RUATANIWHA DYE STUDIO

- AT home with wool

I am Steph, the hands and heart behind the yarns at Ruataniwha Dye Studio (pronounced rooah-tuni-far). I was an itinerant scientist, who spent years overseas working on my academic research career. This journey spanned Leeds in northern England, with its rich textile history, to Jena on the edge of eastern Germany’s Thüringer Wald, and onwards to Japan’s frenetic capital city Tokyo, where Ruataniwha Dye Studio began.

Inspired by the prominent yarn manufacturing in Yorkshire and the wealth of British sheep breeds, I rekindled a fondness for wool and knitting that began while growing up with the sheep my parents farmed overlooking the Ruataniwha Inlet in Golden Bay, New Zealand. I have since returned home to New Zealand, where I dye yarn and farm Arapaoa sheep alongside mothering, teaching, and gardening.

Irrespective of where we find ourselves in the world, our yarns and the knitwear we create from them connect us to all the places we now know as home. I use scientific knowledge to create beautiful yarns inspired by the wealth of plants, rocks, creatures and landscapes I’ve encountered on my treks and travels, and this feels like I’ve found my place in the world.