Katarina Grønmyr on how to be creative.
Today I am presenting my dear, creative and artistic friend Katarina Grønmyr. I got to know her when we both went to ESMOD fashion school in 1992. After she graduated she has been working in Paris, Brussels and Oslo.
She was lucky to get to work for the great artist and designer Pia Myrvold and Katarina Grønmyr is the only designer that I know that has worked for Coco Channel ’s fashion house in rue Cambon in Paris. (not for long, but still -Chanel! ……… Hello!). Now she is managing Fretex’ Redesign activities, and Katarina has recently started a brand new handbag brand Woman in Space
In 2004 I worked for Fretex, and we were looking for a leader for the new upcycling department, I knew she’d be perfect for the job! Some of the textiles donated, cannot be sold as is, but can be re-made into new clothes or other products like handbags, makeup purses and lots more.
Fretex is the largest chain of second-hand shops in Norway. There is a total of 50 shops and an online store.
“I carefully undid fine fully-fashioned knitted pullovers and folded them 90 degrees, adjusted and stitched them up again. The front body of the old pullover with the V-neck, became the sleeve of the new one, the v-neck opening up onto one shoulder. Sold ten to a boutique, then photographed them in the boutique where they retailed for more than double the price. Of course, I got the job.”
The side seam has become the middle front, the button up fly is now in the new side seam, can you see it?
I have a good correlation between my goal and my capacity. You know what you feel when you look at something and you just have to keep going until it is good enough.
Take control
Magny: How did you arrive in the fashion world
Katarina: I wasn’t very aware of my creative desires careerwise, nor was I ambitious. I knew I liked languages and thought I would study at the university and didn’t think of what career it would lead to. When I finished college I went and worked on a fish farm in Desolation Sound, Canada. I signed up for drawing classes, and watercolors, and ceramics, ended up making a portfolio and suddenly applied for a fashion design college-course. I also visited Emily Carr art school in Vancouver, it was an incredibly cool place, so cool I could not possibly imagine myself there. I saw half-done student projects but didn’t permit myself to dream that it was anything to do with me.
However, from ten years old I was always making things. I saw a jumper in a magazine with an applique motif, and took one of my father’s jumpers and zig-zagged shiny fabric onto it. It didn’t work very well, but I put it down to equipment and technique and moved on to my next project.
After my nature and craft stint in Canada, I spent another year doing a preparatory sewing course where I was seriously overqualified, then entered the French Fashion school in Oslo. Art did not exist in my vocabulary at the time.
Magny: We have known each other for a long time and even from a very early age you were confident in your creativity.
Katarina: I am confident because I never understood that it was more than ‘making things’ and never considered art, or imagined I could be an artist and so I was happy making things and looked at myself as a designer.
Magny: How do you get ideas?
Katarina: It is about knowledge. when I get blocked, I need information I need to know about the problem and then I can move on. Ideas come through my hands. I like using nail scissors and the feel of cutting the left side of the bow and then turning it upside down and cut the right side. Technique, rules, and repetition is very important to me, and I need a medium, textiles, that can give life to the idea.
For example, my mother and I signed up for a course to learn how to sew a parka jacket. We brought the sewing machine to the course every week and I learned how to line a parka. –I did it, but I don’t remember ever wearing the jacket. What was important was learning it, and the knowledge, that I could do it.
Technique and practice are very important. Do what you know and build from there.
Magny: How do you handle criticism?
Katarina: Honestly, I feel like I have very little self-criticism When other people criticize my work, I argue! I want to know exactly what it is that they don’t like. Then, when I understand, I will consider whether or not I want to change it. I don’t scare easily because I have a lot of confidence in my capabilities.
Magny: How is your inner critic?
Katarina: I feel like I have made friends with my inner critic. It takes a lot before I like something and I keep working at it until I am happy. I look at what I don’t like and don’t stop until I like it.
Lately, I’ve gone one step further, I want to make things that are not technically good. Bad craftsmanship. But my whole life I wanted to make stuff that looked like it came from a shop. That was my first goal: perfection, not homemade. After a while, I realized that I wanted to make things that didn’t look shop-perfect. I wanted them to be better than that, “homemade” but with an excellent finish. Until now that is.
Magny: What is your inspiration?
Katarina: My first conscious inspiration at age 16, was a fashion catalog by the brand Escada. Women looked like men, strong flamboyant, wearing functional clothes in magnificent materials. It made me want them.
I’m a very intuitive person, I have not been very inspired by artists. I’m more inspired by the craft and the process of making things myself. I have lots of ideas and I just follow them. I don’t know where I want to go, but I just keep working until I see something that I recognize as great, something that looks right.
Magny: Do you have some good tips for other creative people?
Katarina: Just do something, anything, I did not set myself goals. I just followed my whims. Never stop, just continue look for solutions!
Katarina: Ira Glass has made a youtube video about creativity “your taste is killer”. It is fantastic. If you like this video you can see more here Youtube
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Nice post! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Sue!