This article var published in NT on Saturday the 9th of January 2021. www.nt.se

• Here is a google translation of above article:

  Malin Iovino, 53, was an award-winning interior designer in London, but changed industry and weaves bags, chairs and pillows with ropes from Norrköping. "My grandmother Gunborg's technology still holds," says Malin.

  Malin Iovino grew up in Norrköping, played tennis in NTK and took the student at Ebersteinska before she moved to Paris as an au pair and became a model. Then her last name was Franke-Blom. In 1990, Malin visited her twin sister Lotten, an au pair in London, and remained in the English capital, where she lives with her husband Giancarlo and three children in an apartment south of the Thames. Malin was for many years a diligently hired and successful interior designer in London, but changed industry and entered the fashion world. She weaves ropes together on her loom at home in the apartment and creates bags, chairs and pillows. She learned the weaving technique at a young age.

  - There are early pictures of me with my grandmother Gunborg, when we sit and weave together I grew up with it. She taught me to sew and weave. Grandma's technology still holds, says Malin and laughs.

  - It was actually my mother Gunilla, who made me take up weaving a few years ago. I had stopped working with interior design and thought a bit about what I should do instead. The new career began on a small scale.

  - I sat at home in the apartment in London and created my bags, which I woven and sewed together and sold to my friends. I did not really know where it would go, but one gave the other. Friends talked to friends. It started to grow. There are no patterns or sketches when Malin sits down at her loom.

  - I really get an outlet for my creative vein. I weave freely and mix colors wildly. It should be colorful. I want to feel free and not be too controlled by deadlines and stress. I got enough of it during all the years as an interior designer, she says. The frame of rope, which Malin Iovino uses in her creation, comes from Westerbergs Repslageri in Norrköping.

  - I buy a lot from there. I like their own ropes. It will be a bit Norrköping and Swedish over my products, which feels a bit special and unique for me.

  What do you dream about?

  - I can not answer that. I'm still sitting with my only loom at home. It is, and never will be, any mass production. It should be tailored and unique. More and more people appreciate it differently.

  The price picture?

  - The bags are between 2000 and 6000 kronor. It sounds a lot, but it costs time, materials and seamstresses. It must be for the best if you are to be able to take a place in the tough competition. Today she has the help of two or three people, who assemble the bags. It may actually be relevant with some form of production in Norrköping.

  - As it is now, I can not weave more than one product at a time, but I have considered contacting weaving courses at home in Sweden. I have three looms at home in Norrköping. That's a thought. We will see what the future holds. The road to the future is, by the way, a story in itself about four girls, who grew up in different parts of Norrköping and met during the school years before the jobs and adventures they took out into the world in the mid-1980s. Paris, London, New York and Milan were some of the stops for the twins Malin and Lotten and the handball friends Pia Johansson and Pia Klöver. Now, more than 30 years later, they have met again in Milan.

  - Pia Klöver's husband, Antonio Guccione, is a well-known photographer with his own studio there. I asked Pia, with whom I had contact from time to time over the years, if he could help me with pictures for a campaign for my new collection. He said yes. Then I started sketching a reunion with the four of us, says Malin. It succeeded. Pia Klöver and Pia Johansson, who also live in Milan and work as a stylist, met the twins, who live in London. - I packed my bags full for the photo shoot and flew there with Lotten. There were many ifs and buts before due to the coronavirus, but it worked in the end. It was a few days we will never forget. There were so many memories from then, says Malin and laughs. The campaign, which was to take off from the autumn meeting and photography, came to fruition when the corona pandemic swept across the world again.

  Did you ever think "I don't care"?

  - When I took the step and invested all the money I earned and saved over the years in my company and saw the account empty without any income, the doubts, stress and anxiety came. I thought if it was worth everything, but I have to believe in what I do and accept the situation, says Malin Iovino.

• Malin about the gang in Milan:

• "My twin sister Lotten worked as a model for many years with assignments all over the world. Now she prefers to be behind the camera."

• "Pia Klöver studied at Lennings, won a modeling competition in Norrköping and got, as a prize, a modeling job in Paris. She works with her husband Antonio, who has a photo studio."

• "Pia Johansson studied fashion at St Martins in London and has been working as a stylist for 30 years. An important link and has introduced me to the fashion world in Milan."