In My Space With Maria Holzweiler
Originally launched as a fashion agency in 2006, Holzweiler today is a lifestyle brand that provides sought-after wardrobe staples for both men and women. Transitioning into fashion in 2012, they became known for their printed scarves.
The brand launched its first collection in 2014, inspired by architecture and texture, Holzweiler's thick knits and stylish outerwear soared in popularity. This week, we joined Maria Holzweiler at Platz, to talk about the space, inspiration and the latest collection.
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today! Please tell us about yourself?
My name is Maria Holzweiler and I am the Head of Design at Holzweiler. I head up the creative processes within our brand. My main focus is in the design team and making sure that the designs are aligned with the identity of our brand, as well as the inspiration of the collections. I also make sure that the content we produce tells the same story.
Please tell us about your space and why you chose this space to shoot in today?
The space I chose to shoot at is our Platz location, which is a hybrid of our Café Platz and our retail store here in Oslo. This is really where everything happens. It’s a very important part of the Holzweiler universe.
We do a lot of our events here and it’s also where we did our SS22 show in the streets right outside.
Where and what do you take inspiration from?
During this very special period, we realized how important it is for us as creatives, to be able to travel, move around and explore small and bigger things away from our homes. Normally we travel, go to museums, exhibitions and we are constantly in motion. We are used to meeting people and getting input and inspiration from all around. With the lockdown, we lost these opportunities and had to find new ways of gathering inspiration. The answer has been to explore the world through the eyes and handwriting of foreign friends and family while waiting for the possibility to travel ourselves.
What is your favourite thing about working at Holzweiler?
The people, the culture and the amazing energy of creating this brand together as a team.
Please talk us through the SS22 collection?
This is a collection designed for a Scandinavian summer with unpredictable weather and inspiration from memories of travel.
The summer down and knit will keep you warm on chilly summer nights, ponchos will keep you dry from rain and the flowy dresses, skirts, shorts and sandals will be nice on warm, summer days. The colours are delicate and fresh and the prints all have a special story.
For our main print story, we have made a still life of elements from travelling. The Toile de Jouy of sculptures is a collage of statues from museums and art galleries around the world. The Tourist/Nostalgica postcard prints are from a collaboration with a Norwegian postcard supplier where we were able to deep dive into their archives of old postcards.
How important is sustainability to Holzweiler?
Sustainability for Holzweiler is a very important part of our brand. We work hard to incorporate different parts of sustainability into our organisation, from our garments, how they are made, the quality we use and the people that make them, to the way we produce, ship, work on timelines, educate customers, recycle, design for longevity and circularity and find ways to use our deadstock in creative ways.
For example, we recently worked with the Norwegian artist Tommy Tee on our Re:vive project. He went through our archive and picked a handful of pieces to revive and reuse with his logo. It was a really fun collaboration and a nice way to showcase that we don’t just leave older pieces behind forever when we create new collections.
Can you tell us something we didn’t know about Holzweiler?
The design team that I work with is actually made up of 13 people doing everything from pattern making to graphic print design. I don’t think a lot of people know just how many people are working behind the scenes with us. They are an extremely talented group.
And finally, away from work, what is your favourite thing to do?
If I have a day off, it’s always spent with family. We enjoy going to the cabin to relax but I also like spending time in our garden. I think garden work might be my favourite hobby.
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