Thank you, grandma

"I've always loved clothes. I think I was four years old when I started bossing my mother around the stores telling her what to buy. I treated her like one of my barbie dolls, and she laughed and gladly played along. My grandmother would make clothes for my barbies, and she would always let me help her in the process; picking out the fabrics and the yarns, choosing whether it was going to be a dress or a T-shirt. I think that must have been the place where the idea of fashion design was born in my head, although I had no such word for it at the time. My grandmother was a teacher in arts and crafts, so she taught me all kinds of creative work. Sewing, painting, or knitting; I loved learning from her. Almost every day after school, I'd go to her house to visit her - which was convenient, as she lived right next to me. 

I think I had just turned 18 when I bought my first sewing machine. I was wandering around a flea market in my home town when I came across it. First, it was its aesthetics that attracted me; black, gleaming wood with beautiful golden details. It must have been older than 100 years. I initially just thought of it as a piece of furniture that would complement my bedroom, but as I kept walking around the flea market and found tons of old curtains and cloth, I thought "why not?". Just a couple of days later I had sewed my first pants on that old machine. I worked day and night to get them done, and once they were, I wore them around proudly. 

Today, I'm studying fashion design in Oslo. Clothes and the creation of them have become a big part of my daily life, and also one of my greatest passions. A couple of months ago, I browsed through all the things in my grandfather's garage, and I found my grandmother's old sewing machine from the ‘60s. It’s been seven years since she passed away, but whenever I sew with that machine I somehow feel like she's still here with me. I think she would have been very proud of me."

- Sunniva, Norway