Designer

Ethics and ecology are part of a comprehensive philosophy and my way of life. I wish to create new, entirely sustainable textile culture, including cloths and home textiles – not to talk about the textiles of public spaces. All that means, among other things, the use of durable, clean and domestic materials, as little use of harmful chemicals as possible, taking good care of the finished product as well as diminishing the amount of textile waste. This is why I have chosen the Finnsheep wool and from that in Finland produced worsted wool, which I am dyeing myself in my dye works in Inkoo or in cooperation with a domestic dyehouse.

Colors and dyeing have interested me as long as I can remember. Natural colors have come along since the 1980’s, but the symposium of natural coloring ISEND in France in 2011 was a turning point; the contacts established there, such as a producer of natural color concentrates, gave the impetus for starting Aurinkokehrä.

In natural coloring the behaviour of the colors has to be known very precisely in order to get the desired shade. In the final thesis work of my complementary adult education I indeed studied natural colors and developed my own bank of recipes, which was further developed into the Aurinkokehrä color chart.

I have a long studying and working history with dyeing and cloth printing. The experience of harmful reactions in my body to certain synthetic coloring chemicals sealed my decision to use only natural dyes, which do not harm people nor nature.