KNITWEAR DESIGN
Nanna Graversen
What drew you to knitwear design, and how did you become a fiber crafter?
Knitwear has a beautiful intuitiveness. It might sound contradictory to a sustainability-focused designer but I loved the quickness of it. You can shape, make finishings, merge colors, and design very intuitively. If the knitted sample doesn’t look great, it can be unraveled, redesigned, and improved without waste. Every decrease or needle is knitted immediately after moving the carriage across and you can immediately see the changes. This intuitive approach to design draws me in and I end up spending hours maintaining every needle and thread, designing intuitively until the garment is off the needles.
The endless curiosity about how something is made, drew me to become a -fiber nerd -. I want to understand how a fibre is sourced, how is it produced, and why a fibre acts as it does in the final clothes. Of course, wool from a Norwegian sheep acts differently than a Mallorcan one. To me, understanding the source of such fibre “irregularities” gives textiles more depth and makes it much easier to design with instead of against.
What does it mean waste-led design and why is it so important?
We are depleting resources every day and a designer's role, I believe, is to see opportunity in a challenge. If I am waste-led, the sustainable crisis, to me, becomes solvable instead of overwhelmingly numbing. I hope. Within my design process, I like designing with the set boundaries of working with what I’ve got or can source with the least possible impact. In a perfect world, or maybe in a world where materials are seen as a greater value than today, we would all use a waste-led design mindset and “waste” would not be a word as every material has great value.
Can you tell us more about the yards that you are using and if they are recycled?
The yarns are not recycled. Recycling is a great alternative, but it takes energy and resources to break down materials, and make a new fiber which is made into “new” recycled yarns. I use materials, which have been discarded by the conventional production/fashion industry, which is at times referred to as deadstock. Some of the yarns I have literally found in a trashcan.
Some of them, my friend found for me at a secondhand sorting facility, some are from unraveling garments, and for Christmas, my brothers are great at scavenging secondhand stores for yarns for me. Using deadstock, to me, is only a good solution as long as I do not overproduce as it is done in the conventional fashion system.
What´s your production philosophy?
If I make something, it needs to have good resonance with its place in the world. It can become overwhelming at times, constantly questioning if what I make has a reason to be, as I love and care about creating. But I think it is a good practice to include this tug-of-war between wanting to create and our depleting resources in my process, as long as it doesn’t turn into doubt. On a practical level, that means only producing pieces after they are purchased, and made to order, and sampling is a slow process without forced deadlines.
Do you think that transparency within fashion can be possible without specific regulations?
I think that is an interesting question because is transparency the beginning of a solution for fashion's fast pace, exploitation of humans, and resource depletion? Until we understand that we are in this urgent mess together, there is no willingness to be transparent. I think specific regulations are great, but at the moment I see companies treating regulations as water in oil - with every inventive way to get away with the bare minimum. I hope to see a transition, maybe generational, knowledge-based, or down to urgency: transparency is shared knowledge, helping each other to do better. Using each other’s waste as resources and finding alternatives to human exploitation. I might be called naive by any business analyst, but I am truly hopeful that transparency becomes an act of wanting everyone to do better as we are dependent on working together!
How do you think that we can find our way back and rediscover the beauty and wisdom of ancient practices?
Curiosity locally, shared globally. I don’t believe that a global world with production across continents, is contradictory to keeping historical craftsmanship alive. I also hope to see a slowed-down version of the fashion structure, which allows for curiosity within the local historical craft and knowledge.
Last year for a customer, I found that our national historical archive is open to the public. It was as easy as booking a concert and then I went to our national archives to see historical knitwear which was over 100 years old. Some pieces were just 60 years old, with beautiful details. I can recommend it to anyone to rummage in their national archives, to rediscover local crafts. I promise it is much more satisfying with white gloves than on Pinterest.
Oftentimes the crafters are guided by a love for crafts and by a set of ethical values. Do you consciously think about the values that guide your work?
The foundation of my work is based on the value of materials and reevaluating our approach to waste: Is the raw material ethical until the point of reaching my hands and can it last to be used for many years to come? Asking these material-based questions can then guide the craft and design: What is this yarn's best purpose both aesthetically and for longevity as I make garments for the body. Can I guarantee that this is not a virgin material, taken directly from the conventional supply chain, or ending in the pit of the conventional and linear fashion model? To me integrating a set of ethical values around materials, can influence social, cultural, and sustainable values.
We think that celebrating crafts is celebrating humanity. Can you speak more about the experience of creating a product and the impact that it has on your happiness and wellbeing?
I don’t even know how to answer this question, other than that, I feel such a large part of me is being a maker, a creative solutions thinker, and with a curiosity that largely extends to trying to understand how everything is made? But as you mention, crafts mean celebrating humanity, hands, and the people that are involved in every little step. Making is such a precious thing as it allows giving, sharing, and the joy of seeing others excited about wearing or even just being curious about any of my pieces. I hope this care for the hands involved in each step extends to the wearer or viewer of my pieces.
Can you tell us more about your upcoming projects or any product development you are currently working on?
One of my projects which I am currently working on is a collaboration on how to join materials, two traditional craftsmanship techniques and I would also say joining distances, to see how these three impact each other into a textile and tactile object. My collaborator is working with natural dyeing of and from wasted resources and I am exploring how to join these square pieces with the same source of waste through knitting. It is in the early stages, but we are both with the same mindset of allowing time to pass, not forcing a deadline, and wanting to explore the two crafts both simultaneously and apart. Sara Kadesch, my collaborator, is such a knowledgeable inspiration, that I feel confident and excited about the future of this project. If anyone knows of residencies where we can explore this project to be physically together, don’t hesitate to reach out.
On a side note: I love the craftsmanship, knitting, and design because of the material. But I love it even more because of the community it creates. Thank you so much for reaching out, I hope it allows for greater transparency and community. If any readers feel like I can help them with anything, they can always reach out.
