Nana knitting gets funky makeover

JASON OXENHAM/Suburban Newspapers

CRAFTY COOL: Karla Hansen, top, and City Down are putting a new spin on traditional crafts.

Relevant offers

Karla Hansen and City Down discovered their mutual love for crafts in an unusual setting – on a tattoo table.

Tattoo artist Karla was working on one of many pieces of body art for City – real name Felicity – when they both confessed they’d been sewing a lot lately.

"It was like it was some big secret," she says.

Now the secret is out and the pair are looking to spread the word even further by setting up a new craft market in Grey Lynn called Kraftbomb.

Both women have been doing craft since they were young children and were taught sewing, knitting and cross stitch by their mothers.

"It’s not all just tea cosies," says Karla.

"There’s a whole new community doing amazing stuff with crafts. It’s a little bit nana, a little bit rock ’n’ roll."

When she’s not working at her tattoo studio in Newmarket, she specialises in her collection of plushies called Geek Freaks, which she describes as designer handmade soft toys.

Her animator husband draws the designs and she sews each character by hand.

City has started making her own range of embroidery kits called Stitch’d Ink.

After buying a few kits online, she realised there was a very limited range of contemporary designs.

Her other speciality is novelty cupcakes, which she takes orders for online. She started baking and decorating for fun five years ago and now fills a steady stream of orders for her colourful creations.

Both women sell their products online through the website Toggle and are pleased with the growing interest, especially from the United States. Karla is sending Geek Freaks to exhibitions in Seattle and Sydney this year.

Though they both sell at K Rd’s Craftwerk markets, they wanted something more regular.

They hope Kraftbomb will give other artists a more regular place to sell their wares. They plan to hold one every month at the Grey Lynn Community Centre. It will include younger, more edgy artists who are "pushing the boundaries a little bit", says City.

Genista Jurgens is one of the group who started organising the K Rd market and says if the growing popularity of Craftwerk is anything to go by, Kraftbomb should have no problem attracting punters. She describes the new genre of crafts at these markets as ironic.

"It pokes its tongue at old nana knitting. They’re fresh designs but old techniques."

Kraftbomb is on August 31 at the Grey Lynn Community Centre from 1pm to 4pm and will be held on the last Sunday of every month.

- © Fairfax NZ News