A visit to the source

I hesitated before posting this, because it is so difficult to get what I want to say quite right. At the same time, I must write about it, because of the way it brings the Skinny laMinx full-circle so beautifully

While on my way to a month-long creative residency in Finland, I made a pilgrimage to the Swedish countryside, spending a magical time with Monica Hammarstrom – the person whose home and style influenced my entire aesthetic and textile aspiration.

After all these years of Scandi inspiration, I finally got to visit the true source of all things Skinny laMinx!

Monica was my mom’s best friend from teaching college, and growing up in Joburg in the 70s, my brothers and I spent a lot of time in her home. Born in Africa as the daughter of Swedish missionaries, and married to a Swede, Monica and Jürgen created a home and garden in suburban Joburg that was a little slice of Sweden. My childhood is full of memories of birch trees, a wild lawn, and a home filled with spare Scandinavian furniture, textile handicrafts, smells, textures, and tastes. It was an aesthetic that I didn’t encounter anywhere else, and possibly, more than anything, Monica’s home made me long for something a little off the beaten track, and this longing spurred me to start making textile prints in the first place.

My journey was filled with obstacles – a heatwave, the chaos of malfunctioning trains, and the resulting lost luggage – so it was a shorter visit than I’d hoped, but every moment in the midsummer Swedish countryside was so magical and “pinch me!” beautiful, I still feel in a bit of a daze.

Thank you to Lillemor and PeO, and the rest of my Swedish “family” for taking so much care to help me make this pilgrimage, and thank you, Monica, for living with such care and attention to detail, and for your part in helping a little girl develop her ideas of what Beauty looks like.