CONTENTS

INDULGE textiles to buy, collect or simply admire 10 BRIGHT SPARK Faces will light up with treats from our Christmas Gift Guide.

INDUSTRY from craft to commerce 71 TIED TO THE PAST Geneviève Woods unwraps the history of the ribbon industry in St. Etienne. 76 RIBBONS OF LIGHT Shellie Pomeroy captures every shade in silk using natural dyes.

GLOBAL Textiles from around the world 29 NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS For the Sámi, reindeer are not for the festive season; they are a year-long resource. British photographer Bryan Alexander documents the life of the Arctic's indigenous peoples.

BRIGHT SPARK

Faces will light up with treats from our Christmas Gift Guide

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WARM F EEL I NGS Anne Menke captures rare moments in Alaska

October is not the best time of year to go to Alaska: you’ll find yourself battling snow storms while in April apparently it’s all blue sky and placid icebergs. But I’ve always longed to photograph the native people so when the opportunity came I grabbed it – bad weather or not. My producer Angelika Saint Aignan found an amazing guide – John Tidwell from Arctic Mushing Tours in Barrow, Alaska – and with his help she organized our trip for Japanese Vogue; the magazine that had always let me realize my dreams. Choosing the outfits to be worn in this environment was a challenge met by my long time friend, and stylist, Haidee Findley Levin. She made our model, Ayumi, look beautiful. We were all so excited to go to the most northern point in the United States and enter the Arctic Circle. We knew we were really in the wild when we spotted a sign that warned “DO not go further POLAR BEARS!” annemenke.com

COHABIT stunning interiors beautifully photographed 42 TOP OF THE PILE Collector Tuomas Sopanen outlines the rugged charm of the Ryijy rug. 34 YULETIDE TREASURE In textile designer Violise Lunn’s home, Christmas is the most wonderful time. Photographed by Pernille Enoch. 38 INSIDER TRADING Northern designers profit from their heritage and surroundings. Diana Woolf compiles a fact file of our favourite interior products.

ATTIRE critical reporting of fashion trends 21 THE WEATHER DIARIES A photographic project shot on location by Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer. Including interviews with Kría from Iceland, Guðrun & Guðrun from the Faroe Islands and Bibi Chemnitz from Greenland. 14 WARM FEELINGS Photographer Anne Menke captures rare moments in Barrow, Alaska.

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KRÍA, ICELAND

Jewellery and adornment are the oldest of human traditions, dating back thousands of years to shells and beads. Johanna Methusalemsdóttir, a.k.a. Kría, strives to nurture a kinship with this human instinct and the mysticism surrounding it. Her jewellery is a nod to shamanism and ritualism, but offers a range of interpretations. Found objects such as teeth, bones and shells are often the raw material and inspiration for her pieces. Kría poetically illuminates the affinity between objects and those who possess them.

C&G: Can you tell us a little about your childhood growing up in Iceland?

Johanna: I was born and raised more or less in Reykjavík. It was the 70s. Every summer I went to my grandparent’s farm, Helgavatn in Borgafjörður. They had a dairy farm. The days consisted of getting up early in the morning and feeding the cows; we helped Grandma Guðfinna in the kitchen or fixed fences. We also had our own fantasy world that we played in. The farm is in a valley with cliffs, and I remember being up in those cliffs, surrounded by blueberries and crawling thyme. We were wild children, left alone and allowed to do whatever we wanted. You had your own world and games. The Leggjabú was a game that involved bones of sheep and cows. They became our own animals and our own farm to take care of. I really treasured that. I left Iceland in 1988. I was 18, and I hadn’t done very well in school. I didn’t know what I wanted to do except that I wanted out. I had visited New York when I was 16 and I had loved the city; I loved how you could get lost there.

C&G: Why did you become a jewellery designer? I guess one of the reasons that I could see the beauty of the bones in Iceland was the fact that I used to play with them. It wasn’t a question of, “Should I pick it up?” It was more, “Cool, look at this!” Once you take it out of its environment, you can really turn it into whatever you want. I guess I have always had a relatively colourful imagination. It gave me freedom, and that imagination is what eventually led to the jewellery.

C&G: Does your jewellery, which is cast from bones, have elements of shamanism in it? I think the bones possess an element of form, beauty and shamanism. But these are not sacrificed animals – they are found bones. I take them and I celebrate them and make them into something beautiful. People have been doing it for hundreds of years – adorning themselves with found objects or animal bones.

C&G: What does beauty mean to you? Beauty is personal, and it is inside. People want to have a story. They almost want to own me a bit when they buy my jewellery. It is rather nice in a way. I like that people know where I come from, and where my inspiration lies. There is so much beautiful stuff out there, bones, trees, etc. With the bones, it is just a different form of life for the animal. It is obviously not alive and breathing, but it is being celebrated and brought back. You have the history of it and I find that really beautiful. I find it fascinating to work with something that has already been. Extracting it from its former existence and reintroducing it as something completely different.

Where do you live now? We got this place last December, 2012. We were way up on a mountain in Denver Vega Valley, which is in the Catskills. After driving up the driveway, we came up to the deck and saw the view. And immediately, I pretty much gasped for air. I got extremely emotional, and nostalgic.

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ANECDOTE textiles that touch our lives 96 FABRIC SWATCH No 21: Grosgrain Ribbon. Sarah Jane Downing traces the history of this classic trimming. Illustrated by Georgie McAusland. 56 A COLD PATCH Antarctic expedition badges. Sandra Potter has made around twenty trips to the Antarctic with the national programs of Australia, Chile, New Zealand and Russia. Here she explains the personal significance of these small, collectable textiles.

YULETIDE TREASURE In Violise Lunn’s home Christmas is the most wonderful time

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Page 37: Malu at the Nuup Kangerlua Fjord, Holding Two Spit Skinned Birds, Najannguaq Lennert, Greenland

Left: Dalalæðudrekinn, Kría, Iceland Below left: Lola and the Deer Head, Kría, Iceland

Below right: Lola, India, Swing, Kría, Iceland

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Making a living as a creative person often means moving to where the work leads you. Projects, exhibitions, new collections can take you halfway around the world: but at Christmas most of us like to return home. Designer Violise Lunn is no exception. Though she spends her year travelling, sourcing fabric and finding inspiration for her evening wear, accessories and bridal wear, she always retreats to her apartment for the festive season.

And once there her time is spent putting up her favourite decorations and adding new creative touches. Violise, a graduate of the Denmark Design School, moved into her apartment in the lively Nansensgade neighbourhood of Copenhagen four years ago. It’s surrounded by vintage shops, bohemian cafes and is just five minutes walk from wonderful food markets. The area’s charming atmosphere is echoed in Violise’s interior, furnished with flea market finds and a handful of heirlooms – the mood is light and simple.

Eye-catching arrangements abound. On a dresser made of old safes/money boxes (found in a yarn shop by a friend and given to Violise) is a hat stand topped with a tiara set at a jaunty angle – another gift this time from Violise’s sister who worked at a theatre in London. Intriguing tableaux occupy tables and surfaces and, though some are displayed all year long, the Christmas season adds more sparkle and excitement. Violise likes to see things and to have them within easy reach, and is fond of open shelves. In the kitchen, crystal decanters and glasses are beautifully illuminated by fairylights, and on the table is this year's homemade Advent wreath.

A small arrangement in shades of blue is particular to the season and combines Violise’s designs with treasured items from her travels – the blue cap with pearls was purchased on a trip to Damascus and the chandelier was picked up on a trip to Amsterdam. Porcelain bonbon dishes, which are part of the collection Violise designed for Royal Copenhagen,4

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