Nature’s Luxury
Rachel Atkinson meets fellow yarn producer Danica Mäder Jully, who specialises in German native sheep breeds
We meet Danica Mäder Jully to talk about her work to bring rare-breed German yarns to knitters
I MET Danica Mäder Jully, owner of German-based yarn company, Nature’s Luxury, at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in 2016. I was there to launch my yarn brand, Daughter of a Shepherd – and it turned out we had a lot in common when it came to treasuring and preserving the value of our native sheep breeds…
Rachel: Did you grow up with yarn, or was it something you came to later?
Danica: As a child, my mother knitted for my brothers and me. She never used a pattern, but her sweaters always fitted well and looked great. I was born and raised in Switzerland, where knitting classes were part of school education. It wasn’t something I liked at the time; in fact, my aunt used to do my knitting assignments for me! However, as a teenager I started knitting passionately and continued throughout my studies, having left Switzerland to attend the Jewellery Manufacturing and Design school in Pforzheim, Germany, before going on to graduate as a gemmologist from the Gemmological Institute of America in Los Angeles.
How did Nature’s Luxury come to be?
I returned to Switzerland and began designing jewellery and choosing collections for a renowned family-owned company, before following my husband Philippe and his horse business to an area close to Münster. It was clear I wouldn’t find a similar jewellery-based opportunity in this rural part of the country, so I began working alongside
Philippe, but I missed the creativity of my old job. We spent a lot of time on the road with the horses – knitting was something I could do when travelling, and slowly the idea of Nature’s Luxury took shape before opening in 2008. There are two distinct arms to your yarn business; the first being the signature luxurious, natural fibres hand-dyed by yourself in a palette of jewel and mineral colours, which reflect your previous work and connection to the natural world which is central to Nature’s Luxury. Can you tell us a little more about the fibres you use and what inspires your dyeing? I am glad you mention this, as my background in jewellery design and gemmology did play an important role in the forming of the company. Just as I had with precious stones before, I knew I wanted to work with ‘the gems’ of the fibre world, and so you will find silk, cashmere, baby camel, qiviut and baby alpaca in the Nature’s Luxury blends. Emphasis is placed on using raw fibres of the highest quality, which are spun in some the best and most traditional mills I could find. Inspiration for the shades I dye comes from all around – nature presents us with the most incredible colours and if you keep your eyes open, there is much to find – but it can also be a song or simply a speck of colour that I detect on someone’s clothes that triggers an idea. The other side to Nature’s Luxury is the rare-breed wool you source from native German breeds. These sheep have such wonderful names, such as the Brillenschaf, which translates as ‘sheep with glasses’ due to the black markings around their eyes. Yarn spun from their fleece sits alongside other native breeds, including the Schwarzes Bergschaf (Black Mountain Sheep), Pommersches Landschaf (Pomeranian Country Sheep), and my personal favourite, the Coburger Fuchsschaf (Coburg Fox Sheep). How did you start developing these yarns? I’ve always had a soft spot for these rare breeds, but for a long time I did not really consider making yarn from their fleece. Then in 2010 I was asked to write about the German yarn and textile industry for an American trade magazine, and decided to learn more about our native breeds. Whilst researching, I met a breeder of Coburg Fox Sheep, but he
had no interest in using the fleece so offered it to me.
At the time, everybody thought I was crazy making yarn from this rather crunchy wool, but it worked out well and people loved the original hand-dyed palette. We now blend it with German merino wool to bring a touch of softness to the yarn without spoiling the natural fox colour and ensuring it retains some of its rustic charm. There is a new awareness of working with native-breed yarn in Germany.
The rare-breed wools are produced to a very high ethical standard. Can you tell us more about your production process?
I was really lucky to find a breeder who is rearing organically certified sheep and I go to the farm during shearing to collect and sort the fleeces before delivering the raw fibre to a small mill with a long spinning history. You can see our shearing video at http://bit.ly/cfxshear
They have special rights to use natural well water and still wash in big oldfashioned basins using only minimal amounts of soda to make the scouring process a lot more eco-friendly than most industrial mills.
One last question: if you could only pick one yarn from your range to take to a desert island, which would it be?
DMJ: That is a tricky one! To an island with a rough climate, I would take Foxen meets Merino; to one with more moderate conditions, it would be On Stage, a Nature’s Luxury blend with merino wool, silk and baby camel. Rachel: Thank you so much, Danica, for sharing your yarn journey with us. It’s so good to hear support for Germany’s native breeds and those who are doing all they can to turn these undervalued resources into workable products.
Further information:
– Nature’s Luxury yarn is available online
at www.naturesluxury.com – Foxen meets Merino yarn is available in the UK at www.daughterofashepherd.
com and will also be available to purchase at Edinburgh Yarn Festival whilst stocks last. – Danica will be vending at the Schwabsburger Wollfest in June, and the German Raveler Meeting and Nadel & Faden in September, with other dates to be confirmed.