Design studio By Hinders, founded by Jonathan Ingberg, celebrates upcycling and elevated simplicity at its 100-hectare 19th-century farm in south Finland’s Inkoo Archipelago
Photography courtesy of By Hinders, CPHFW
Words by Alia Akkam
The thought of launching an environmentally conscious fashion label first struck Jonathan Ingberg in London, where he was on the menswear track at Central Saint Martins. ‘As a student, I didn’t have money to buy all these new fabrics,’ recalls the Finnish designer, ‘and we had so much raw wool lying around at home. It was such a shame. I felt like someone had to use it.’
Home for Ingberg is his family’s 100-hectare 19th-century farm in south Finland’s Inkoo Archipelago, just under an hour from Helsinki, where he grew up. His mother, a former professor of agriculture in the capital, took over the farm when he was a teenager, to ‘practice what she had been teaching,’ he points out.
The stars of this bucolic land are undoubtedly the hardy Finnsheep, an ancient breed of sheep native to Finland that had largely been forgotten in the wake of industrial farming. Here, they roam freely across the meadow and fields like the old days, their presence lending the ecosystem a sense of harmonious balance.
Photography courtesy of By Hinders, Hinders Gård, Magical Nature, 2020
But when they are sheared, these sheep also leave behind heaps of unprocessed wool, much of it destined for landfill. Ingberg, disturbed by the waste of this by-product, saw great possibility in its use as a textile.
After racking up invaluable experience at the likes of Tiger of Sweden, Ingberg returned to Finland and set up a studio, working on his own gender-fluid clothing brand defined by a sense of comfort and utility. Hooked by the ‘slow ideology’, as he puts it, that surrounded him there, he ‘realised that I wanted to build upon what my mother built.’
In 2020, he established By Hinders—its name underscoring how deeply intertwined the farm is with his business—underpinned by a DIY “make do and mend” sensibility that celebrates upcycling and elevated simplicity.
Photography courtesy of By Hinders, CPHFW
Transforming the sheep’s unrefined wool into a soft Merino-like material meshed perfectly with Ingberg’s vision, so he turned to a local mill to make it a reality. All the skilled artisans he encountered along the way remain an integral part of the sustainable By Hinders production chain.
‘I learned a lot about the wool,’ Ingberg explains. ‘You can manipulate it, you can naturally dye the yarns, you can create something very fine. But I like the rougher version, something that brings more texture and reminds me of home.’
Ingberg has now produced three sophisticated collections. His most recent, Rötter, takes cues from the 1960s and showcases the wool in the form of blazers, wrap skirts, and hand-knit jumpers.
Photography courtesy of By Hinders, CPHFW
All these sculptural, well-tailored pieces are produced at the farm (Ingberg’s residence and studio are situated in the guesthouse, originally the local shoemaker’s abode) or nearby.
‘I’m building a world around me,’ he says, ‘and it’s the sort of world I want to live in.’
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