Zander Kira
SCHOOL
INSTAGRAM PROFILE
instagram.com/zander_kira/
ABOUT Zander:
I am a Knitwear Designer with a strong focus on textures.
I grew up at the seaside in northern Germany, where I spend hours walking the coastline collecting stones. My work is often influenced by the shapes and surfaces of the stones I collect in different places, as each stone has a story to tell.
Previously I have been working as a bag and RTW Designer in Copenhagen for Cecilie Bahnsen, where I deeply connected with the beauty of structured textiles and big shilouettes, as well as with the pure northern aesthetic.
In my spare time, I´m working with Ceramics, which I like to integrate into my work to add another dimension of materiality.
For me, beauty lies in contrasts, which is why I like to experiment and push the boundaries of knitwear.
ABOUT Zander's COLLECTION:
My Mastercollection “ILARIA THE LANGUAGE OF STONES” is a love letter to my disabled sister Ilaria.
My mother adopted her when she was a baby. She is severely disabled and unable to properly speak.
We have always been very close and spend hours walking the coastline in northern Germany, where we grew up, searching together for interesting stones.
We love to study their shapes and colours, silently admiring these little pieces of treasures. It is our unspoken language of stones.
Despite the challenges Ilaria faces, she has always been very particular with what she wears and has an intuitive way of mixing proportions and textures.
Through my collection I have tried to capture both the language of the stones we collected together, and the pure, sensitive spirit of Ilaria.
This collection was developed as a co-creation with her and my aim was to find a common language, which other people could understand and relate to, to tell her story.
A story about sensitivity, connection and unconditional love.
The entire collection has been done in knitwear, as a technique which adapts to varying body types and wool as the main material which, in connection with the shapes of my collection, created a comforting cocoon around the person wearing it.
The surface of my knits have been developed to translate the surfaces of the stones Ilaria and I collected together, to provide a haptical stimulation.
All my pieces have been fully programmed by myself on the M1+ creative programming and knitted on the Stoll knitting machine.
