Miina Laitsaari

Photographed By Mikael Kuitunen

WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW AND HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED THERE?
Right now I'm still in Finland. Flying home to London today. I live in London. Have been living there for four years now.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?
I was born and raised in a small city of Mikkeli (60 000 people), Finland.

WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR PRESENT CITY OR HOMETOWN?
There are million things to do and see in London. The vibe is really creative and people are supportive. I feel like London is exactly the right place to have started my business.

WHAT WERE YOUR ASPIRATIONS GROWING UP?
When I was a kid I wanted to spend time with animals (I was always caring for my stuffed animals before I got real ones when we moved to the country side), become a police officer, marry a handsome guy, buy a house and have kids. You know, all that usual stuff. Then I moved to London and everything changed.

WHY DESIGNER?
Why not? I get to express myself by creating beautiful and cool garments for people to wear with pride about the fact that their clothes were made ethically. There are no boring days being a designer!

WHERE DID YOU RECIEVE YOUR TRAINiNG?
I studied back home in Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences. The campus was in the town of Savonlinna.

WHAT'S YOUR PROCESS FROM CONCEPT TO CREATION?
Usually I have a really vague concept in my head. Sometimes the concept is born after I've executed few ideas I've been bouncing around in my head. This happened with the most recent collection Odyssey. I came up with an idea of "some kind of uniform" after I had few samples done already. I first start making technical line drawings and when I come up with something I think could work I make a sample. I don't do toiles as I think with the type of garments and materials I use toilewould be a bit of wasting time and calico. When the first piece is done that kind of sets the mood for the whole collection.

After I had few pieces ready the concept was "some kind of uniform". As I kept making samples the concept became more exact: "spaceship uniform" and later "retro spaceship uniform". I think what type of pieces of clothing I want to incorporate in the collection. If I need a pair of trousers, I make a pair of trousers always keeping in my mind the concept. Quite often I design clothes around a certain detail. I might have seen a detail somewhere that I want to have in the collection and then make my version of that detail and design the garment around it always adhering to the concept. I hope all this makes some sense

WHO OR WHAT HAS HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOU?
When I think of who has the biggest influence on my work that would be music and people in that business and artists from all fields of art. I could see my clothes on Madonna or Rihanna or Lady Gaga. My dream come true would be Kat Von D wearing something from Miina Laitsaari. When I think of what is the biggest influence on my work that would be the earth (and people and animals on it) and it's wellbeing. That's why I run by business as ecologically and ethically as I can.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE AND AESTHETIC? 
I like dark things with an edge. Avant garde type of fashion. Minimalistic fashion and decor.

WHAT MOMENT ARE YOU HAVING?
I'm not sure what you mean by this question but if you mean what I'm wearing at the moment, I'm wearing my partner's old black t-shirt that says "hot rocker trio" and has two revolvers and the ace of spades on it and denim hotpants.

WHAT DO YOU GET UP TO WHEN YOU'RE NOT WORKING?
I usually just relax at home with my partner and our dog. Cook nice food and watch movies or series. I.work a lot and seldom have the energy to actually go and do something. I like being home.

HOW DO YOU UNWIND?
I would love to unwind by going to sauna and swim in a lake at a summer cottage. But because I live in London I unwind taking a hot shower and eating and sleeping well and maybe having a nice G and T especially, during summer time.