Michelle Stewart

MADDY HARKER

Michelle Stewart’s pop-up shop, The Woven, is the kind of place you want to curl up and spend the whole day in. It’s hidden down an alleyway behind The Cell on Helwick Street, and is full of woollen blankets, ponchos, balls of wool and knitting needles. 

It’s cosy and homely, and an ode to the principles of Michelle’s business.

Michelle hasn’t opted for the popular, muted look for her store or the goods she knits. Instead, she’s inspired by the colours she sees in nature.

"I try to be led by my landscape,” she said.

One of her most popular colours, rain, is inspired by the colour of the sky over Lake Wanaka during a storm.

"If you take a photo and really look at the colours you see things you aren’t expecting to see.”

It’s a worthwhile challenge for the company tasked with bringing the colours she sees to life.

"I send in landscape photos, mood boards and bits of fabric,” Michelle said. "It was a real case of chafing against the mill.”

Michelle has also broken traditional rules with the wool she produces.

"What I make is bigger and easier to knit with, and doesn’t require a particular type of needle. I want knitting to be accessible.”

Michelle has had a varied career before The Woven. She ran a packaging and production business in Auckland, and had a lot of jobs that involved spreadsheets and numbers.

"I didn’t consider myself a creative person at all,” she said.

It was a couple of years after Michelle and her husband and young baby packed up their life in Auckland, quitting their jobs and selling their home, and moved to Wanaka, that Michelle realised her love of knitting was something she could make a career of.

"I started the business because I wanted to have a sustainable life in Wanaka. I thought to myself, ‘How do I create a business that helps other people make a living too?’”

Starting with just $500, it was an ambitious task. But Michelle found that her ideas developed naturally, and her online store gained popularity quickly.

"I realised I just wanted to knit things that were cooler than what I could get my hands on in other places. I wanted fresh colours and nice products. It rolled into me wanting to create an experience.”

Wanaka features heavily in her branding now. With each product she sends to a customer, Michelle sends a little note that explains how the colour was thought up.

"I tell the Wanaka story in everything I do,” Michelle said.

She uses local women as models, and employs local photographer Nadine Cagney to make the images she produces special.

"I think what makes me successful is that really relatable imagery. I like to use ‘real’ women.”

The designers she uses to help create her branding are also from Wanaka.

"Local business is at the heart of what I do. Everything I possibly can, I do locally. The only part of my business that isn’t made in Wanaka is the wool.”

Knitting has been a lifelong love for Michelle, who learnt from her Nana when she was about eight-years-old.

"It was always a really strong connector for me and her.”

She was ridiculed for knitting earlier in her life. "People would roll their eyes at me, say ‘Don’t bring your knitting with you again, please’, that kind of thing.”

However, knitting has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years.

"It’s a really magical time. Young people are getting really into knitting now too.”

Michelle is focused on making knitting fun and easy. She doesn’t want people to be intimidated by it, and isn’t afraid to do things differently herself. She often knits without a pattern, and tries to encourage other people, especially women, to have a go.

"A part of the reason for having my business is definitely to inspire people to knit. I thought to myself, ‘What do knitters need?’ And ‘What can I do that will make it easier?’”

"What they definitely don’t need is complicated patterns and rules.”

Michelle started Knit Club Wanaka, which is held at Alchemy every Thursday at 5.30pm. Knitters at all levels are invited to come along and share the experience of knitting. Some weeks 50 to 55 people come along.

"Knitting is a great way to sit down and relax while still creating something,” Michelle said. "There have been studies that have shown that there is a rhythmic cadence to knitting that can calm anxiety.”

"With both the knit club and my business I try to inspire, motivate and build people up.”

PHOTO: Wanaka App