SWEATERS FOR GIRLS.

Conversation with Maria Iwanina and Marta Iwanina-Kochańska,

founders of the Roboty Ręczne brand, about their mother-daughter relationship

It would be better if Mrs. Maria's goddaughter did not read this. It will turn out that the cornflower blue vest, knitted with her in mind, eventually ended up in the hands of Marta, who, delighted with Mom's work, wanted it for herself. This is one of Marta's first memories related to Mom, who knitted

always. She didn't know then that this passion would also determine her life. Today, Marta – inspired by her mother’s passion and with her support – is creating the Roboty Ręczne brand, specializing in – nomen omen – handmade sweaters and headgear (as well as baskets, leather handbags and small accessories). However, the foundation of the company is the bond that unites them. Stronger than the strongest weave. We had the opportunity to talk about this bond on Mother’s Day.

Text: Magdalena Matuszek

Marta is wearing: Woolen slippers no.2

You can watch the entire photo campaign here.

Marta Iwanina-Kochańska : I looked at that vest with envy. It had a beautiful cornflower blue color and a boxy cut that made it fit great whether you were skinny like me or a plus size.

Mrs. Maria Ivanina: You grew with her.

Marta: At first it was so long that it reached my thighs, over time it got shorter and shorter, but I wore it for a really long time. I also remember the moment when Mom spread it out for sewing on the gray and black carpet that was on our floor at the time .

Mrs. Maria: I made your first vest when you were a few months old, and Grandma made socks from the same blue-gray yarn. They reached your knees then. You looked wonderful in this set.

Marta: I don't remember that, but I do remember the socks and hats spilling out of Grandma's cupboards. She made them whenever she had free time, and then gave them to us. I still have some of them and I think I'll frame them, because Grandma is the one who really started it all. She instilled in us the love of knitting.

I was curious about this beginning.

Mrs. Maria: I come from the countryside, so knitting was a natural occupation for me. When the long autumn-winter evenings came, women would either tear up feathers or – I still remember this – set up looms on which they would weave rugs or carpets… They also knitted, most often hats, scarves and gloves, so that children would not freeze on their way to school. Like every child, I wanted to participate in the work of adults, Mummy advised that the easiest thing would be to make a headband, so I made a narrow red strip, the two edges of which were connected by an elastic band sewn by Mum. I remember that the headband was a bit itchy, because the yarn was usually obtained from the wool of sheep bred on farms. It was not easy, the sheep had to be sheared, with special scissors. The obtained fleece had to be sorted and then washed in warm water with the addition of grey soap to remove lanolin and dirt. The dried wool was carded, or combed, to separate the fibers and give them the same direction. Women would put the wool prepared in this way on the spindle of a spinning wheel. The resulting yarn was wound onto bobbins and then manually into balls. It was also normal for some things to be unraveled and others to be made.

Marta: Everything that could be used was used. Out of respect for the land, for nature.

Mrs. Maria: "Maybe you could take these socks," Grandma asked, even when  children had lots of them. And she made lots of them. After all, every person likes to have their time filled with something. She liked to knit in her free time.

Marta: I once read in "Vogue Knitting" about scientific research,  it turns out that the brain  while knitting it creates the same waves as during prayer or meditation. It is also said that knitting is a new form of yoga. In my opinion it is a kind of therapy, but free and done in the comfort of home Additional benefits include new hats, headbands and scarves.

Mrs. Maria: I confirm. All handicrafts, whether knitting, crocheting or embroidery, relax and unwind mentally. They absorb attention and occupy the hands, thus distracting from mundane, everyday matters and problems – only the here and now counts. The finished work gives incredible joy. It is a new experience every time, because you implement different ideas, learn new weaves or finally – design new models.

Mom Knits: Cloudy Balaclava

When did you come up with the idea to turn knitting into a business idea, a life idea?

Marta: I remember exactly the moment when, before another snowboarding trip – still in my student days, we suggested to Mom that she should start selling her work. The snowboard caps that she made for me and my boyfriend, now husband – Janek, aroused great interest among our friends. But the first inquiries from my friends appeared already in high school.

Mrs. Maria: I remember, I made you a thick melange vest.

Marta: Yeah, but the hit was a short sweater in pastel pink. It had flared sleeves and exposed my belly button – I wore it with high-waisted jeans. It was so pretty that many people asked where I got it from. Then, at university, there was interest in hats. When you decided to start a company, I was excited and decided to help promote it. Together we came up with the name – then it was still Baba Knitwear, I designed the logo, and during photography classes – at university in Finland – I took the first photos.

Mrs. Maria: I will never forget how quickly I had to knit the hats so that Jaś could take them to Lahti for you. He had already bought a plane ticket. It was our first important photographic production, so we had to hurry.

Marta: Exactly! Only we could have come up with such a crazy idea – and it was at the turn of 2008 and 2009. I remember how the logo I designed started to live its own life. I sent it to you so that you could order the first inserts. What emotions, that choice of colours, thread density…

And that's how it all started. Later, I published the photos I took in Finland on a photoblog, because the website seemed unnecessary at the time. Polish clients came from Facebook, but the brand took off mainly thanks to clients from abroad. There were also a lot of publications. Among others, the website "The Cool Hunter" wrote about the brand - the source of my research during my studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. After that, people from all over the world started contacting us: from Australia, the States, Scandinavia and Japan. It all started to get a bit out of control. My mother couldn't cope on her own. When I returned to Poland - after my studies and an internship at Tom Dixon's London studio, I decided to give up interior design and start a brand. That's how Baba Knitwear turned into Roboty Ręczne. And I opened my first company.

Marta is wearing: Big Boy sweater , Daughter Marysia: Openwork Shawl no.1 , Mother Maria: Sweater no.6

Has the fact that you create a brand together influenced your mother- daughter relationship in any way?

Mrs. Maria: Our relationship has always been very good. Regardless of whether it was my daughter who helped me run the company or I who supported her.

Marta: We have a very friendly relationship. We have no problem discussing and having different opinions. We can argue and make up.

Mrs. Maria: I don't even think there are many conflicts between us at work.

Marta: Exactly – we can talk about everything. There is no distance between us that would allow us to speak to our parents in the third person, as some people do. Mum and I complement each other. She is very well organised, I can count on her support when I need it. I think about many things at once, so I do everything slower, which is why sometimes I need extra motivation and urgency. When I get the idea to knit a sweater, Mum immediately asks what yarn and to whom I could take or send it. I reply that I have to think about it. Two or three weeks pass, Mum reminds me, so then I have to get motivated. She is my mentor, an expert, whose opinion and advice I can always count on.

Mrs. Maria: My Daughter, on the other hand, if the situation requires her presence in my life, drops everything and is with me. There was a situation when I sprained my ankle, Marysia, my granddaughter, was 5 months old then. Marta packed the baby and came to babysit the mother as well. But she can also rely on me.

Marta: It seems normal to me. Our brand works on the same principle. I say ours because I get so much support from my family that I consider it a family business and I can't imagine it functioning any other way.

Mrs. Maria: We put a lot of heart into it.

Marta: You have to have a heart for handicraft. It is not without reason that our motto is "Love is all we knit".

Returning to your relationship, have you ever had a moment of crisis? Teenage rebellion, for example?

Marta: It's interesting, but I didn't go through a rebellious phase at any age. My parents had complete trust in me, so I didn't need to prove anything to myself. I also always felt that I had support. Now that I have a daughter myself, I wonder where my mother got such trust and patience for me. Sometimes it can even be bothersome, because she can be overprotective, but because of that I could always count on her. I even remember that when after my studies I dreamed of a house in the countryside, she drove around the area with me, asking if anyone wanted to sell a wooden cottage or an old mill. We even found one!

Mrs. Maria: Because in my case, from speaking to implementation there is a very short road.

Marta is wearing: Crochet Collar

How about your style? Do you like the same things?

Mrs. Maria and Marta [in unison]: No, I don't think so. [After a moment's thought, add:]

Mrs. Maria: Sometimes I peek at Marcia's.

Marta: And I steal from Mom's closet. She has an eye for things from second-hand shops. And when we had the same size feet, I borrowed her shoes. No, it's great to have a Mom like you. And it's great to be a daughter.

Mrs. Maria: And it's absolutely wonderful to have a daughter like you!!!

What is so special about a mother-daughter relationship?

Mrs. Maria: That we can talk about everything.

Marta: I would say that too. I also grew up believing that you do everything for your family. That when someone is in need, everyone else helps. It turns out, however, that it is not so obvious.

Mrs. Maria: Our relationships are healthy. In today's world, it is a great value. A luxury. We are lucky to have each other. I remember that when I was pregnant, and they didn't do ultrasounds then, I had an overwhelming feeling that a girl would be born - I even knitted sweaters for a girl. When I gave birth and found out it was a girl, I was overjoyed. Really, dying  I will feel how, right after birth, they placed her on my chest and I felt the warmth of her body.

Marta: I remember very well the first time I hugged my Marysia.

Mrs. Maria: The moment when Marta was choosing a name for her daughter was also very moving for me. I tried to dissuade her from calling her Maria, because I suffered a lot when in primary school some people called me "Maryśka". But Marcia said then: "Mom, I've dreamed all my life that when I have a daughter, I would give her the same name as you". Tears ran down my cheeks and I didn't bring up the subject any more.

To be honest, I also had tears in my eyes listening to this story. It was wonderful to watch Marta and her mother look at each other with tenderness, show each other small gestures of support and… how much they are similar! My heart immediately felt warmer – as if I were wearing a big, thick sweater. Especially since we met at Marta's house, where the heart of the Roboty Ręczne brand is also located. Surrounded by countless wicker and horn baskets, yarn and curtains like from grandma's apartment, from which Marta sews not only fashionable shopping bags, but also airy skirts and wraps to wear over trousers, over tea and doughnuts – which little Marysia stole – we recalled the beginnings of the brand, inextricably intertwined with the private lives of Marta and her mother. I felt as if we were looking at a family album. However, the most important things could be read between the lines.