Enrepreneur we love

Tell us a bit about yourself…
I live in Gedsted, a small village in the northern part of Jutland in Denmark, with my husband and our three daughters, plus one big dog and two cats.

What’s the story behind Kaos Yarn?
I develop and design yarns and colours for my own brand of yarns in close collaboration with a spinning mill. But I’m the one behind everything here – graphics, website, marketing, customer service, order packing and everything else. It’s been a lot of work and I’ve now been able to outsource the website design and have recently launched my new site.

What do you like to crochet?
I primarily knit now, but crochet has been my primary yarn craft for years. I mostly make hats, stuffed animals, blankets, bags and interior accessories, but it was crochet that made me fall in love with yarn and led me to knitting. I still make some crochet pieces, especially for presents.

What inspires your vibrant colour palette?
I like to have a palette that embraces all colours, and for all the colours to be different to the others – not just the same colour in different shades. All my colours have a name and a story inspired by their psychological meaning, and I love to find colours that have different character traits.

Which are your most popular yarns?
Charismatic (hot pink) is my most sought-after colour, but Zealous (grass green) is also very popular. I offer three yarn types at the moment – Organic Soft Merino, Organic Brushed Alpaca, and Chunky Andean Wool, which all complement each other well. I feel very lucky that there is plenty of demand for all of them.

What achievements are you most proud of?
Allowing myself to think much bigger and do way more than I thought I could. It has opened my eyes to seeing that I can do whatever I wish to do – and I hope this is an inspiration to my daughters too.

What do you like most about running your yarn business?
The best part is in the little things: getting a sweet comment on Instagram, seeing that a colour story I posted made someone think of themselves in a more loving way; going to the retailers and telling their customers about colour psychology and seeing them find the courage to use a colour that has been calling to them; getting a shipment of new yarn and seeing the colours in kilos and tonnes, not just a little tassel of test-dyed yarn. Having an endless supply of yarn in the colours I like, so I can design and make as much as I like, is a huge joy!

Any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
Don’t look at what everyone else is doing, just do what works best for you. Work as little as possible – life is so much more than work. Plus, you get so much better at your work when you have input from other things. You also need to take care of yourself. There’s room for it all.

Buy Kaos Yarns in the UK from Tribe Yarns, London, and Tangled Yarn, Stockport, or online at www.kaosyarn.dk.