"Every knitter is an artisan."
Artisan Knits
Heather Brann
Heather Brann has Bachelor's Degrees in Philosophy and French from Idaho State University and a JD from the University of Utah. During her years of education Heather was never without a knit project.
She is inspired by the simplicity and quality of the Arts and Crafts movement and by the forms found in nature. She is devoted to creating the best design always adding clever shaping and quality finishing to her designs. She makes her home in Portland, Oregon where she enjoys, hiking, gardening, dragon boat racing and, of course, knitting.
Maren says she is definitely the more technically proficient knitter. "No really, she has cut sweaters apart and fused them back together in ways I find terrifying--like a surgeon." Heather smiles. "I'm just too lazy to knit it twice."
Maren Robinson
The youngest of the three Robinson sisters, Maren has a degree in English Literature from Montana State University and a Master's Degree in Humanities from the University of Chicago. She makes her home in Chicago where she works for the university and spends a great deal of time doing dramaturgy.
As a child, Maren didn't finish a single knitting project until she was given a sweater pattern. "It took a big project to get me motivated, I got bored with leg warmers."
Her designs are inspired by the clothes she wishes she had. "The clothes I want are inspired by old movies from the 1930's and 1940's or things I could imagine myself wearing to walk across windswept moors." Heather says Maren had strong aesthetic opinions early on "I think learning to knit was a necessity for Maren; too itchy, too long, wrong color, not cut right, Maren knows what's right and wrong with a design before anyone else does."
About Artisan Knits
Artisan Knits is the handiwork of two sisters and longtime knitters living hundreds of miles apart. Inspired by the tradition and history of knitting the natural world around them and a desire for unique yet classic designs that could be worn for years to come.
Heather, Maren and their sister Julie learned to knit at the knee of their mother Sue Ann while growing up in Pocatello, Idaho. While their educational and career paths scattered them across the country, they never lost their respect for well made garments and the desire to pick up a pair of needles in the evening. Frustrated by shapeless knits or confusing instructions they each began to design their own one-of-a-kind items.
After years of being told by friends and family they should sell their designs, Heather and Maren spent several years collecting, editing tea-stained notes, and test knitting the first set of pattern designs before launching Artisan Knits online in 2011 as a place to offer other knitters their designs, experience and respect for the artisanship of every knitter.
Interested in learning more?
"We are committed to creating unique, classic and whimsical designs that make hand knitting so meaningful."
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne."
- Geoffrey Chaucer
