Oleana has the most beautiful knitwear, and pillows or blankets! Their factory is right over the mountains to the east of Bergen, say a half-hour. Why, oh why, have I never gone there? Time to fix that error.
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| 1920 loom, used until the 1970s |
Ytre Arna had a couple of factories that were really important to the area in the 50s: One for wool and the other for cotton. The
Ytre Arne Museum covers that symbiotic relationship between the town and the factories from 1846 to 2018. Peter Jebsen established the first mechanical cotton weaving mill in Norway here, during the very beginning of the industrial revolution. After that, people flocked to this empty corner and formed a village. Ytre Arna had 'everything'. A complete society with a strong sense of solidarity flourished.
The second world war meant changes, since the Germans occupied Norway from 1941 to 1945. The factories remained open except for a couple of months, when they actually upgraded flammable old mills. After the war, optimism was high through the 50s, but by the end of the 70s cheaper labor overseas spelled the end of Ytre Arna manufacturing.
But the story has a happy ending! In 2012, Oleana moved its production and 70 employees to Ytre Arna. 'The newest textile factory moves into the oldest!'
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| Oleana's trademark material patterns surround sweaters from the company's history |
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Oleana's knitting floor
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The process is - knit the fabric, piece together the fabrics, send them all over the world. Okay, I have a soft spot for any manufacturing! The knitting is done on the long automatic machines. The programs are on either USB cards or on PCB cards. This is a very hands-off process, with lights as visual cues for the one operator that was on duty today to go to the machines and take off the finished product or see what's going on. I think when it's not July, Norway's vacation month, there are more people running all this production.
The next floor up is where the sewing happens. More people running things here...
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| Adding collars, cuffs or edgings takes patience and good eyes! |
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| Buttonholes that match buttons are magically created here |
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| A rack of the new designs ready for me to buy. (I resisted, but Penny didn't!) |
Upstairs one more floor is where the design happens. Here are some designs through the years:
The fabric patterns are based on flowers and historical Norwegian patterns, or, maybe, on buds coming into bloom and gingham. The first head of design, Solveig Hisdal, has retired, and the new one, Matilda Norberg, is changing things up a little.
How'd you like to work here?
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