The handicraft process has always been very important for her work. Sandra has been experimenting with a lot of different materials and techniques, but it is her three-dimensional collage knitting that is most significant.

Up until just recently Sandra Backlund has been doing everything herself by hand, only selling her designs on orders directly from customers, made to measure. For about 1 1/2 year ago Sandra was connected to the long tradition of Italian top knitwear and apparel production. The challenge was to add to the collection some unique pieces inspired by Sandra’s hand made collections that could require only a limited amount of manual work.

‘It was of course a big step for me to go from working alone in my studio, inventing pieces while doing them myself by hand, to suddenly be working with a team of experts within a field of fashion that I never before have had the chance to get to know. I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities I saw and even though I will never give up doing my hand knitted signature pieces, I now see how to develop my collections in ways that I never thought was possible.

For the Spring/Summer 2011 collection, the ongoing journey towards a more complete and balanced collection where handmade special pieces can stand side by side to more edited styles in a natural way, continues. As always the starting point is the materials and techniques. They help me find the right shapes and silhouettes. The most important for this collection is the metal yarn. I have been looking for that for more than six years, and now I finally found one made of 100% copper that is both beautiful and wearable.’

DESIGNER: Sandra Backlund, Stockholm, Sweden, www.sandrabacklund.com. COLLECTION: Spring Summer 2011.
PHOTOES: Thomas Klementsson. SOURCE: Ibeyo Studio. No part of this web site may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of Morfae and the copyright owner.