the emptiness and the quiet of winter. That is where I learned to see time. It was written into something alive, and it was never the same twice.

I always needed to make things. Understanding why took me longer. Making became my way of thanking the ground we were made on, and that thanks is not an idea. It sits in the handling: which material I choose, and whether the garment was built to stay.

Choosing a garment should not damage the environment, and it should not damage the health of the person wearing it. That is the alternative I want to offer. Healthier, and more honest.

Since I was small I have liked wearing what nobody else has. Everyone is singular, and what a person wears should be too. So I knit one-offs and very small editions. Above all I want the garment to say something about the person wearing it, and not the other way round.

Before I sell the first piece of a design I decide how many will ever exist, and I write the number down in public. The dress stops at two. Bella’s Top runs to eight. None of them goes past its number, in any size and any colour, and there are no sales and no discounts. Knitting lets me shape a garment with almost no waste, so every thread has its place.

Before the label I took a bachelor’s degree at the IFM. It gave me what I was missing: the time to research, and the words to connect what draws me to nature with the way I design and make. What came out of it was a collection that held my values and my aesthetic in one place. The label grew out of that collection.