Katharina wears a hand-dyed silk top by ound.
Hi Paula, thank you so much for finding the time to talk to me! Please tell the heiter readers who you are and what you do.
I am an artist and fashion designer with more than 15 years’ experience in the fashion industry. I wanted to turn my career into something meaningful. I wanted to respect the planet and the people I work with. I have a Project called ound: I work with natural materials such as wool, silk and plants and I look at them from a design perspective. I try to make an efficient and responsible use of them, in terms of applying them in different ways and achieving a Variety of beautiful results by using very few resources.
When did you have the idea for ound and what led you to turning it into a business?
After spending 15 years working for two of the biggest retail companies in the world I became conscious of all the waste this industry produces, not only in overproduction and overconsumption, but also when it comes to using resources, both material and human resources. Prior to launching a new collection there is a lot of work to be done. Many different design samples are produced in order to launch but only less than 10% of them are used in the end. Crazy, right? The 10% that make it are then overproduced, spend a couple of weeks (sometimes a few months) in a store and then already go into sale, where there is usually no respect for them anymore. It doesn’t matter how much work and resources once went into those garments. Careless customers ruin items by letting them fall on the ground and walking over them. Seeing all of that on a regular basis made me very sad. So, I decided to make a change and turn to something that was more respectful towards the production process. I wanted to enhance the properties of materials and respect them too, just like I wanted to respect myself and my values. I therefore started to research and investigate the most traditional and primitive ways of working with textiles. I got the chance to learn more about it in rural Argentina and Scotland and so became familiar with two very different approaches for spinning, weaving and dying.
Ound reflects myself: I mainly create woollen pieces and dresses because that is what I would mostly wear. I love dresses! You can throw them on and wear a full outfit. They are wonderfully comfortable, and you can style them in different ways, just think about what a difference shoes and accessories can make! Plus, I love the idea of how silk and wool work together and how they feel. They are smooth and insulating materials, and when you put them together their properties boost. I wanted to create a brand for People who’d like to feel just as good and cosy as I do whenever I wear the garments. It is like gifting somebody with something very intimate and beautiful.
What does ound stand for?
Ound stands for something that is profound, and it is round; it makes sense. At least for me 😊.
What makes your products unique?
My products are unique because they create a bond with the person wearing them: the bond is created as soon as the wearer understands what the meaning behind the pieces is. My products are unique because a lot of labour of love goes into each of them and their quality is extraordinary. The woollen pieces take three to five days to handknit and the craftsmanship is excellent. The wool is extremely high-quality merino and corriedale wool, it is only washed, undyed and there are no chemicals applied to it. The dying and printing process of the silks also take up a lot of investigation and care. Each piece takes two weeks to be fully dyed. A lot of attention is needed to avoid colour contamination and to achieve a beautifully imperfect finish.
Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in nature, art and design. I love that moment of contemplation when you look at something beautiful and it evokes certain emotions. I like to recall that moment and pass it on to my pieces.
