What kind of training did you have?
I graduated from Studio Berçot in Paris in 1990, and I was also educated in New York, Japan and Stockholm. I have been working in fashion, textile handicraft and ceramics, as well as education, and run many courses and workshops.
Why did you start making clothes and accessories?
I have a background as a fashion designer, and I came back to fashion through craft when my grandmother passed away. I found an enormous amount of textile pieces from worn out clothes in her house. Those items became the beginning of my first collection.
© Tomas Bjorkdal
Do you only work with recycled materials?
I do. It can be anything that we normally consider trash, like worn out clothes, plastic bags, packaging materials. Making attractive garments and jewellery without using the earth’s resources is the source of my inspiration.
What would you advise young people wanting to work in craftsmanship?
I think that crafts are undervalued in today's world. My advice to the younger generation is to never give up on craft – it is the future. The world is experiencing a period of readjustment, and the time when craft skills are in high demand will come back!