my name is Mati Ventrillon and we are
in Fair Isle, Scotland.
I'm a crafter, and a knitter
I design fair isle garments and sell them online
Fair Isle is known in the world as a
knitting technique that involves
stranded color knitting so is basically
carrying two colors together in one row
sometimes three
It's called fair isle because it originated here in the island
the Shetland wool was known for being
one of the softest wools in the world
Fair Isle belongs to the Shetland Islands
the population of sheep is a lot
higher than the human population
the making of a fair isle jumper I think it can
be divided in two different processes
one is the husbandry of the animals and
then the other one is the making of the
garments. You have a flock of sheep
looking after them feeding them make
sure that they stay healthy so that you
produce a good fleece.
Shearing. I found
that the best way to do it is by
allowing the sheep to rest on your legs
they become very docile and kind of
happy animals the moment that becomes
like a factory thing
the relationship changes completely
fleece is spread out you clean any
debris any grass you roll it in one
little bundle
then it sent out to Jameson spinning in
mainland Shetland with the Good Shepherd
they're sorted then they're graded
according to the quality of the wool
then they get processed get washed it
gets sort of pulled apart dyed, spun
twisted and then we get the cones
the cones get sent normally with the aeroplane from Tingual
into Fair Isle. I receive my yarn
with the plane I go and collect it and bring
it to my studio and then the process of
making the garment begins. It comes the
design stage I start printing together
colors and patterns and I create swatches
once the design is approved then we go
into the detailing. the Knitting process
starts with producing the ribs taken
that weave transferring it into the
flatbed knitting machine. I place all my
wools and then I start knitting the garment.
The Machine reads the solid and color.
Front, back, right sleeve, left sleeve.
All these panels get put together
the sleeves get attached by a technical
grafting, it creates an invisible thing
The seam gets sown along the slip
I produce the neck and then the neck gets
grafted into the garment.
Once the garment is knitted is the finishing
process. Trimming all the insides
you have to weave in the end. This is the moment
where I can check if there's been any
mistake on the weavings
the garment gets washed in 30 degrees temperature
put it on the stretcher and the wooly horse to dry.
Once it's dry it gets
pressed and labeled. It's normally wrapped in
brown paper parcel kind of old style
with a little string of wool.
The knitting belongs to the island. People
stop doing it, they leave the island and
someone else comes and carries on so
feeling that I'm continuing a tradition
and preserving a heritage is full of
satisfaction