Interview with Knitluxe Studios – by The Eco News

We would like to share one of interviews that ended 2023, we spoke with Knitluxe Studios about their wonderful business.

1. A background profile about you

Szilvia Burrows is an award-winning textile designer specialising in knitwear, located in Buckinghamshire, England. Where she graduated from Buckinghamshire New University to realize her dream of becoming a designer. In 2017 she graduated with First Class Honours and was awarded first prize of the Hill Osborne Bursary by the Worshipful Company of Framework Knitters the same year. After a successful career in product design working with brands such as Tom Dixon and Joseph Joseph, and in response to her research and passion for Ethical Fashion, she decided to pursue her own vision to create reimagined, sophisticated yet practical and sustainable handcrafted products.

2. Why would you like to be interviewed by us?

Owner and Designer-maker, Szilvia’s vintage knitting machine is a fine gauge hand flat Dubied knitting machine, considered vintage now as they are no longer being manufactured as digitally operated knitting machines took over. Learning and knowing how to create fabric on these machines is a skill that less and less people are taught and has a chance therefore to be a forgotten trade in the future.

Szilvia is also a knitwear technician in the university where she undertook her degree, teaching machine knitting to the next generation along running workshops and teaching garment calculation, garment construction, creative knitting, and constructed textiles.

Szilvia’s other biggest focus along carrying on the traditional machine knitting craft is sustainability. While in university, working on her graduate collection she quickly realised that natural materials such as wool is underappreciated and undervalued.

Merino wool is one of our oldest, natural fibre with advanced technical properties such as breathable, lightweight, renewable, odour repellent, body temperature regulation and many more. Making products not just super soft against the skin but safe too.

With her practice her aim is to create timeless knitwear made entirely with the finest quality wool on the market to commit to a better future. Szilvia intends to make woollen knitwear fashionable, while helping you maintain a greener wardrobe.

3. What is the name of your business?

Knitluxe Studio

4. Do you have a topic you would like to base your interview on?- Wearing and using more wool

Wool is one of our oldest natural materials with several amazing properties:

Wool is 100% natural, composed of a natural protein that is like human hair, wool grows on sheep which consume a simple blend of water, sunshine, and grass. Renewable: Sheep produce a new fleece every year, making wool a completely renewable fibre without depleting finite natural sources. In contrast to synthetic fibres and garments, Merino wool is an active fibre that reacts to change in the body temperature, so it helps you stay warm when the weather is cold and cool when the weather is hot. Natural elasticity helps Merino wool garments stretch with you, yet return to its

original shape, making Merino wool clothing ideal to wear when exercising. Durable, reusable, and recyclable, naturally fire resistant, UV- resistant and biodegradable: Wool decomposes in soil in a matter of years, releasing valuable nitrogen -based nutrients back into the soil. In contrast to synthetics, Merino wool can absorb moisture vapour, leaving less perspiration on the skin, reducing odour- causing bacteria. Easily refreshed by airing, wool garments can be worn longer between washes due to wool’s natural ability to shed dirt and bacteria. Merino wool can even absorb the odour molecules from sweat, which are only released upon washing.

Along with these naturally advanced properties, wearing wool is also contributing to a more responsible and ethical consumerism.

knitluxestudio.co.uk