In Turku, district of Nummi, there’s Kati's Wrapshop from which Niina had bought a carrier for her firstborn.
For some reason she found herself in the same neighbourhood a while later. Kati told her that she was quitting her Wrapshop soon.
Niina had a dream of having her own petshop but that didn't lead to anything. After having a child Niina fell in love with babywearing. She came up with an idea: woven slings!
Niina send an e-mail to Kati's Wrapshop, asking if she had an interest in selling the shop to Niina.
After a while of googleing Niina found out that the Kati's exclusive Girasol-wraps were quite popular and they were being sold in many countries. It was very important to Niina that her future company could sell wraps abroad as well.
Niina bought the Rights for Kati's exclusive designs (such as Earthy Rainbow,Chococabana).
Kati's wrapshop was the first one who ordered an exclusive-design from Girasol. First exclusive design was Earthy Rainbow which came out very beautiful and spectacular.
Earthy Rainbow was designed by Kati herself. Chococabana was a result of a design competition. “I don't remember who designed the rest of Kati's exclusive designs” says Niina.
“Bromeliad is my exclusive design. It has a purple warp with diamond weave, and light green weft. Other wraps with same warp are Mystical Topaz(teal weft), Old Rosa( beige weft), Amethyst( purple weft), Black Opal(black weft). Savannah and Rainforest are variations of The Jungle-design. They have the same warp, but Savannah has a yellow weft and Rainforest blue-green weft. We have named a lot of exclusive design variations in their own names: Earthy Rainbow, Northern Lights, Rainbow springs etc. Sandia we named differently, for example Sandia Creme, Black, Purple, Latte” elucidates Niina.
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| Earthy Rainbow- design |
Pine tree, Cherry pie and Nostalgia were born next. “We got an idea of using wefts in different colors in the same warp. It has a huge effect on sling's appearance and it can appear as a whole different wrap at best” says Niina.
"Girasol promised to weave fabric in many weftcolours without charging extra of the change in color. It made possible to try different wrap models. First model made by changing the weft's colour was Northern Lights. Northern Lights has a diamond weave and it's woven in Earthy Raindow warp. Next wrap design was Rainforest, green weft in Jungle-model."
Niina asked if it was possible for Girasol to weave diamond patterned wraps. She sent some designs of different textures and Girasol's weavers developed the current simple diamond pattern.
“The first diamond weave wraps were made in pink warp on several weft colors: Old Rosa, Mystical Topaz, Amethyst, Black Opal, Rainy Day and Sunset”. Diamond woven Girasols came quite popular, and later on, diamond was being combined with striped models.
Customers tend to have a need for thicker wraps which were more suitable for bigger children. I made a proposition for Girasol to make thicker wraps. That's how the toddle-proof Girasols were born”, Niina memorizes.
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| Sandia Latte |
The idea for the Sandia-design came from the wraps of YSV-forum, Virvatuli and Kaskisavu.
They were noticed around the world, and lots of people were asking for these designs.
Wear a baby decided to fill this need: " We wanted to make Sandia having its own look so we designed it from the beginning, stripe to stripe."
Double Rainbow was the first design being made in co-operation. The rights are 50/50 with Paxbaby and Sadie's Rainbow- designs rights are 50/50 with Wrapbaby Boutique.
"They contacted us and wished for a joint project. Wraps were made in five different weft colours: black, white, lilac, grey and turquoise. Thick twill( toddler proof), normal, herringbone and diamond weave.
All four have not been made in every weftcolour.
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| Cherry Pie. Nina loved this design because pink belongs to her favorite colors. |
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| Sadie´s Rainbow Purple diamond |
How was Vanamo Born?
Niina has always dreamed of her own wrap. She searched for a weavery to produce her own wrap model. She contacted 2 to 3 weaveries, but that lead to nothing. One of the test wraps didn't meet the criteria of a woven wrap but has been extremely good bench towel for Sauna.
There was a lot to find out about selling Wompat- carriers in The United States. While clearing out things concerning the selling of Wompat-carriers in The States, she found a recently established weavery called Kultavilla in Espoo.
It was summer in 2013 when Kultavilla and Niina started working together. Niina had a strong vision what kind of wraps she wanted to produce. Kultavilla had the technical skills and the required connections to the world of fabrics. It was a beginning of an amazing, interesting and colorful journey to develop Vanamo wraps.
KH-design helped in designing the patterns and structures for Vanamo wraps. Out of 18 designs, Niina chose the ones that became the first Vanamo woven wraps: Puolukka, Karpalo, Solki and Ruutu. In Hämeenlinna Wear a baby made test fabrics and the first pilot- set of Vanamo wraps were made in Kultavilla based on the test fabrics.
Vanamo test wraps were sent on a tour for a few experienced Finnish wrappers.
The first Vanamo Rainbow- wraps were completed at the end of the year 2013.
"A while before the pilot-set of wraps was produced we started planning the next Vanamo design with a new texture. I wanted something whole different, complex and imposing for the new design. I have always admired old, handmade, finnish cotton textiles. Especially the snowflake-design which is familiar from a runner that my grandma had weaved. Textile designer Karkelo helped in designing Vanamo Kide- design that was inspired by the grandma's woven runner. The first set of Vanamo Kide- wraps were ready at the end of summer in 2014".
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| Sateenkaari Vanamo. 100% GOTS-Certified cotton. All the cotton threads that Wear a baby uses come from Germany and they´re all oeko- tex certified, non-toxic and safe. |
Kultavilla uses two electrical looms , one at a time. The warp comes from a company in the middle of Finland.
All the threads that Wear a baby is using are oeko-tex certified, non-toxic and safe.
They haven’t necessarily chosen the least expensive threads, naturally the price has to be remembered in production but not at the cost of quality.
By ordering bigger batches of threads money can be saved comparing to buying in smaller quantities.
“The handcraft is the part that costs the most. You can't really save by buying cheaper threads” says Niina.
After an order is being made, it takes about a month to receive the threads. Warping and weaving takes from 2 to 3 months. So woven fabric is ready-made in 3 to 4 months. Holiday seasons can delay the process by a month.
Quite new wool wraps were made only a small set, just 100 meters. The order was ready-made in two weeks. Usually the minimum order is 500-600 meters from customer's own warp. Also a small set of thicker weave was made.
Vanamo Solki wraps were produced in cotton(Solki Graniitti tumma,Solki Huurre, Solki Kaamos ) and cotton-merinowool blend( Solki Usva, Solki Kinos, both 55%merinowool, 45% cotton)
Threads that are being used in Vanamo Wraps. Cotton threads are manufactured in Germany by OTTO, Merinowool threads in Germany too by Schoeller. Linen threads come from Italy at the moment. Polish thread was also tested but it´s quality was too bumpy.
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