There are around one hundred sheep on Hinder Farm in Täkter, Ingå. Why not use wool and create something new? That’s what clothing designer Jonathan Ingberg, 28, who lives on the farm and has busy producing his first collection, thinks.
Ingberg has succeeded in what many only dream – spreading their clothing collection after years of studying and working in London, Stockholm and Paris.
He wants to tell stories and stories through his clothes, he says.
I start from life here and now. Warm long underwear, comfy vests, vests that go well for teleconferences, fabrics that go well with workwear for physical work. This is realistic now, and the story seems important today, when many people live life from a distance, says Engberg.
He lives in his own hut on a Hinder farm, Skomakarstugan, he calls it. It sits on top of a hill, just a short distance from Leena’s parent house and Mikael Ingberg’s main house on the farm.
Leena Ingberg owns about a hundred sheep on Hinder’s farm. Her son thought and started using wool.
Leena Ingberg owns about a hundred sheep on Hinder farm in Täkter. Here with one of them in his arms.
Photo: Yle / Christoffer Westerlund
Mother and son work side by side
In Ingarskilavägen the farm is divided into two parts and on the other side is the barn where paralysis occurs. The sheep are owned by mother Lina, who sells meat, yarn and traps in her studio next to her son.
One sheep roll An unused resource in Finland today. Much is being discarded, because sheep breeders do not get a sufficient price for wool. There is currently no major washing of sheep wool in Finland, but it is done abroad. That’s what Jonathan Engberg worries.
Sheep wool is a wonderful material in many ways. It is horrible that it is not being used. I had surrounded my mother’s yarn for a long time and wanted to develop the raw material further into yarns and fabrics. You can also feel the wool or felt with it, he says, and the wool absorbs the color well.
Ingberg grew up with her mother’s strings on the farm. He wanted to make new types of woolen fabrics and tough, tough work jackets.
Spinning rolls on the table at Hinder Farm in Täkter, Ingå.
Photo: Yle / Christoffer Westerlund
Yarn in different colors from Hinder Farm.
Colorful yarn roll, folded in wooden shelf.
Bild: Elle / Anna Savonius
Thanks to local companies and financial support, he was able to get started. An epidemic has also been recorded.
Ingberg received a grant from the Art Society and new creation support from Pomoväst to establish his first company. His work ethic revolves around “sustainably produced locally produced clothing, which reflects our daily rituals with an environmentally conscious production chain.” Adapted from the company’s website.
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I start from the clothes I need for a day
The first set contains clothes Ingberg plans to need her for a day. Long Johns, as he calls them long underwear, jackets or dresses, is comfortable everywhere, durable ankle-length coats and pants and a voluminous sheepskin coat, made according to the “patchwork” technique, that is, pieces of sheepskin in different colors. Long-sleeved shoes plus some jackets for a remote meeting wear.
The clothes are not aimed at men or women, they are both genders. Anyone can wear it.
The sewing studio overlooks the courtyard of Hinder Farm, which dates back to the 16th century.
A clothes rail behind the windows. Looming square obstacles in the background.
Bild: Elle / Anna Savonius
Old daddy rock
One of my favorite creations is the mid-length jacket with so many details.
– It started from my father’s old coat, which I loved to wear when I got home from my travels. It inspired his oversized pants as well, taking denim in two different colors to create wide pants with pockets of different sizes, Jonathan describes.
In his studies, in addition to the handrail with the creations, he also has many different sewing machines, guide hearts and presses, and a large work table with drawers of interesting second-hand fabrics. Extending the life of fabrics and designing new clothes is part of the Ingberg concept.
All this is included in the first catalog that presents it in printed form. The clothes were photographed in Helsinki and soon the hard work – production – would begin.
The number of ready-to-wear clothes in the studio is increasing.
Photo with fender for clothes, designed by Jonathan Engberg.
Bild: Elle / Anna Savonius
Old coat with new eyes.
Dad’s old coat is inspired by his updated jacket.
Bild: Elle / Anna Savonius
Life is slower here, I feel good in Henders
For an apparel designer, used to traveling and meeting new people all the time, the change with the move to the parent farm was amazing. However, Ingberg’s roots go back to Västnyland since childhood. The family’s summer cottage is in Brumarf and 15 years ago the parents bought a Hinder Ranch. Mother Lina’s roots go back to North Karelia.
This slower life suits me, says Engberg. My life is at the point when I had the opportunity to work here on all different levels.
The planning task takes place at Skomakarstugan, Jonathan’s home. The hard work, cutting and sewing in the studio is just a short way away. Now that the set is complete, he will sew several sizes of the same garment, for example five jackets. Then it is sold on the web.
I’d like to have a pop-up store here this summer, but that’s not certain due to Corona.
I think you should relate to the things that you own
Often you hear the word “stories”, stories, when Jonathan talks about his creation.
– I love making stories about the fabrics and things that live with them, he explains, as he points to some of the old wooden chairs and milk jug in the yard.
He can imagine working on a larger scale with future interior design, perhaps with furniture. Combine the new and old appeals to him.
Finnish wool is disposed of, and there is no large laundry in Finland
Jonathan Ingberg has undoubtedly found an unused niche in sheep’s wool. About half of Finnish wool is discarded.
Most of the wool used by Novita, Finland’s largest yarn maker, is sent to the UK for washing there. The company buys wool from Norway and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, knitting is experiencing a strange renaissance in Finland. People are at home a lot, they bake and handcraft more than before with telework and the pestilence. The demand for household threads is steadily increasing.
Ingberg has succeeded in establishing cooperation with several local companies. Home wool (villa kotimainen) also appears on social media.
Sarpaneva and Kuhlefelt’s successors?
For the unforgettable reader, the idea of designing clothes and business jackets could inadvertently go to working couple Pi Sarpaneva and Maj Kuhlefelt. They have also produced, among other things, work clothes during their careers throughout the past century. They established a work clothes company in 1971.
Sarpaneva and Kuhlefelt produced workwear, among others, Statens järnvägar and Stockmann.
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