I think it is inherent in us to share the inner visions we generate throughout our lives. Once uncorked, mine just bubble to the surface like sparkling wine…
art knits | Design by CHRISTEL SEYFARTH
When I hand knit, I work with many different colours at the same time. By allowing the colours to flow softly from one to the other, I create a living canvas of gentle colour shifts. The hand knitted models are not planned in advance but allowed during knitting to subtly, intuitively take on a life of their own. I am simply following along, watching the action. These custom knit models take hundreds of hours to complete and are always uniquely personal. When I sit down to knit using the knitting machine, I am in charge.
Everything I do is carefully planned in advance and there is little room for improvisation or intuitive leaps. Often, the graphic patterns and the repeats dominate and become the primary focal points.
I emphasise a thorough finish and knit pin-tucks and piping on all my knit models.
Get started – be creative…
For those of you who want to get started on your own knitting, I have created several hand knitted models that can be purchased as knit kits. Yarn and patterns are available in my webshop along with many other items to tempt and tantalise the knitting enthusiast. I am first and foremost artist and designer.
I love what I do and I am dedicated to helping my many loyal customers as we pursue our joint passion for knitting. So, if you need help - just call! Find inspiration here
Sources of inspiration
My grandmother taught me to knit when I was five years old. I have knitted ever since. On Fanø, someone is always knitting something somewhere whether from wish or want - so it was easy for my grandmother to collect bits and pieces of yarn, in every imaginable color, from her girlfriends on the island. I knitted small and large projects and then sold these very colourful works of art to my girlfriends and their mothers. So it is safe to say that I was weaned on the joy of colour.
Fanoe - my creative universe
My main muse resides on Fanø; she is the ocean, the light, the waves, the storms, the birds and the powerful nature. The traditional Fanø costume with its hundred-year-old tradition is another undeniable inspiration. Everyday dresses in plain cotton and party dresses made from silk that came all the way from China. Fanø is a seafaring island and for generations my ancestors were sailors and ship masters who returned with cloth from every corner of the earth. So even back then, the colours were vibrant and effervescent. You can see it for yourself when you visit Fanø during the colourful Fanø and Sønderho Days.
Wanderlust and wildness
Like all Fanø natives, I hear the call of the sirens. Just sweet sixteen, I set out to live for a while in the United States and later in Canada. From my many visits throughout the world, I have packed the sun, the wind and the sky into my colourful soul. Home, once again, on my beloved island and sitting with my dog on the top of a dune, the many impressions are transformed into dynamic colours and shapes. A small, threadbare piece of cloth bought on a market in China, becomes a huge shawl or a jacket or something else - guaranteed never seen before.
Art and costumes
With an open heart and mind, you can find inspiration wherever you are. While my colour choices are marked by the proximity to Fanø's natural habitats and the multiplicity in the big beyond, my fashion choice is permeated by my passion for old costumes: Turkish coats, the simple cut in Eastern clothes, the Rococo's voluminous detail richness and much more. I also love flowers and birds, leaves, checked squares, triangles and, more than anything, the colour lime green that I try to insert anywhere and everywhere possible. I never work with just one base colour and one pattern colour - but always with large groups of base and pattern colours that hop, skip and dance to their own lively tune while I follow along. As an old "hønsestrikker" (no-rules), I dislike too much "do this- not that" and I always try to find the easiest way out of a complicated piece of knit.
However, on one point I am a pedant:
"It must be made properly!" No matter how otherwise wild
or anarchistic it is. I always emphasise an elegant and thorough finish.
My patterns
My patterns are only a guide. You can follow them precisely, diverge as you want and play along as the fancy strikes you. The pattern does not commit you to a specific colour combination. You determine the sequence, and there is plenty of yarn for you to play with. The pattern is the same for everyone, but the result always uniquely personal, depending on what colours you feel should follow each other. My knit designs are made on a circular needle and then cut up, just as with Norwegian sweaters. Although there can be up to 18 different colours in a knit kit, you knit with only two colours at a time. If you can do pattern-knitting, then you can knit my design models.
Please take a look at the design models in SHOWROOM and the knit kits in my WEBSHOP.
Ready to be noticed?
I am not hot on the heels of fashion trends, for I simply assume that if it is unique and exciting, then it is also fashion. So, be ready to be noticed when you are finished with one design and ready to start on the next project. Naturally! For my way and style of knitting is very addictive. Fanø Knit Festival in 2006, I developed the concept of the first Fanø Knit Festival. This has become a huge success with more than 20,000 participants from around the world presenting their knitting. The Knit festival offers great booths, a wealth of workshops with stimulating and inspiring instructors, fashion shows and exhibitions. Inspiration, fun and joy. READ MORE
Årets Ildsjæl i Danmark 2015
Christel Seyfarth has been named to "this year's Firebrand in Denmark" on the basis of her great work with Fanø festival and its importance for Knitting Fanø. The prize will be awarded each year by the Ministry for town, housing and rural development.
"I'm super proud to have received the award as" the year's Firebrand in Denmark ". The award was presented by minister for urban, residential and rural, Carsten Hansen at a major Conference on the Sørupgaard Manor in the month of april.
I received the award on the basis of the work and development of Fanø Knitting festival, which over the years has gained considerable significance for thousands of knitters at home and abroad, and not least for Fanø. In March I received also the prize as the year's Firebrand in Region South Denmark, so it was a great and very nice surprise that I also got the national award ".