Valentina Karellas

April 2025

A quietly determined journey into slow fashion and zero-waste design.

With a passion for knitwear honed through years of study and industry experience, Valentina Karellas’ story is one of quiet determination, built stitch by stitch.

From a North West London garden workshop, she creates not only garments but a slower kind of fashion. One rooted in respect for materials and the joy of making.

Since I was a child, I used to assist my mum with her dressmaking and alterations, so I had the love of the rag trade from very early on.

Fast forward a few years where I studied knitwear in London College of Fashion then a Masters in Italy in Womenswear, I have always been involved with making.

After designing in the industry in both the luxury Italian market and Beijing, it was very clear to me the industry I loved was far from my mum cutting table, the level of waste bothered me, but I still loved fashion and knitwear, so I wanted to create a micro brand that can have timeless fun pieces for everyone that will last and the customer will treasure.

So I launched in 2016 with the hopes that I can make a difference and do what I love.

It took a lot of savings, but it was done, it is mine and exactly as I planned it to be.

Since the beginning it has always just been myself, I do all the knitting, washing linking, sales, social media, pop ups, events, workshops you name it.

Occasionally I have had help with the graphics work, I of course hire freelance photographers for product photography, however, the main bones of the business and brand is all me.

I work from a purpose built garden workshop in North west London.

I had a clear goal for 5 years of saving enough money to build this, in a suburban garden. I knew how many shelves I would need, space for my machines, yarns, iron, linking machine, the lot.

It took a lot of savings, but it was done, it is mine and exactly as I planned it to be.

I manage to grow my own lavender, which I harvest once a year. I dry them and place them into little paper envelopes for customers orders, this helps keep moths at bay.

I listen to relaxed indie music mostly, the music is background as I spend a lot of time counting and calculating, so I don’t allow myself to get distracted, it is surprising calm and a very focussed environment.

I essentially knit everything myself on a very old hand-powered vintage knitting machine.

I use traditional knitting techniques but create modern unisex designs. I love playing with colour and try to experiment with shapes and stitches where I can.

Experimenting is the most fun, but sadly takes a lot of time, which I don’t usually have. I keep it made-to-order but can turn around accessories rather fast.

I mostly work with cashmere in the winter and cotton in the summer.

I mostly work with cashmere in the winter and cotton in the summer, all natural surplus yarns where they are from a family supplier that buys over stock yarn.

When I knit, I collect all the waste yarn that is created by the making process and use this waste in other mending and embroidery projects.

I hold visible mending workshops once a year around December time, as well as having a mending service on my site, where I repair clients damaged knits for a small affordable fee.

Memorable moments include getting my knitting machine in the first place, it is an investment and takes a lot of space, when I first started I only had a very old domestic machine, which does a great job, but takes so much longer and is limited in what it can do.

I felt that my efficiency grew so much more with the semi industrial machine as well as my confidence in the product.

Another high moment was being invited to a fashion show to present my work where the designers only specialised in reusing waste, it was an amazing line of of brands and I felt lucky to be part of this group.

It takes a lot of work to carry out upcycling or being zero waste, it takes time, and time is money.

My core values are being zero waste but not losing aesthetics. The worst thing would be to create something boring and wasting precious yarn, it is precious in so many ways, it goes through so many steps before it makes it to the knitting table. I give it such respect and I hope the clients that order from me also understand that.

For me, I am a small brand, so I would love to grow the brand and teach young designers my ways, but that may take some time.

The main focus is to create lovely pieces that do not cause any harm to the planet.

Thank you for sharing your story Valentina, I especially admire the quiet determination it took to bring your garden studio to life – a space imagined shelf by shelf, and now the heart of your creative world. Your story is a gentle reminder that small can be powerful.

Readers can enjoy 10% off products with code ARTISANFOUNDER10 at Valentina’s website before end of September 2025.

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