Jonna Helin
Jonna Hietala is the co-founder, creative director and CEO of Laine Publishing and the editor-in-chief of Laine Magazine. She has also designed many of Laine’s most beloved knitwear patterns. During her long career as a journalist, Jonna has worked in lifestyle and crafts magazines both in Finland and in Sweden. Before Laine, she also ran her own yarn shop. In 2021, Jonna won the prestigious Taito-Finlandia award for her groundbreaking work on handicrafts and applied arts.
Jonna lives in Tampere, Finland with her husband, two children, cats and dogs. Jonna doesn’t actually consider herself a knitwear designer: usually she just knits and makes up the pattern as she goes. That also makes Jonna’s garments approachable and easy to knit.
“It always starts with the yarn: something in it, be it colour or texture, that evokes an idea in my mind that I shape into a knitting pattern – most often a sweater.”