Kristīne Ķepale

Eco-friendly textiles

• Kristine creates home textiles and accessories
• She founded her brand Vuuven in 2016
• She believes in ethical production, using traditional materials

Kristīne Ķepale created her own brand Vuuven, after working for 5 years at a textile company, where she rose through the ranks and became the senior weaver and created many collections. However, she knew that she wanted to offer clients her own vision on aesthetics, creating sustainable and thoughtful products in the textile industry. Vuuven products, which include interior and children's textiles, as well as accessories, are handmade and reflect Kristīne’s strong belief in environmentally friendly production that doesn’t do any harm to nature, nor requires extra resources. Kristīne says that at her company she tries to “wipe away the dust from the old-fashioned, but respect the traditions and highlight them in her own way”.

Interview

©K.Bičkauskis

©A.Romanovskis

How did you chose this career?

I never consciously thought that I wanted to be a textile designer, however I was always connected to art. By coincidence, I enrolled in the textile department, thinking that after a year I would transfer to another one. I never did and graduated as a textile designer.

How is your craft linked to your home region?

I’m not linked to one city or a village, but to my country, Latvia. I weave on a 100-year-old traditional Latvian wooden lever loom. The weaving technologies that I work with are traditional weaving and ethnographic weaving.

What do you love most about your craft?

What I love the most is the thing that I fear the most at the same time - my independence, the freedom of ideas. It can sometimes make you freeze because there are so many opportunities and potential.

What is little known about your profession?

The greatest value I have learned is patience. Traditional weaving is a time consuming and complex process, but the end result is inestimable. It involves a meditative process, as well as very accurate, peaceful and slow work.

Kristīne Ķepale is an : she began her career in 2016

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