22 minutes with Charlotte Björklund, founder of Linnea Lund
Do you know the Linnea Lund brand?
Charlotte Björklund, its founder, lifts the veil on the history of her responsible, sustainable and quality cashmere brand. She talks to us about traceability, artisanal craftsmanship and Swedish inspiration as she opens the doors to her world.
Find out more about Charlotte, a committed and inspiring designer!
The designer, Charlotte Björklund
Charlotte Bjorklund ©LinneaLund
a wardrobe essential?
The Mimi sweater with its round collar by Linnea Lund! I love it because it suits all seasons. I wear it alone or with a shirt underneath.
your favorite linnea lund piece?
The Charlotte sweater, of course!
how do you spend your money on clothes?
I consume very little and in a reasonable way. I only buy products made in Italy and with traceability. I take the act of buying seriously. For me, a garment is a long-term investment. It has to go with pieces I already own, and I have to be able to wear it on different occasions. In fact, they have to be pieces that work just as well during the day as they do in the evening, that are easy to wear and match, and that will ultimately only require me to change one accessory! I'm thinking of this pair of boots I have, with high, wide heels that make them very comfortable and allow me to wear them just as well for a day when I'll have to frolic as for a dressy evening. I also have a small collection of white and blue shirts, basics for me, which I never leave home without and which I love to wear under a sweater or with a simple jacket.
Collection Nuances Malachite ©poinçon22
and jewelry?
I have very, very few pieces of jewelry, and the ones I do have are discreet. The ones I wear every day have a history and a strong meaning for me, because they were given to me by loved ones, and echo a period or a moment in my life that makes a milestone. As they never leave my side, over time they have become real good luck charms, part of me.
what jewelry do you wear every day?
My Trinity ring from Cartier, given to me for my 18th birthday. I live with it, I sleep with it. I never take it off!
your favorite poinçon 22 jewel?
The Nuances malachite ring. I love its extremely thin band, its roundness and the possibility of playing with color depending on the stone you choose. I'd like to wear two or three to play with the accumulation. This ring is very elegant.
what are your hobbies?
As a woman entrepreneur, I work a lot so I don't have much time for myself, but my hobbies are the moments I spend with loved ones, often around a fine table, a good bottle and a gourmet dish. I love gastronomy. I inherited this love from my father, who is a chef. I grew up with the joy of cooking for others and enjoying a good meal together.
So if I had to sum up my hobbies, I'd say eating, drinking (a little) and being with my family and my dog Stella, whom I love dearly.
Linnea Lund store ©Instagram
would you rather live in sweden or france?
I'm a Swede who grew up in France. So I've always really missed my native country. But I have the impression that the more you think about something and focus on it, the more you attract it to yourself. And in this case, I've finally managed to strengthen my ties with Sweden by recently opening my first Linnea Lund boutique in Stockholm. It's our second point of sale, after Paris, so I find myself living between two cities I love, two cities where life is good, and it's just an enormous pleasure to sail from one to the other to develop my brand. So I'd say 50-50, even if winter in Sweden is tough.
Japan ©Aircalin
Which of the countries you've traveled to has had the biggest impact on you?
It's hard to choose, because I've always traveled a lot, both with my family as a child and later in my job at Li Edelkoort, where I traveled around the world every six months. That's when I fell in love with Japan, and Tokyo in particular, which I find very inspiring, and which I can't wait to return to. And then there's Bali, which had a profound effect on me because it was my first road trip. I'd just left my first important job and I left, just like that, for a month, without knowing what I was going to do with my life. But it was fantastic! I was with one of my best friends on the road to Bali, we had no schedule and every day was an adventure, which was a big first for me.
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
Were your travels a source of inspiration for the creation of your brand?
Yes, I'm a fairly nomadic person. I like to be in action, on the move, all the time. So, of course, traveling stimulates me and is part of my DNA. My brand is a continuation of me, responding to a desire for authenticity and embodying values that are unique to me, such as Swedish benevolence and savoir-vivre, which I inherited from my upbringing with parents who have always been in service professions. And my encounter with Italian savoir-faire is a real distinction for Linnea Lund.
linnea lund
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
where does the name linnea lund come from?
It's an ode to Sweden, to the love I have for my country, my culture and its values. Linnea is my grandmother's first name, and it's also the middle name given to all the women in the family. Also, in Italian, "linnea" means line, which refers to the knitwear and cashmere yarn that are at the heart of our business. As for Lund, it's the second part of my family name. It means community. So Linnea Lund is a nod to the community of women in my family, but it's also a nod to the community of yarn 😉
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
Where did the idea of creating a sustainable cashmere clothing brand come from?
It was at a time when I was craving a lot of softness in my life in general, and I became a consultant for the spinner we work with today, who supplies us with our cashmere at Linnea Lund. That's how I discovered the behind-the-scenes production of cashmere, a material I was already madly in love with at the time. And I was very frustrated by the quality of the cashmeres on the market at the time. Either it was a poor quality cashmere sold at an exuberant price, or it was the cashmere I dreamed of with real quality and traceability but which was just out of reach in terms of price. In my opinion, there was a card to play. What was missing was a brand with a quality product, at a fair price and with traceable, high-quality production.
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
why choose a pre-order system?
This is an intrinsic value of Linnea Lund. We operate a bit like a "laboratory". Every week, the available colors change, and orders are based on the stock held by our spinning mill. This has two advantages: firstly, it avoids overproduction of yarns, and secondly, it enables us to offer small quantities of products that already exist. What's more, our collections are seasonless and trendless, and they adapt to the consumer's desires, which are not necessarily aligned with the trends we want to impose on them. In the end, the pre-order system allows us to produce all year round in a sensible way! As soon as an order is placed on the site, it triggers a creation process at Marco's, our knitter, enabling this family-run workshop, which used to suffer from a lack of activity, to work all year round. As for us, it allows us to limit our production and our impact on the planet.
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
how do you maintain relationships with your customers?
At the beginning, three years ago, I was alone at Linnea Lund to manage everything, especially the customer relationship, which allowed me from the beginning to maintain a very human, close and authentic relationship, always based on benevolence and transparency. I have passed on this authenticity and this human relationship to my team because, for me, it is essential for the brand to last.
How would you define the Linnea Lund style ?
I like to think of it as Swedish benevolence with a Parisian allure meets Italian savoir-faire. But above all, I wanted to create a wardrobe of basics that would allow everyone to make each piece their own, according to their mood, their desires and their style. A style that I want to be very chic and elegant, made up of pieces that will embellish the wearer whether during the day, evening or weekend. So a rather timeless, unisex style.
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
why cashmere garments? what are the advantages of this material?
When I launched the brand in September 2019, I had this need for softness. Coincidentally or not, Linnea Lund's birth preceded a time that was going to be difficult for everyone and cashmere, when it's quality, it brings a lot of softness and comfort. It's an incredible material to warm the soul and the body. And when cashmere is harvested and produced with as much care as we do, you are assured to invest in a piece that you will be able to keep for a very long time, or even pass on.
Linnea Lund ©Instagram
can you tell us more about your production workshop in italy?
I work with a spinner and a knitter located 10 kilometers apart. They're both family businesses, each with the ambition to accompany and support companies like mine, so we grow together and move forward hand in hand.
Can you tell us how the cashmere used to make linnea lund garments is traced?
The most important thing is to know where and how the raw material is harvested. The spinner we work with is an institution in the cashmere world. The company was founded in the 1960s, and guarantees us transparent, irreproachable traceability: the cashmere is collected in Mongolia from nomadic goat breeders, before being immediately sent to Italy, where the wool is transformed into cashmere yarn and then sent to our knitter to become a beautiful piece to wear!
The Italian production workshop ©Linnea Lund
how is the company part of a traditional, artisanal approach?
Linnea Lund puts the spotlight on Italian know-how, but above all on each and every person involved in the making of our collections. They are the guarantors of the quality of our raw materials, but also the key players in turning an idea into a handmade piece. Respect for ancestral gestures, whether in harvesting wool, making yarn or assembling elements, is at the heart of Linnea Lund's values, as is respect for the well-being of the animals, which are combed rather than shaved. I want everything to be done as conscientiously, respectfully and transparently as possible.
what future do you see for the brand?
I'm going to continue proving to consumers that a different kind of fashion is possible. A fashion where we consume less and better, thanks to beautiful basics that are a pleasure to wear at all times and in which we feel good. What's more, I'm increasingly looking to continents other than Europe, like the United States and Asia. As I always say: Sky is the limit!