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Author name: Natalia Muntean

Fashion Articles

A New Standard of Luxury: Inside KARAAT with Julia Hakanpää

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A New Standard of Luxury: Inside KARAAT with Julia Hakanpää text by Natalia Muntean In an industry long defined by tradition and opacity, Julia Hakanpää is part of a new wave reshaping the meaning of fine jewellery. As founder and CEO of KARAAT, the Finnish brand championing lab-grown diamonds and recycled gold, she is building a vision of luxury rooted not only in craftsmanship and design, but in transparency and responsibility. What began as a personal search for an engagement ring has since evolved into a growing label challenging conventions and redefining modern heirlooms.  Natalia Muntean: You discovered lab-grown diamonds while searching for your own engagement ring. What was the exact moment you realised this wasn’t just a purchase, but a business idea?Julia Hakanpää: The moment came during our visit to Antwerp. I remember sitting across the table from our partner there, learning about lab-grown diamonds for the first time. I was fascinated that something so beautiful and technologically advanced existed, yet almost no one in the Nordics was talking about it. What made the moment particularly powerful was that I had just gone through the exact experience that many of our customers have today. I had been the customer searching for an engagement ring, trying to understand the options, and wanting to feel confident about the choice I was making. It immediately struck me how different that experience could be. Here was a gemstone with the same physical and optical properties as mined diamonds, but without many of the environmental or ethical concerns tied to mining. It answered so many of the questions I had been struggling with myself. That was when the idea started to form. If this discovery felt so meaningful to me as a customer, it could feel the same way to many others. Bringing lab-grown diamonds to the Nordics suddenly felt less like a business opportunity and more like something that simply needed to happen. NM: KARAAT was born out of a desire to “update” a traditional industry. What, in your opinion, most urgently needs updating?JH: For me, the biggest thing was transparency. When we were looking for engagement rings, I often felt that the industry relied heavily on tradition and authority; customers were expected to trust the process without always understanding it. There wasn’t always clear information about where diamonds came from, how they were produced, or what different choices really meant. At the same time, from a design perspective, I struggled to find pieces that felt like me. Many of the designs I encountered felt overly traditional or simply not aligned with my style. I was looking for something timeless, but with a fresh and modern feeling. Today’s customers want to feel informed and confident in their decisions, but they also want design that reflects the way they live today. With KARAAT, I wanted to create what I call modern heirlooms, pieces that feel contemporary today but will still look beautiful and relevant decades from now. Updating the industry, in my view, means combining traditional craftsmanship with modern transparency, responsible materials, and a design language that speaks to a new generation. NM: How has your original vision for KARAAT evolved in the past five years?JH: In the beginning, the vision was quite focused: introducing lab-grown diamonds to the Nordic market and helping people understand that there was another option. When we started, lab-grown diamonds were still relatively unknown in our region. A large part of our work was simply educating customers and building trust around something new to many people. Over the past five years, that vision has grown into something much bigger. Today, KARAAT is not only about introducing lab-grown diamonds – it’s about redefining what modern fine jewellery can look like. It’s about combining responsible materials with timeless design, exceptional craftsmanship, and a more personal way of experiencing jewellery. What hasn’t changed is the core idea. We still want to create pieces that feel meaningful, transparent, and lasting. The difference is that today we see the potential to build something much larger, a brand that resonates far beyond the Nordics. NM: Lab-grown diamonds were once a “well-kept secret”. What misconceptions do you still encounter today?JH: The most common misconception is still that lab-grown diamonds are somehow different from mined ones in terms of quality or authenticity. In reality, they are chemically, physically, and optically identical to mined diamonds. They are graded using the same standards and can only be distinguished in specialised laboratories. Another persistent myth is that mined diamonds retain their value better. When founding KARAAT, I learned much more about the traditional diamond industry and the mark-ups that have historically existed within it. Many of the early lab-grown diamond brands shared the same mission: bringing those mark-ups down and creating a more transparent market for customers. The value of jewellery, in my view, is not defined by speculative resale prices. The true value lies in the materials and craftsmanship, gold and diamonds that, when cared for properly, last for generations. That durability is what allows jewellery to become heirlooms. For many people, discovering lab-grown diamonds is still a moment of surprise, very similar to the one I experienced myself years ago in Antwerp. NM: Sustainability is often used as a marketing term. For you personally, what does responsibility truly mean in luxury?JH: For me, responsibility in luxury starts with honesty and transparency. Customers today want to understand what they are buying, where materials come from, how they are produced, and the impact behind them. Luxury should never rely on mystery or blind trust. People deserve clear information so they can make choices that align with their own values. At KARAAT, we work with lab-grown diamonds produced using renewable energy and 18-karat recycled gold, and our pieces are crafted by highly skilled goldsmiths in Italy. For us, responsibility is not only about the materials themselves, but also about craftsmanship and longevity, creating jewellery that is made with care and designed to last. True luxury should never be disposable. Gold and diamonds are incredibly

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aim’n’a Spring Senses Collection Arrives With Pilates in Mind

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aim’n’a Spring Senses Collection Arrives With Pilates in Mind aim’n’s new Spring Senses collection launches this month with a clear brief: clothes for the growing number of women turning to Pilates, barre, and low-intensity training as a long-term approach to movement rather than a passing trend. The palette reads accordingly: Blush, Ballerina, Dark Clay, shades that feel more like a state of mind than a colour story. Central to the collection is the Sense fabric, soft and flexible in a way that disappears against the body, which is precisely the point. A new one-shoulder bralette introduces a modern silhouette that the brand plans to carry into future collections – a quiet signal that this is less a seasonal offering than a direction. The Ribbed Seamless range expands into Dark Clay, and several styles in both fabrics are built to move seamlessly from studio to street, a line aim’n has been blurring with increasing confidence. Two tops in an entirely new material, Luminous, round out the range. Lightweight and fluid with a semi-matte sheen, the fabric leans into drape and movement, with ruched and draped details at the sleeves and sides that catch the light. There is also a dress in the Sense fabric, designed for everyday wear but cut from the same soft logic as everything else in the collection. The most practical addition may be the most telling: Pilates grip socks, the brand’s first foray into accessories, developed for studio stability. A small thing, but a precise one, the kind of detail that signals a brand paying close attention to how its customers actually live. “Our community is asking for garments that feel soft, flexible and refined, pieces they can wear both in the Pilates studio and at the office,” says CEO and founder Tekla Acs. “This collection is created with exactly that feeling in mind.” Spring Senses is available now at aimn.se and in stores, in sizes XXS–XL.

Design

Norwegian Design Makes its Move on Sweden

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Norwegian Design Makes its Move on Sweden On a recent evening at the Norwegian Embassy in Stockholm, six Norwegian design brands gathered for an intimate showcase hosted by Norsk Industri. The event was less a trade fair than a declaration that contemporary Norwegian design, rooted in landscape, material honesty, and a near-philosophical commitment to longevity, has something urgent to say to the Swedish market. The brands ranged from century-spanning furniture makers to a new generation rethinking acoustics, textiles, and stone. What united them was a resistance to trend cycles and a conviction that how something is made is inseparable from what it means. Flokk & Fjell works with waste wool that would otherwise be discarded, dyeing it with plant-based pigments from local raw materials to produce handmade acoustic panels that are also objects of beauty. Founder and architect Annemieke Koopmans unveiled a new collection, Winter Landscapes, exclusively at the Stockholm event, her ambition being to bring indoors the same stillness one finds out in nature.  Norsk Dun’s new collaboration with designer Gustav Ovland takes a similar approach to materiality. Recycled fibres, mineral-based pigments, pomegranate peel – the collection’s palette is drawn from what already exists and would otherwise be lost. The results are textiles with a warmth that synthetic processes rarely achieve. “Good design is about creating something people want to live with for a long time,” says Ovland.  LK Hjelle has been making furniture in Sykkylven since 1940. Every piece still leaves their own factory, still bears the Made in Norway mark, still built for repair and reupholstery rather than replacement. Their collaborators, Andreas Engesvik, Hallgeir Homstvedt, Jonas Stokke, are among Norway’s most respected designers, and the furniture has found its way into the Norwegian National Opera and embassies worldwide. CEO Jens Peter Brunstad’s vision is simple and unsparing: no one should ever need to throw away a piece of LK Hjelle furniture.  Ekornes brought two new Stressless® models, Adam, recently awarded the Red Dot Design Award, and Bay, that make ergonomic rigour feel like luxury rather than compromise. Both are built for durability, both designed to support the body in the way the body actually moves. Comfort, here, is not a selling point. It is the whole point. Fora Form’s BAST, designed by London-based Norwegian duo Hunting & Narud, is a modular low table system that thinks in the long term. Solid oak, floating aluminium, three sizes that can stand alone or compose into something larger. Every joint engineered for disassembly and repair, with longevity written into the object’s logic from the start. The most structurally ambitious proposition came from Lundhs Real Stone®. Their Larvikite and Anorthosite, formed hundreds of millions of years ago, entirely free of quartz, are no longer simply surface materials. A ten-storey building on Finchley Road in London now uses Larvikite as its load-bearing exoskeleton, replacing concrete and steel in what is believed to be a first of its kind. “Larvikite is more than a surface material,” says Business Developer Thomas Løvald. “It is architecture in its most fundamental form.” From Oslo’s Sommerro House to the University of Oslo, the stone keeps finding new ways to hold things up.

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Iittala and Byredo Announce Collaborative Collection LJUS

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Iittala and Byredo Announce Collaborative Collection LJUS Finnish design house Iittala and Byredo have announced LJUS, a limited-edition collection that explores the intersection of light, scent and domestic ritual through handcrafted glass objects. The collaboration brings together Iittala’s heritage in glassmaking with Byredo’s approach to scent and modern culture, rooted in shared Nordic values and a respect for material and craft. The collection takes its name from the Swedish word for light, which serves as both theme and material, with the objects being designed to reflect the shifting qualities of Nordic light, from the intensity of the midnight sun to the quiet intimacy of winter. All glass objects in the collection are handcrafted at Iittala’s historic factory in Finland and are intended to be paired with Byredo candles and incense, becoming vessels that transform everyday moments into sensory rituals. Janni Vepsäläinen, Creative Director at Iittala, described the collaboration as an exploration of Nordic light in its most honest form. “In this collaboration, light is treated as a material – shaped by human hands and judgement. When Iittala’s glass meets Byredo’s fire, a new light emerges: elemental, restrained and deeply human,” she said in a statement. The collaboration will make its conceptual debut at the MATTER and SHAPE exhibition in Paris in March 2026, presented as a sculptural installation introducing the creative vision behind the partnership. The full LJUS collection is scheduled to launch globally in October 2026 for the Holiday season.

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Charlotte Tilbury Unveils New Formula of Iconic Magic Cream

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Charlotte Tilbury Unveils New Formula of Iconic Magic Cream Charlotte Tilbury has launched an updated version of its best-selling Magic Cream moisturiser, incorporating a breakthrough ingredient, developed over a decade of research. The new formula is built around Recoverstem™ Peptide, a complex created exclusively for Charlotte Tilbury. Derived from the stem cells of the Eternal Jasmine Youth Plant™, it contains over 100 multi-action peptides designed to address multiple signs of ageing. According to the brand, the naturally sourced ingredient works to transform and recover the look of skin both instantly and over time. The updated formulation targets ten visible signs of ageing: hydration, glow, plumpness, redness, uneven texture, firmness, elasticity, fine lines and wrinkles, lift, and neck lines. It also includes an enhanced version of the brand’s Cushion + Lift Mesh Technology™, now with rosehip oil, oat extract, and ectoin, an ingredient intended to support the skin barrier. “I am always innovating, and as our lifestyles become more fast-paced, digital and dehydrating, I have seen our skin needs evolve,” says Charlotte Tilbury. The original Magic Cream was created by Charlotte Tilbury as a backstage product to revive tired skin before shows and red carpet appearances. Since its commercial launch, it has become a flagship product for the brand, with one pot being sold every minute globally.

Art

Klara Wirsén Suchowiak Feels Owned

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Klara Wirsén Suchowiak Feels Owned text by Natalia Muntean “The things you own end up owning you,” says Klara Wirsén Suchowiak about ÄGD, her solo exhibition at WAY Gallery in Stockholm. Wirsén Suchowiak is known for her tactile, sculptural explorations of the body as both site and narrative. Trained at Beckmans College of Design, Gerlesborg School of Fine Art and Nyckelviksskolan, has previously shown at venues such as Liljevalchs Spring Salon and Värmlands Museum. Opening on March 5th, the exhibition looks at experiences of parenthood, desire and vulnerability and turns them into unsettling, seductive and humorous encounters that invite both emotional and physical engagement. Natalia Muntean: The title ÄGD (OWNED) is very powerful and direct. Can you talk about the decision to use this word?Klara Wirsén Suchowiak: I am owned. Owned by life, owned by the artistic process, owned by my paycheck, owned by the social structures, owned by capitalism, owned by the gender roles, owned by my family life, owned by my children.  NM: The exhibition highlights the “contradictory experiences of parenthood”, desire, care, vulnerability and excess. How do you balance these opposing forces in a single work or installation? Was there a specific piece where this paradox was most challenging to capture?KWS: In my latest work, “My sister’s milk,” I have been working with real breast milk that I’ve collected from different people. The milk sprays out from sculpted breasts and a baby’s mouth, in a large fountain placed on a dining table.Breastfeeding is like dynamite; it’s a subject everyone has strong feelings and opinions about, even if they might not dare to admit it. The body is political, especially bodies that do things like lactation. In this work, I have explored and wrestled with the many different emotions and positions that come with breastfeeding itself. On the walls around the fountain, tongues are sticking out. They are artworks that stand on their own, but they can also be interpreted as observers. In the piece, I have a combination of materials that present a discrepancy. The milk is beautiful, white, and frothy. The breasts and the baby’s mouth are cast in a smooth stone composite, and the fountain itself is made of fibreglass and epoxy. The colour and texture of the fibreglass make me think of some kind of toxic boat construction, something you don’t want close to your skin, something you don’t want to touch. Yet the baby and the breasts lie there in the middle, gurgling and spraying. On March 5th, at 16:00, everyone who is breastfeeding is welcome to help me inaugurate the fountain by spraying their milk into it. We’ll see if anyone later dares to drink from it. NM: You work with a wide range of materials, from stone to textile to found objects. Could you give an example of how a specific material was essential to express an emotion in ÄGD? KWS: For a long time, I’ve had a vision of creating an artwork where the feeling should be like the sensation you get when a hair is caught in your throat. You pull out something fuzzy, invasive, from your glossy, gagging mouth. That feeling inspired me to create the works called “:P,” which are several tongues of different materials and sizes sticking out from the walls. Some of the tongues are smooth and glossy, others are filled with lots of small objects – babies, metal pieces, etc. And some of the tongues are covered with textile fibers so they are hairy and soft like velvet. The tongues hang next to each other like trophies, or perhaps like spectators in the room. So in this installation, the encounter between different materials was important. I wanted to create a clash between shapes and materials that gives me a physical reaction. NM: You mention the viewer as a “recipient.” What is it that you hope viewers will receive from this installation?KWS: I hope that those who encounter my works feel something. What that feeling is, I don’t want to control. NM: You mention using found objects in your practice. Are there any incorporated into ÄGD? If so, what was the story or previous life of that object, and how does its history resonate with the themes of the exhibition?KWS: The sculpture “Domestic” is like a large body, but also a house at the same time. The house is furnished with countless dollhouse furniture, toys, and small things I’ve collected throughout my life. Together, these objects create a house where the parents have lost control, it’s incredibly messy, and no child is sleeping; all the kitchens are on fire. The house and the body have become one, and it is very heavy to carry. The objects in the house come from many different places: from my own old toys, flea markets, my parents’ home, travels, dumpsters and some I’ve been given because people know I collect things. The searching and collecting is something I see as part of the process. And as we know, the things you own end up owning you, and I will probably end up as a hoarder like the ones you see on TV. NM: You’ve created several public artworks with your mother, Stina Wirsén. How does that intergenerational collaboration influence your approach to themes of parenthood and the body? KWS: I have been creating for as long as I can remember, next to my siblings and parents. That’s how we spend time together and how we communicate best, by making. Other families might play soccer or sing or cook; we have always sat next to each other with pen and paper. So, making art with my mother wasn’t really something new; the only new things were the scale, the materials, and the fact that the works would be received by others. Our artworks deal with themes like family, body, care, and vulnerability, but in a public space. How can we make forms radiate those qualities? That’s what we are working on. We made our first sculptures a few months after I

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LUMENE Introduces New Glossy Oil Balm

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LUMENE Introduces New Glossy Oil Balm Nordic skincare brand LUMENE has expanded its lip product range with the introduction of the Lip Glow Oil Balm SPF30, a hybrid formula combining lip care with sun protection. In an era where sun protection is no longer reserved for the beach, the Lip Glow Oil Balm steps up with SPF30 and UVA filters. It provides a daily defense against the premature aging effects of UV rays, seamlessly merging aesthetic appeal with essential sun safety. The balm is enriched with upcycled lingonberry seed oil, a byproduct of the Finnish food industry that is rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids for deep hydration. To strengthen the lips’ moisture barrier, LUMENE has included Nordic oat ceramides, which are identical to those naturally found in the skin and help lock in long-lasting moisture. The new Lip Glow Oil Balm SPF30 is available in three sheer, shimmering shades, each paired with its own irresistible scent to complete the sensory experience: Fudge, Marshmallow and Cherry.

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OUR LEGACY WORK SHOP and Timberland Join Forces on a New Capsule

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OUR LEGACY WORK SHOP and Timberland Join Forces on a New Capsule In a meeting of Scandinavian subversion and American heritage, OUR LEGACY WORK SHOP and Timberland are releasing a first-of-its-kind collaborative capsule. Launching globally on February 27, the collection re-engineers the iconic 6-Inch Boot and expands into a full uniform of rugged apparel, offering utilitarian refinement. At the heart of the drop lies a reworked 6-Inch Boot, constructed from premium Horween® leather with a pebbled finish that adds vintage character and texture. A reshaped toe box modernises the profile, while technical integrity is maintained with an anti-fatigue footbed and a rugged Vibram® rubber outsole for confident traction. The apparel capsule transforms WORK SHOP silhouettes with archival Timberland detailing, ranging from the durable Wharf Coat in residual Japanese 60/40 cotton-nylon to the Work Cut jean crafted from raw deadstock Italian selvedge denim. Other highlights include the Timber Shirt with its signature pencil slot, a detail Timberland was among the first to adopt, and the classic crowned Weather Cap in full Italian sheepskin nubuck. “We built the collection around the formative years of early era outdoor aesthetics, pairing everyday clothes with a weather-resistant jacket and a great pair of rugged boots,” explains Jockum Hallin, Co-Founder of OUR LEGACY. “As we approached Timberland’s archive, we wanted to amplify their history as outdoor pioneers.” Capturing the collection’s duality, the campaign imagery was shot against the scenic backdrop of the Alpes-Maritimes in France. The OUR LEGACY WORK SHOP x Timberland collaboration launches globally on Friday, February 27.

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Embrace the Elements: Kari Traa Launches “Ready for Anything” SS26 Collection

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Embrace the Elements: Kari Traa Launches “Ready for Anything” SS26 Collection In the world of Scandinavian style, practicality has always been the ultimate luxury. This season, Norwegian sportswear brand Kari Traa elevates that philosophy with the launch of its Spring/Summer 2026 collection, named “Ready for Anything.” Inspired by the unpredictable nature of Nordic spring and summer days, the new line seamlessly bridges the gap between high-performance mountain training and effortless urban cool. Founder and Olympic champion Kari Traa understands that spontaneity is the key to life’s best moments. “We don’t plan life around the forecast; we dress for it and go anyway,” she explains. “It’s all about layering up or down, depending on what the day brings.” The SS26 collection is divided into distinct narratives, each catering to a different facet of an active woman’s life. For the mountain enthusiast, the Spring Skiing Collection refreshes the iconic Rose base layer, beloved for its 100% Merino wool softness, in fresh hues. Alongside it, the lightweight and breathable Alma Performance Blend offers technical precision for the climb, while the airy Ella layer transitions from sun-drenched slopes to après-ski relaxation. As the days grow longer, the Training Collection invites movement. The high-performance Nia line is built for mountain training, while Linnea injects a dose of youthful, urban energy with trend-forward lines designed to move from a workout to a coffee date without missing a beat. For those who value clean, minimalist pieces, the Ava collection offers the go-to essentials for layering or wearing solo on a relaxed summer day. The Summer Wool concept is another highlight of the SS26 line. Instead of typical summer fabrics, Kari Traa highlights Merino wool as a surprising warm-weather hero. Because it naturally regulates temperature, breathes and dries quickly, it’s ideal for a midnight swim or a sunset hike that continues into a cooler evening. The beloved Rose and Alma silhouettes return in the Summer Wool edit, joined by the effortlessly versatile Embla wool blend, a piece that moves from morning walks to spontaneous evening plans with an easy, refined grace.

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New Balance Unveils the Ellipse

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New Balance Unveils the Ellipse New Balance has officially announced the launch of the Ellipse, the brand’s newest evolution in running footwear. Designed to help runners “lose track of time,” the Ellipse is tailored for everyone from those just starting their running journey to veteran athletes looking for a comfortable option for easy recovery miles. The Ellipse is designed to restore the beauty of being lost in the run by empowering athletes to embrace freedom, mindfulness and creativity. The shoe features the comfort of Fresh Foam X cushioning, reimagined with a bouncy underfoot feeling to make daily runs more enjoyable. The midsole maintains a lightweight feel, while the shoe further elevates comfort with a breathable engineered mesh upper, a cushioned tongue and stretch laces. “The Ellipse celebrates all who run, whether logging their first miles or recovering after race day, by delivering an elevated cushioned experience,” says Kevin FitzPatrick, Global Vice President of Running at New Balance. “It’s designed to motivate runners of all types to get out there and enjoy their run.” The shoe has already gained traction across sport and culture, with New Balance athletes ranging from Gold Medalist sprinter Gabby Thomas and middle-distance champion Parker Valby to rapper and chef Action Bronson, reigning MVP Josh Allen, and five-time All-Star Francisco Lindor embracing the Ellipse as their new favourite.

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