Favourite food:
Italian! Basiaclly everything pasta.
Favoutire drink:
Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and Southside for night!
Favourite book: A year of wishful thinking By Joan Didion and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Ahlbom. Love everything by Isabel Allende and right now I’m reading a book called “How to be a happier parent”, haha. It’s by KJ Dell´Antonia and so good! It sounds cheezy but it’s research based and really lifts the everyday life with family. Highly recommend it.
Splurge:
Good wine and lots of textiles.
Dream:
To be able to work with this for a long time, to continue to grow in a sustainable way together with my Swedish factories and give back. I believe in ”paying it forward” so I would love to work more with integrating immigrant women on a larger scale in my production. My cushion making atelier, Yallatrappan, does exactly this and I would love to expand our collaboration.
What do you do on your resting day: I try not to leave my house, I’m a real homebody. I go for a walk with our dog, read, hang out with my family, listen to Fleetwood Mac and watch my husband cook for us while I drink my Southside and read a magazine. Finish off with a good 80s movie or any Marvel movie. I love Guardians of the Galaxy, it has the best soundtrack and who doesn’t like Chris Pratt? And baby Groot.
Thank you for chatting to us about sustainable production and the struggles we all face..
Please share with us when you started with patterns..and how it grew into your own company:
I started making patterns when my youngest child was born, 6 years ago. I have a BA in graphic design and had been working as a graphic designer for 10 years but my heart was never really in it. I stumbled across an online course in pattern design and just knew that I had to try this. The course ran over one year and I studied at day when my baby slept and at night when all three kids were sleeping. I then started licensing and selling my patterns to companies around the world and this was an amazing experience, from small brands to big brands like IKEA and Uniqlo. But after a few years I started feeling a disconnection to my work. When I was finished with an assignment, I just sent off a digital file and I lost control of the pattern, colors and production. I didn’t know how, where and by whom the products were made. At the same time I felt that I really wanted to work locally, with Swedish design and local factories. An idea started to take shape and being an avid interior design and textile lover I decided I wanted to enter that field. So I started doing research online and found two amazing factories for production of fabric and wallpaper. I called them, we talked about my idea and pretty soon everything started rolling! So today I make my hand printed fabrics at Frösö Handtryck and my wallpaper at Ulricehamns Tapetfabrik. And I couldn’t be more proud.
What comes across directly is that you are very passionate about your work, what do you love about it? Everything! I honestly never thought that I would enjoy the business side of it so much as I have never done that before but I love it. Numbers and all. I love being surrounded by color, pattern and textiles every day. I love that I get to work closely with these truly fantastic people and craftsmen, who are equally passionate about their work. I love that I get to work directly towards both consumers and interior designers and see what they make of my textiles. The fact that someone chooses my textiles over something else on the market makes me so happy and very very humbled.
What is the tips you can give to others wanting to persue a life of pattern making.
An online course is a great start if you are new to pattern design. Skillshare is amazing, they have so many great teachers and classes, on everything from the technical part to the creative part and finding your own style.
Best tips for inspiration for all us pattern lovers?
I would say travel, to see craftsmanship and the history of textile and pattern in different cultures, but that is unfortunately not the best option today for many reasons. So I would strongly recommend museums and books. There are so many beautiful museums around the world with an extensive collection of textiles, ceramics and art. Not to mention all books! I don’t know how many coffee table books I own and I just continue to grow my library. But you don’t have to buy new books. In Stockholm I like to go to Rönnells Antikvariat and browse, or the public libraries.
