The HAVAS wool blanket is based on a weave developed through my personal weave library, a collection of simple woven structures I have built over time as a working tool. I was drawn to the playful rhythm of this particular structure and immediately saw how colour could be used to emphasise and shift different areas of the blanket. The name Havas comes from an old Finnish word for fish nets, referring to the net-like, slightly transparent character of the weave. Made from 100% pure new wool, the blanket includes wool from Finnish sheep. The design reflects my material-led and somewhat mathematical approach to weaving, where structure, colour, and technique are developed together.
Photography by Maija Linda and Wilma Hetemaj
Havas blanket comes in five colourways. The sky blue yarn is dyed with dyer's woad and the bright orange-yellow yarn with coffee. The colours borrow hues from Finnish nature; the orange of a chantarelle, muted pinks of heather in autumn, dark green of a spruce grove and a clear sky blue on a freezing winter day.
I keep an ever-growing library of swatches of different weave structures. There are ready-made or vintage samples I have collected, but also swatches that I weave whenever I have time. Havas blanket started from a sample that I had made, a simple panama weave that gave me an idea to re-make it with a specific way of using colour in it. The different coloured yarns contrast with each other and create a mathematical rhythm. Seen up close, it's a very geometric pattern made of lines, though from afar optically blends into a more solid colour.
