SHOP THE LOOKBOOK HERE.

Model: Anita Joo

Photography: Lauren Rovegno

Stylist/AD: Rachel Schultz

We are so excited to welcome Caroline to the Idun team. You may see her on Saturdays at the shop <3 ...to get to know her a little better we asked her to answer a few questions and share her current favorite items in the shop. Say hi to Caroline next time you see her!

What are the people, places, or things you have been looking to for inspiration?

Instagram and Pinterest are really wonderful. I love going to big community events – like the Minnesota State Fair or the Pond Hockey tournament in the winter because there’s always something to see and I’m continually inspired by just normal people doing their thing. Also - travelling anywhere out of state always does good things to my brain. 

For style – all the ladies that Danielle Goldberg styles are so good – Solange, Greta Lee, Ayo Edebiri, and Jessie Buckley.

My husband and I cook a lot and love Instagram for inspiration but Ottolenghi always steers us in the right direction for vegetables and flavor combos. I also really like what Sohla El-Wayly is doing on Instagram with her “Dinner you can make no matter how hungry or tired you are” series.

I get a lot of inspiration for making stuff/sewing from different textile artists. Anita Gopalaswamy from Studio Ruyee, Alexandra Beaumont (who I learned about in the Fine Arts building at the State Fair), and Rachel Breen are three local ladies who inspire me. Instagram and Pinterest are obviously amazing, once you get your algorithm just right. I have a “Textile/Embroidery” saved folder on Instagram that is full of all sorts of projects I want to emulate.

Current song or album you’ve been listening to?

Current song: Debris by Labrinth. Albums -  Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album and Rosalia’s Lux which is insane. Very anxiously awaiting Robyn’s new album.

Favorite book (or one you're currently reading + loving)?

I just finished Writers & Lovers by Lily King whose new book Heart the Lover I have yet to read. I loved the details she gets into and I related a lot to the protagonist’s description of the grief of losing her mom.

What are 3 things you can’t live without?

Chips, chocolate, and coffee.

Favorite place to visit?

My dad’s house out near White Bear Lake – he lives in a log cabin and it’s the coziest.

A place out of state that I’m dying to revisit is a tie between San Francisco and New Orleans.

Where do you go in the Twin Cities to take a break or enjoy time off?

Always the Minneapolis Institute of Art – I always feel like I can breathe a little easier when I’m there and feel so relaxed when I leave.

What are your top 3 favorite pieces in the shop right now?

Ada Crewneck Cardigan from &Daughter

Rodebjer Belle Coat

Baserange Bead Long Sleeve Tee

Do you have a life mantra or words you live by day to day?

I’m a big fan of “It’s going to be okay” and “Things work out how they’re supposed to”.  Maybe it won’t be okay in the next 5 minutes, day, or week but eventually it will be and sometimes you just have to go through the storm. It also helps me figure out what’s important to focus on in any given moment.

Listen to Caroline's Shop Playlist HERE

Shop the FW25 Lookbook HERE.

Model/Muse: Anita Joo

Photographer: Lauren Rovegno 

Art Director/Stylist: Rachel Schultz

I'm so glad to share this body of work alongside two wearable pieces, the Swan Tee and the Market Tote, designed in collaboration with Idun. My art and studio practice has always bled into my creative work at Idun but it's exciting to create something tangible together, something Idun friends/customers etc. can cherish and physically wear.

This body of work is in one sense an ode to my heritage, to a physical place that is like home- maybe home isn't quite the right word, but a place that feels like I have been part of it for a long time, in my bones and blood. Not somewhere I go every evening (or even every year) but a place that makes me feel rooted and at peace. Norway, Lindesnes Fjord, my family's hytta, the place where my father grew up and his family has lived for hundreds of years. There are two swans that swim together across the fjord, ornery and elegant. I have been mystified by them and you can see these characters coming through the work, alongside other glimpses of this place, like the mysterious female statue that has stood outside the farm my father grew up on, like a loving, beautiful guardian in a bonnet. 

In another sense these paintings and sketches are an ode to intuition, playfulness, and allowing oneself the luxury of following a curiosity; with no specific reward at the end just the simple pleasure of using one's imagination and allowing it to take control. With three children of my own I'm often witnessing intense imaginative play, and what seems like never ending energy and curiosity. So much of parenting is witnessing it and sometimes not necessarily being able to live in that mindset of wonder. In my studio practice I'm able to allow myself that luxury. The late John O'Donohue talks about poets who refer to occasional poems as "found poems". The idea is, rather than the usual frustrating and endless editing most poems take, a "found poem", is one that came about as if the poem wrote itself. The way most children would write. Without ego. Allowing one self to loosen control and stumble upon the words or the drawing as if by chance. These corky swan works of art were never meant to live beyond my sketchbook. They were quick strokes of random colors and configurations to help guide me for the layout of the "real" paintings I was going to work on. As it turns out, these "found paintings" are just as interesting if not more than the long winded oil paintings. In a world where most things have to be hard earned and perfect these small treasures of "found paintings" are like divine gifts, an offering, as if the universe is saying: thank you for letting go of control, stress, perfection and ego and allowing the silly, even awkwardness of our human hands free rein.

Discover the body of work HERE.

Xx

Rachel