Kitchen Stories by Dianna Walla

amirisu: What was your inspiration for this design?
Dianna: The film that inspired this design was set in Norway in the post-war period, so I was definitely inspired by the kind of knitwear that was popular in mid-century Norway. I started with the idea of the traditional all-over colorwork cardigan, or kofte, but instead of using the most typical combination of black and white, I let the film's palette guide the soft color combination used for the design.

amirisu: If you were to knit this design in another color, what would it be?
Dianna: Black and white would be a great choice for that very traditional look, but there are so many combinations that would look great! I'd personally probably still choose a palette with a very wintry vibe, perhaps darker green like evergreens. Combined with white, it would still evoke winter even as it would be much higher in contrast than the original.

amirisu: What is your favorite movie genre?
Dianna: I do love kind of quirky, absurd comedies, which might be why I ended up choosing Kitchen Stories as my source of inspiration. But I like a lot of different kinds of films - the others I considered when coming up with ideas for the design were the French New Wave film Breathless from 1960 (original title À bout de souffle) as well as Studio Ghibli's beautiful animated fantasy My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ). I guess the common thread between the three is that none of them are in English, and it's true that I've always been interested in films from abroad as a way to experience different parts of the world and different languages. My favorite kind of film festival is an international film festival - the range of genres is always extremely varied, but there are always multiple films I want to make time to see.

amirisu: When and where do you typically knit?

Dianna: I usually knit at home. And I also always have my knitting when traveling, although there's obviously been less of that in the past year and a half. But at home, either in the morning with my first cup of tea of the day, or in the evenings watching something while winding down, I'm often knitting. 

Thank you, Dianna!

--- 

今日は、寒い冬の情景が浮かぶような模様編みのカーディガン、Kitchen StoriesのデザイナーDianna Wallaさんのインタビューをご紹介します。シックなカーディガンですが、インスピレーションはコメディー映画から得たそうです。

 

amirisu: このデザインのインスピレーションはどこから得ましたか？
Dianna: 今回のデザインの着想は、戦後のノルウェーを舞台にした映画『Kitchen Stories』から得ました。映画に登場する、20世紀半ばにノルウェーで流行していたニットウェアに間違いなくインスパイアされていると思います。
まず伝統的なカラーワークが全面に施されたカーディガンやコフテ（ノルウェーの民族衣装）からアイデアを広げつつ、典型的な白と黒の組み合わせの代わりに、映画のイメージである柔らかい色のコンビネーションを使うことにしました。

amirisu: もう1枚編むとしたら何色で編みますか？

Dianna: 伝統的なカーディガンには黒と白がぴったりですが、他にもたくさん素敵な色の組み合わせがあると思います！個人的には、おそらくまた冬っぽい色を選びたいです。エバーグリーンのような深い緑とか。白と組み合わせるとオリジナルよりコントラストがはっきりしますが、それでも冬のイメージがしっかり浮かぶものになるのではないでしょうか。

amirisu: 好きな映画のジャンルはなんですか？