Behind the Scenes: Designing the Our Maker Life x We Are Knitters Winter 2022 Collection
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to create a full collection in collaboration with an established brand? Today, two of our team members (Jewell Washington & Nathan Bryant - who designed the pieces for the OML x WAK Winter 2022 Collection) are sharing their experiences and processes.
The Process
The work process was exciting, challenging, and fun!
There is a cool interconnectivity between tradition and modern that knitwear has a beautiful way of showcasing, and we tapped into that to inspire our work process. For example, we sketched our designs on paper, but also on our iPads. Jewell designed in her notebook and on her laptop. Nathan brainstormed and visualized his designs during meetings, but also in Milanote, an online mood board program.
We researched patterns that were popular in the 1900s, as well as today's knit trends. We were able to feed off of that bridge between tradition and modern, old-school media and new school tech, classic and trendy knitwear, to really push our design process. We also used our productivity tools to keep us on track and meet deadlines, which is always a challenge that we embrace. We worked ambitiously and with a focused aggressiveness on early creative concepts, then design concepts, then design development, then materials and color palettes, then early written pattern construct, then finalized patterns and photos.
The WAK team gave us great direction so that we could lean into our design, stitches, and pieces, while knowing exactly where we were going throughout the work process, and how to get to the finish line. It was so much fun and we are so thankful for this opportunity!
The Mission
We launched OML in 2016 with a vision to connect makers, and that is what we like most about being makers: our community in this wonderful industry. Whether it is showcasing keynote OML speakers, connecting with attendees, featuring designers on social media, knitting WAK kits at our events, or designing a WAK collection, we love to indulge in knitwear with the community at the center.
How can we create community and provide more of it in a way that makers ideally want and need from us? How can we be leaders in diversity and make knitters, crocheters and brands feel welcome and included? Continuing to ask and answer that is the OML mission, and we love it. It is what truly inspires us and drives our passion in everything that we do. It is where and why we always want to be transparent, challenged, and grow.
We believe that makers have global reach with talent and stories to share, and we seek to offer a for makers by makers platform that stands on the joy and fun of creating work by hand. And that is our vision for the future, one that encompasses our past and present: to make, empower, and advance fiber creativity for a better world — and maker life.