In 2009, Sven and Laura Risom developed North Light Fibers, a yarn mill in Rhode Island. North Light’s artisanal yarns are made exclusively on Block Island. The business produces hand-knit and handwoven garments, along with home decor.
The mill produces minimally processed blended yarns from exotic fibers including alpaca, yak, bamboo, camel, mohair, merino wool and soy silk. It was located in the middle of an animal farm that housed yaks, alpacas and camels.
Here is a conversion with Sven Risom. The full interview can be found here.
Block Island has nature trails and walks, providing a peaceful, creative atmosphere. That is perfect for North Light Fibers.
“It’s a lovely place to be,” Sven says.
Risom says he enjoys creating and designing. That includes garments, felting kits and yarn. He also believes in using an array of colors and says that North Light Fibers has some “fun palettes.”
“Very early on in our company, we worked with another year yarn company that helped us, a great mentor, and we went and showed her our color palette, and she basically shook her head and said, you’ll fail,” he says. “Half your colors will never sell these colors. And she just started killing colors. And she goes, ‘Those are the colors that’ll be successful.’ And I said to her, ‘Well, that’s true. So therefore, let’s not make a lot of those colors, but let’s offer them.’”
Through the years, Risom said he set “a lofty goal” — to make the best yarns possible. That is borne out by how many designers are drawn to North Light Fibers.
“It was sort of a silly goal, but what’s been fascinating the last few years is how many designers love working with our yarn,” he says. “How many designers want to work with their yarn or come here to teach a retreat?
“And we have sort of reached a status, which is a real compliment to what our overall goal was, and one of those goals was to make block island yarn or knitting fiber destination.”
Risom said that three months ago the business had to find a new teacher for the company’s May treated, so he reached out to a world-class designer.
Time was of the essence, but the designer was eager to come on short notice.
“She goes, ‘Sven, teaching on Block Island is on my knitting bucket list,” Risom says.
Risom says it is a compliment to his business that designers and industry leaders want to come to Rhode Island.
“I think it really comes down to creativity,” he says. “It comes down to fostering the creativity in all of us, whether that’s in knitting, whether that’s in painting, whether it’s in crochet or weaving, or that’s in glass blowing.
“And you may say, ‘Oh, it was really making yarn art, or is designing the finished good art? Well, I’d say both.”
