©LILLUNN, Blanket Coats ca. 1970-2002, designed by Unn Søiland Dale
The name Lillunn was the nickname of Unn Søiland as a little girl; «little Unn», later the name she used as mannequin in Paris and London. It became the name of her company, when she went home to Norway and started her own company of designing and exporting Norwegian handknitts, and later when she had the idea of designing and producing coats of wool-blankets in the 70-ties, -a completely new concept at that time. She always wanted to work with natural Norwegian materials, such as 100% Norwegian wool, building on Norwegian traditions, developing new and modern designs. She said; «Always go for quality and uniqueness». And; «To have succsess internationally, you must dear to be national, and not try to copy what they do better in Paris» And she said; «Good design, sell for more than ten years» Some of her designs are still selling, more than 30 years later. She ran her company until she died in 2002, and new owners took over the company Lillunn AS, including all rights to her models. Today you still find some of her models at www.lillunn.no.