Meet the designers for Laine Issue 26

In Laine Magazine 26, we present designs from twelve outstanding designers from around the world. Meet Anu Ahoniemi, Alma Bali, Melanie Berg, Alice Caetano, Ronja Hakalehto, Soumine Kim, Sanni Pauliina, Anne-Michelle Phelan, Simone Ryan, Irina Shaar, Yucca/Yuka Takahashi and Julia Wilkens.

Anu Ahoniemi

Anu Ahoniemi divides her time between Tampere, Finland, and Paris, France. She is an architect who loves to create knitting patterns and a nomad knitter who loves to connect with knitters from different cultures. Anu’s patterns are simple but engaging to knit, as well as practical and easy to wear. The structure of the knitted garment leads her inspiration.

For this issue, Anu designed the Semiotic colourwork sweater featuring small motifs that you can freely mix and match.   

@piippahankiainen 

Alma Bali 

Alma Bali was born in Paris, France, and currently divides her time between Paris and Brussels. Besides designing knitwear, she is an architect, and as a professional in these two fields, Alma is convinced that different skills and crafts nurture each other. She can be inspired by situations and landscapes around her, but also by feelings: how does she want to feel in a particular situation, and how can her knitting help to achieve this?

For this issue, Alma designed the Jutland sweater with an interesting construction and simple but ornamental details.  

@alma.bali 

Melanie Berg

Melanie Berg comes from Bonn, Germany, and has been a full-time knitwear designer for more than ten years. Before that, she worked in IT. Melanie is both a process and product knitter: she loves being entertained while knitting but also wants to cherish the finished piece. Melanie believes everything we see and experience influences us, even in the most unexpected ways – it’s all about staying open to the world around.

For this issue, Melanie designed the Trustfall shawl: a vibrant design that plays with colour and texture.

@mairlynd

Alice Caetano

Alice Caetano comes from Brazil and lives in the Netherlands. Besides knitwear design, she works as a graphic designer. Alice gets most of her inspiration from visual and textile arts and the cinema. Interesting shapes and colour combinations usually serve as her starting points. For her, knitting is creating and experimenting, and with knitwear design, it also means participating in the knitting joy of other knitters around the world.

For this issue, Alice designed the Sixty-Five sweater, which mixes vertical and horizontal stripes in a fun way.

@knitburo

Ronja Hakalehto  

Ronja Hakalehto describes her design style as “down to earth, with a hint of nostalgia combined with a modern feel”. She lives in a small town in northern Finland, works as a knitwear designer, and teaches a knitting class at the local community centre. She aims to offer knitters clear and pleasant patterns that help them relax and feel a sense of achievement, and by the end, create a timeless, quality garment.   

For this issue, Ronja designed the cosy Silent Breeze cardigan worked in stockinette stitch with a few lovely details. 

@ronjahakalehto

Soumine Kim

Soumine Kim is originally from Seoul, South Korea, and currently lives in France. She works as a full-time knitwear designer, collaborating with her partner, who is an architect and textile designer. Their process involves continuous dialogue from concepts to completion. Soumine believes that collaborating with professionals from different fields consistently generates fresh ideas. Her designs aim to be structurally intricate yet simple and distinctive.

For this issue, Soumine designed the Bada sweater: a richly cabled, drop-shoulder sweater with an elegant silhouette. 

@knits.pourmoi  

Sanni Pauliina

Sanni Pauliina lives in a small town in Finland. She graduated with a BA in Design last autumn and jumped straight into full-time entrepreneurship as a designer. For her, knitting is a career, a creative outlet, a way of life and a means of creating her ideal wardrobe — and sticking it to fast fashion!  Sanni is known for her rustic knits and use of dark colours and natural fibres.    

For this issue, Sanni designed Paint a Forest: a relaxed sweater with a cable panel at the front resembling spruce trees.   

@sannila_

Anne-Michelle Phelan  

Anne-Michelle Phelan is a knitwear and crochet designer based in Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. She studied Fine Art Sculpture at university but never really knew where to put her creative energy.  A return to craft in adulthood got her thinking about a place where maybe she could fit. Anne-Michelle loves the mix of technicality, practicality and creativity in knitwear design. Interesting textures and patterns from nature often inform her ideas.  

For this issue, Anne-Michelle designed the Gilly gilet: a versatile and cosy layer you can pop on over different outfits. 

@threadsoftly_designs  

Simone Ryan

Simone Ryan was born and lives in Switzerland, but she has Irish roots. In addition to knitwear design, she works in marketing. Simone aims to design elegant staple pieces that are refined, wearable and durable. The fit of the pattern is very important to her as this directly affects how much (or how little) the piece is worn, and she loves incorporating all kinds of little details throughout the project.

For this issue, Simone designed Éimi: a classic cabled cardigan with a refined fit, inspired by her great-grandmother Éimi. 

@rust_knitwear  

Irina Shaar

Irina Shaar was born in Uzbekistan, spent her childhood in Siberia and moved to the US in 1992. She lives in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to her design work, Irina is a YouTuber who interviews fibre artists and industry professionals on her channel, Fiberchats. Knitting brings Irina peace during our turbulent times, gives her patience and connects her with the most creative people.

For this issue, Irina designed the Never Too Late sweater with lace and cable panels on the front and sides and a neckline that resembles a necklace.

@fiberchats 

Yuka Takahashi  

Yuka — known as Yucca — comes from Kyoto, Japan. She is a knitwear designer who loves knitting, yarn and cats. At university, Yuka studied garment-making, textiles and the basics of hand knitting, and after graduation, she worked for a publisher and a bookstore. In 2010, Yuka came across English knitting patterns online and was intrigued. She learned the pattern-writing style by herself and began designing hand-knitted garments. 

For this issue, Yuka designed the Hanano socks worked from the top down, featuring ribbing composed of small cables and twisted stitches.

@sio2_yucca  

Julia Wilkens

Julia Wilkens grew up in Germany and moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, around 20 years ago. She has a part-time job in the organization of a local art academy and designs during the rest of the week. Julia calls herself “half-painter, half-engineer". Her painterly side loves to play with colours, while the other part likes to explore garment construction and how to make things possible with stitches.  

For this issue, Julia designed the Waveform shawl, with wave-like chevron stripes that create a rhythmic up-and-down motion. 

@wilkens_julia 

Learn more:
Get your copy of Laine 26
Pattern previews for Laine 26