Designer Chat with Nicole Behanna

Nicole Behanna has been working at Knotzland since 2016, landing the gig by frequenting a Coffee shop Knotzland’s founder Nisha Blackwell worked at. It was the other employees that linked the two when the brand’s growing number of orders required an extra set of hands;

  “They (coffee shop employees) had mentioned that she needed a seamstress/sewist to help her with the growing number of orders. They had mentioned me to her and I had just happened to see her in Local Pittsburgh (Magazine). The people at the coffee shop gave me her info and gave her my info. When I read her story I was incredibly moved by it and felt that it was very inspiring, so I reached out to her and we met at the end of December in 2015. I started right after the holidays in January of 2016 and I’ve been with her since.”, said Behanna.

  Over the course of the next 4 years, the pair grew the business from Nisha’s living room to what it is today; 

“I started in Nisha’s living room on a wooden door she had set up as a table, and we used to sneak into tech shop and try to use their stuff. She had a membership and I didn’t. Then we got our studio on Susquehanna st. , and then we came here (Trenton ave. Studio).”

Nicole’s personal progression through the company at this time was also on a constant upward trajectory, parlaying a creative passion into fresh design ideas at Knotzland;

  “I started as a sewist and then kept progressing. One of my passions is design. I make my own patterns and creations at home. I ended up being a design assistant- to a co-designer and now we work side by side on many collections.”

Knotzland’s upcoming collection titled; “Knotzlandia” is meant to act as a retrospective of the brand’s past while looking ahead to its future. I sat down with Nicole to talk about the new collection, the next step for Knotzland, and how sustainability affects her design process. 

We hope you enjoy this chat with the amazing Nicole Behanna!

What is the arc of Knotzland how you see it, with the widening product range and expansion into masks? How do you think Knotzland will evolve in the future?

I think it’ll be a really cool evolution with Knotzlandia. Knotzlandia is kind of meant to be this showcase of loud, vivid,fresh, and generally ‘out there’ designs. We think that Knotzlandia will be a great opportunity to showcase the many elements that make us who we are. In general, Knotzland aims to deliver some really interesting designs, but within a traditional male- leaning fashion sense. 

“ Knotzlandia is kind of meant to be this showcase of loud, vivid,fresh, and generally ‘out there’ designs. We think that Knotzlandia will be a great opportunity to showcase the many elements that make us who we are.”

What was the design process like for “Knotzlandia”?

The “Knotzlandia” collection stems from the start of the company. When Nisha originally decided on the name, people would confuse us with the 80’s soap opera Knots Landing. We’re now approaching our 5 year anniversary and so it’s kind of a tongue in cheek reference to our beginnings. We’ve been planning this collection for a while, so when I began designing, I started by researching the show to get a feeling for the styles of characters. It was very 80’s with a lot of loud prints. I was attempting to fuse the 80’s style of Knots Landing with our (Knotzland’s) journey. The collection is meant to take inspiration from the 80’s, pay homage to our past, and look forward to our future. 

For example, I would start with a print that is more quintessentially 80’s style and then try to work with an unconventional fabric we’ve worked with in the past. One of the biggest things we have used was recycled airbag material, so the actual fabric we were using was recycled from the airbags. It’s wearable art, but with a cool history. The airbag bowtie was one of our most popular products so integrating that Knotzland history with the Knots Landing 80’s style sense.

“ We wanted to show that bowties are for everyone and just have fun with it”

What does Knotzlandia mean to you?

Knotzlandia means opportunity and innovation. We started as a menswear brand, but as we met a lot of our customers and clientele, we realized our products were not just for men. They’re for women, non-binary people, any gender or non-gender. We wanted to show that bowties are for everyone and just have fun with it. With Knotzlandia we’re opening the door for new, exciting products and designs.

Bowtie from the Stu Frick Artist collaboration Incorporating recycled Shower curtain material

Sustainability is obviously core to the company’s message. How does that affect your design process?

Sometimes you might think that it is a limiting factor because we only work with what we’ve rescued, or what we have available, because we’re trying to eliminate waste. To me, the possibilities are endless, because it challenges me to think outside of the box. We get material donations, and you never know the types of things people will bring in. We had a woman who asked if we could use a shower curtain, and that was something we hadn’t even thought of before. So we ended up using it on top of painted fabric that we collaborated on with an artist, and the curtain material gave it this sense of dimension, had the curtain not come through the door of the shop I’m not sure it’s something we would have thought of. The donations if anything expand our creative process. They never limit it. 

3 years ago, we did a steampunk collection where we incorporated found objects. Broken necklaces, things you wouldn’t expect to be on a bowtie saved from the trash. In a sense, we’re making wearable art, and it (sustainability) expands and creates opportunities we might have not seen otherwise.

Check back next week for an interview with Knotzland founder Nisha Blackwell on how Knotzland got its name!