One to watch! Meet Emma Hasselblad, she is a 25-year-old knitwear designer and a textile designer/artist. Educated at ESMOD Berlin from where she graduated with a BA Fashion Design in 2015. She grew up in Stockholm, Sweden and at the moment she is based in Malmö, south of Sweden, in a super small apartment with her partner and two cats. I like her collection a lot. it is colorful and fun. read below an interview with the young designer.
I would love to knit something for my hero Björk
Name: Emma Hasselblad / Age:25 / Hometown: Malmö /Menswear or Womenswear: womenswear / Social media: Instagram
Hello. Welcome to KALTBLUT. Why have you decided to participate at FASHIONCLASH Festival?
EH: Hello KALTBLUT people. I first got to know about FASHIONCLASH this winter when I saw it on Instagram. I instantly realised that it was the perfect platform for me to show my work and to get to know other creative people with crazy ideas just like me. I am so happy for that opportunity, I had the best weekend!
Can you tell us something about the collection you presented at the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2016? What was your inspiration?
EH: It’s a colourful collection and I am inspired by the searching for the dreamworld in different ways. The dreamworld can symbolise an escape from today’s beauty and body ideals and it can be unreal, unrealistic and perfect. I wanted to create a feeling of a magical, colourful and imaginary universe with my collection, free from todays beautification of the female body.
EH: It’s a colourful collection and I am inspired by the searching for the dreamworld in different ways. The dreamworld can symbolise an escape from today’s beauty and body ideals and it can be unreal, unrealistic and perfect. I wanted to create a feeling of a magical, colourful and imaginary universe with my collection, free from todays beautification of the female body.
I have chosen to show the image of beauty in the context of what is perceived as “girly”. I wanted to work with colours that appears to have a low status like pink to highlight what is interpreted by many as a typical “girly” look. Let these aesthetics be as worth as anything else. Girl power!
What kind of material did you used for the collection?
EH: The collection I showed at FASHIONCLASH is hand knitted by me in different techniques and materials. I mixed heavy and thick wool with lighter materials like mohair and cotton, I also used plastic materials like polyamide etc. A lot of the yarn I used is recycled and bought at secondhand shops.
What challenges did you face during the design process?
EH: I have so many crazy ideas and for me the challenge is the time. I knit everything by hand so that leads to a lot of working hours. The garments I make are usually pretty big and sculptural and that takes time. But I look at it in a positive way, the world needs more slow fashion. Slow fashion is a more personal way of fashion and a more sustainable way to live
How would you describe your self and your work?
EH: I’ve always been a fan of colours and shapes and to be creative has always been important to me. I’ve been fascinated of clothes and style for as long as I can remember and how easy it is to change appearance with how you dress. I wanted to work with something that involves colours and handicraft so that’s why I wanted to work with fashion, textile and knitwear.
Everything i do is made by hand, I make my own fabric by knitting it =the handicraft is very important to me. I don’t make patterns very often, when I make a garment I just start knitting, sometimes by free hand and sometimes I follow a sketch. I think that’s how I keep my creativity going, I’m not following too many rules.
Tell us about your journey that led you to this point.
EH: My interest for knitting and design started for real when I was about 19. When I was 21 I moved to Berlin and I stared a BA in fashion at ESMOD Berlin. I lived in Berlin for three years and under these years I learned so much about my self and what I want to do. For me Berlin is the capital city of creativity and you are always surrounded by open minded people from all over the world in that city. I will come back to Berlin in the future but first I will do my master in textile in Sweden.
What would you say is the biggest influence to your design process?
EH: There are so many creative people who inspire me, I can scroll in my Instagram feed forever and I never get tired of it. Love to cyberspace and all the cool people who hang there.
I’m also inspired by colour combinations, mismatching colours, political activism, shapes from the nature, memories, feminism, the internet and handcrafted flea market finds.
If you had not become a fashion designer, what would you do instead?
EH: If you would have asked the eight year old me I would have said that I wanted to be a hairdresser or a fire-fighter. If you would ask me now I would say that I don’t really have a second plan for my life, I just want to be a knitwear designer.
Who’s your dream client?
EH: Ohh I would love to knit something for my hero Björk.
What was the first item you have ever designed? And who was the lucky one to get it?
EH: My mum just send me a picture the other day of a knitted cat that I made when I was a kid. So I guess that was one of my first items. Is funny because today I’m a crazy cat lover who spends my days knitting.
What can we expect from you in near future?
EH: At the moment I’m working on a wearable sweater collection. So that’s what’s on my mind right know. If everything goes like its planned you will be able to buy it this fall!!
Where can we buy your fashion?
EH: This fall I will open my web shop on my website www.emmahasselblad.com
I will keep you updated for news there and on my Instagram. Hope to see you in cyberspace!
