Flaka Jahaj
Handmade Everything
Flaka Jahaj (1983)
Approx. 70% fashion designer, Studio Passenger; approx. 30% fashion designer, EnSoie
Master Fashion, Fashion Knitwear, Central Saint Martins, London (GB), 2014
Diploma Fashion Design, Studio Berçot, Paris (FR), 2011
Handmade Everything
Body of work 2014–2024
Zurich, Pristina (XK)
Personal, commissions, collaborations
Collaboration: Ensoie, Strehlgasse, Zurich
Commission: Ottolinger, Berlin (DE)
A selected range of pieces of personal work, collaboration pieces and samples of commissions
Difficult to measure, several knitted pieces, jumpers, dresses and interior objects such as pillows and plaids
A video of research and the working process, approx. 31 min
Mostly wool and cotton
Flaka Jahaj’s work is about the artisanal craft of knitwear and crochet. Her aim is to sensitise people to the value of intricate know-how and unite her traditional backgrounds of Kosovo and Switzerland. She creates to honour her grandmother and the heritage she passed on by teaching young Flaka how to knit and crochet.
What Flaka Jahaj loves about the craft is the connection to cultural history, the archaic simplicity that allows elaborate creation and its poetic and nostalgic value in our highly developed surroundings. She works item by item and sources yarns mainly from deadstock and second-hand stores. She repeats her styles in shapes. The yarn and colour composition for each piece is unique and limited.
Her work includes ready-to-wear clothing, interior objects and modular textiles. To produce the prototypes she creates, Flaka Jahaj works closely with talented women in Kosovo and Switzerland.
She works in her studio/shop Passenger in Zurich and as a freelance consultant and part-time designer for fashion companies.