Continuing with our trend of interviewing designers that we love and inspire us, we set out to talk to Olga Buraya-Kefelian, the designer behind the fabulous book Ori Ami Knits. Check out our interview and a peak inside the book below!

Many of us in the shop have loved Habu Textile for so long, followed your designs on Ravelry, and are super excited about the publication of your new book Ori Ami Knits, which features some Habu yarns.  For those that are not familiar, can you give a little background on yourself?

Gladly, Courtney. My name is Olga Buraya-Kefelian and I am a knitwear designer born and raised in Belarus, who have been living, knitting, publishing and self-publishing my designs for almost 5 years now. As of this spring, I am also a co-author of a self-published title along with a talented photographer and graphic designer Vanessa Yap-Einbund and a contributor designer Kirsten Johnstone  – named Ori Ami Knits: Fiber geometry. A collection of innovative versatile designs of womens wear using alternative fibers of Habu Textiles.

What draws you to the Habu Textiles as a line to design with?

Habu textiles have been in American market for a decade now, in recent years with knitting making such huge comeback and many of us adopting it as a lifestyle. With a great  choice of conventional fibers at hand I became drawn to unconventional. For several years I have studied the fibers and their behavior and  it made me wonder how much more is out there available to a knitter and what amazing garments those fibers can produce. I got a feeling yarns from Habu Textiles gave me of wider range for creativity, one may feel that these fibers are expandable, array of exotic and unique in combination with natural gives you a choice for creating your own yarn that would suit the project perfectly. So depending on what you envision for the fabric in the final garment to do, can be easily achieved with Habu textiles yarns.

Can you tell readers a bit about the book and how it came to be? You also have a unique publishing model via digital subscriptions.  Can you talk a little about that?

For a while now, I have been approached by various publishing houses regarding working together. I have gave it a reasonable amount of thought and have had colleagues who shared their experience and feeling about it. Idea for self-publishing was lingering, but having noticed fellow knitwear designer friends taking a chance like Ysolda Teague, me and Vanessa have decided to do some extensive research. We chose things that were important for a customer and for production and at the same time satisfy our goals. I truly believe that publishing houses and editors are doing a lot of work trying to make your book the best, but we just went ahead ourselves and in the end I have gained even more respect for those in the trade.

I think sometimes knitters and crochets are intimidated about handling unusual fibers.  Can you talk about some ways in which to use or approach some of the more non-traditional knitting and crochet fibers?

Habu textiles provides you with a palette when you get their catalog of yarn snippets, you can imagine yourself an artist, you play with various pairing and swatch, there is a lot fiber exploration taking place, if you know what you want the knit fabric to do and it is achievable. And yet it is so accessible to anyone, yes it is a little more independence and work vs just buying yarn and pattern and making it up. But with Habu Textiles even though you maybe using same pattern, your yarn combination can be personalized and unique, that gives any knitter a designer feel to their finished garment.

Thinking outside the box is not always easy, I always suggest making a swatch, wash, pleat, play with possibilities. It is not necessarily that conventional garments would look great in experimental fibers, some work and some don’t. But please be more adventurous, in the end  you will be pleasantly surprised!

Where does your design inspiration come from?

I think this is always such a hard question to answer. To generalize it – life, things around me, architecture, natural setting. I am that person who is very observant and pays attention to details a great lot, I guess it comes from there. But also seeing people on the street, area your are in – other people’s creativity triggers your own, but the goal is to take it places further and create something that you love.

I LOVE Japanese craft books and design.  Can you recommend some of your favorite Japanese craft books or Japanese designers you admire?

I personally love Japanese stitch dictionaries that I collect, they refer to older forgotten resources and that is a great tool for a knitwear designer. I also admire Japanese sewing books, but I haven’t encountered that many I love. Pattern magic are my favorite series that provide me with a lot of inspiration. Designers who introduced world of Japanese fashion to the Westerners – Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto are still by far are my favorites. I had recently had a chance to visit their stores in Tokyo and they are utterly amazing, just breathtaking! Standing and staring just the way the dummies are dressed, the whole concept is different. And I like different. I am not brave enough to dress up entirely in avant garde attire, but I love to adapt the details of it into practical clothing. Balance is something that is very important.

What’s next?  Where do you see your designing going?

Being a designer is a non-stop creativity process, currently I am expanding my own line of patterns, so lots of knitting and writing, but I am also working on several designs with other yarn companies. Just several weeks ago I have released a design, which I am very excited about, it’s called Infinite loop and using Habu textiles yarn, it can be worn over 15 different ways and you can see it in a video that I made showing how to wear it.

Quick Facts:

On your iPod right now:

Florence and the machine – Dog days are over

If you were a yarn what yarn would you be?

I think I would be silk, smooth, drapey but sturdy.

Favorite place to knit:

My Ikea “Poang” chair with a lot of natural light.

Current project on the needles:

I have about 5, but on my lap right now I have a new design using pure linen.

Who taught you to knit?

My mother when I was 4.

You can purchase Ori Ami Knits here.

Please note: All photos copyright Ori Ami Knits and used with their permission.