Aino Korhonen is a Finnish designer (and mom of two young boys) who lives in Helsinki.  She has MA in fashion design from Aalto University of Art and Design with a specialization in knitwear. Her beautiful collection Nieva is minimalist, with an eye toward detail and hand feel.

“I love good knitwear made from natural material for its simplicity, everyday wearability and warmth – I wear my wool knits all year round” says Aino; “to me, a well-made quality knit presents an understated elegance that is hard to find in any other material”.  And looking at the Nieva collection confirms that it’s all about simplicity and deep quality.  Aino aims at designing clothes that aren’t too fragile or precious as for her the meaning of clothes is to be used as much as possible. She makes them comfortable and functional.

The knits are designed in Finland and manufactured in an honest and fair manner by artisans in Portugal and Bolivia. In Portugal, Nieva is produced in a small workshop in Porto (with Danish yarns). In Bolivia, which was chosen for the amazing know­-how in knitting, the brand works with a great fair­trade certified producer using the local Pima Cotton.

The Summer 2016-collection was inspired by the short, slightly melancholic yet sweet Scandinavian summers – it can be quite chilly there all year round so sweaters are a must. For this collection, Aino was very inspired by Finnish writer Tove Jansson’s “The Summer Book” which perfectly captures the magic of Northern summers. A reminder that there is no need of magic or any other fantastical adornments to discover pure, beautiful magic in the natural world all around us.  We only need to quiet our lives and open our eyes to it. Here’s an extract of the book :

“Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade away without anyone’s noticing. One evening in August you have an errand outdoors, and all of a sudden it’s pitch-black. A great warm, dark silence surrounds the house. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive. It has come to a standstill; nothing withers, and fall is not ready to begin. There are no stars yet, just darkness.”

A very poetic surrounding for a beautiful Northern collection.

Made in Portugal