Maaike go Double Dutch

Maaike – design duo Emilie Pullar and Abby Van Schreven – say the only downside to working together "is the occasional clothing snap when we turn up to work in the morning!" Thread talks to Maaike about SS12…

Maaike is actually the design duo Emilie Pullar and Abby Van Schreven. As they release their summer collection for 2012/13, Thread asked them a couple of questions

Can you tell us a bit about yourselves, and where your name Maaike (said My-ka) comes from?

We are both South Island girls, which makes sense when you see our heavy merino knitwear! We met in Auckland where we worked together and soon discovered all these weird connections we had including both being half Dutch which is where our name stems from. Maaike is a Dutch name and is Emilie’s sister’s middle name.

We imagine it is fun working together, what are the highlights? Are there any lowlights? (Probably not!)

It is a lot of fun – there is a lot of laughter and inappropriate conversations over the cutting table. It is so great having that person to bounce ideas off and it takes a lot of the stress away when big deadlines are looming. I would say the only downside is the occasional clothing snap when we turn up to work in the morning!

Below: Fractal Sweater in Black/Grey/Orange colourway (RRP $275) which is a very wearable piece that also comes in all black.

This is your fourth collection together, what was the inspiration for ‘Tessera’? And what are your favourite pieces?

Tessera is a tile used in mosaics and we started the collection with our beautiful silk print, which is really graphic and has lots of different shapes and facets that are mirrored and tiled. That inspired all the faceted, colour blocked panelling in the garments and these are really contrasted by the drapey fluid silk pieces. Our favourites are the Pendeloque jacket, which is a knit coat with an amazing drippy silk back and the Metria shirt which shows off the print perfectly, spliced with panels of black.