My Design Story, Sustainability & Savari

I have always been a kid who has a million creative projects going on: from making clothes out of paper and plastic bags I found, drawing fashion collections, crocheting pieces for myself and my dolls or building Bratz cars out of recycled cardboard and fabric.. I always had to have something to working on and create. This is my story how I became a designer and how I birthed my sustainable swim & surfwear label Savari into the world.

My favorite cat outfit captured by mom.

MY DESIGN STORY

I grew up in Finland – the land of thousand lakes, fairy-like magic and endless forests. We recycle our waste like nowhere else and we have a bin for every material: glass, metal, paper, cardboard, electronics, soft plastics, hard plastics, biodegradables.. just to name a few. My mom taught me from an early age how important it is to recycle and preserve the nature so we always picked rubbish on our walks and she showed me how to recycle every bit of rubbish into the bins they belonged.

I wanted to be a fashion designer since day one. I played with my Barbies and Bratz dolls, styled them, built houses and cars for them, crocheted little outfits for them. I was obsessed with drawing and painting. I drew collections after collections, made clothes out of plastic bags, paper, cardboard, different fabrics I could get my paws onto. I made myself paper and cardboard slippers and painted them cutely, painted my Converses with colourful patterns and I ended up painting custom sneakers for my friends.

I drew fashion collections my entire childhood and the biggest collection I remember drawing was my collection “Bones” (I decided to call this as my design name haha, I think I was about 10 years old). The first collection for Bones was a mixture of pants, jeans, jackets, tops, skirts, lingerie, socks… Everything under the moon and the sun. When I was a teenager I thought all my designs were silly and I ended up throwing all of them out. My mom told me later on that she used to fish my drawings, including my Bones plan, from the recycling bin because “Maybe one day you want to come back to them”. So grateful for my mom – I can’t wait to bring some of these drawings into life now!

SCHOOL VIA LENS OF ADHD & DYSLEXIA

During my school years, I was only interested of arts, textiles, wood & silver works, languages, music and biology.
Studying anything else felt like the biggest torture for me. I always felt like a black swan in a pond trying to fit in. I was trying to comprehend “Why can’t I learn like the other kids in school?” and I used to cry out of frustration in and outside of school hours. “Maybe I am just dumb?”
Then I got diagnosed with dyslexia right before my year 12 final exams, and ADHD later on in life. It felt like a relief to know my brain works differently that the current education system is tailored to. I don’t box myself into these categories now but it would have helped me understand how to utilise these superpowers and figure out a way to learn according to my brains way of functioning in school. Between years 8-12 I chose all my electives in subjects of arts, textiles and languages – some days I ended up having 6 hours of sowing clothes, designing patterns and I was SO happy! Those days were my favorites in school.

So I finished school in 2014 and applied to study Fashion in Aalto University. I got invited to their three-day-long-entrance exams where they cut out applicants after each day. As universities are free in Finland, the competition to get in is real. I did first and second day but didn’t make it to the third day. They took only 14 people in that year. I was so upset, but intuitively I knew it was a redirection, a calling, to go travel and start my career as a designer else where. And that’s what I did.

HOW SAVARI WAS BORN & SUSTAINABILITY

Fast forward to 2016, I found a piece of paradise called Australia. I remember this one specific moment that fuelled my fire to start a sustainable label only after few days of being here: I was trying to find a supermarket to get groceries and as I got close, I saw people walking to their cars with (not kidding) 10-20 grey plastic bags full of food. “What on earth is going on?!?” I couldn’t believe what I saw. Ever since I was little, my mom has always taught me to bring own tote bags to the shops. That time both Coles and Woolworths had these grey plastic bags at the check out and you could take AS MANY AS YOU WANTED?! I was mind boggled. I felt like I was 15 years back in time.
This same year, I was also struggling to find flattering swimwear designs in the shops. I had bought two pairs of bikinis in Bali right before coming to Australia and they were the only ones that were somewhat-flattering for my body shape but not quite. Inspired by this struggle, I started brewing an idea to start my own label – something that was sustainably made, flattering and functional.

In 2017 I was studying International Trading in Melbourne Polytechnic and I had the most incredible Chinese teacher. He said “I am not here for money, I have all the money in the world. Teaching you is my passion. I want to see you all succeed.” One day he asked “Sonja, what do you want to do?”
I said I want to start a swim and surf wear label.
“What are you doing in Melbourne then? Why don’t you move to Gold Coast where you are by the beach, thats where your target audience would be, right?”

So little 22-yo-Sonja packed her bags and moved her studies to Gold Coast. I studied a Diploma in Business, Leadership and Management in TAFE Queensland and I used every project to build Savari into existence.
After few exploration trips to Bali and visiting various factories that shared the same values in sustainability as I did, I finally launched my sustainable swim and surf wear label in 2019. It was first called Savari Swimwear, which then formed into Savari Jam, to further formed into my name, Sonja Vahasaari.

In 2020 I went to Hawaii to get inspiration for my next collection. I came home and a global pandemic COVID happened. I also broke both of my wrists skating during that time and due these events, I lost both of my hospitality jobs I had as whilst I was building my label. It felt like a sign to go all in with Savari.

CONSCIOUS DESIGN & LIVING

My biggest values in design are sustainability, practicality, comfort but make it CUTE!
Sustainable doesn’t have to be boring, designs from natural fibers don’t have to be basic. Colourful and fun designs with intricate details don’t belong only for fast fashion. The world needs more colours and bubbles ! ! !

So every time I design, I ask myself “How can I design something that is practical, sustainable, cute and durable?” It is my passion.
It makes me sad to see resources used to produce one-off items like fast fashion or event shirts that people throw out straight after the event is over.

The inspiration for my patterns mainly stem from the nature, from the every day fleeting moments I witness in awe; lights casting shadows, objects bending time and gravity, intricate patterns I observe, butterfly wings, colours of bug shells.. nature is just so outrageously pretty!

This is how I designed for Savari too – together with the nature. All my designs were surf and swim tested before launching to ensure they last and have no annoying seams to disturb the play in the water.
I listened to the people for feedback and constantly evolved my designs based on personal and customer feedback & testing. I loved it.
This is what the world NEEDS – listening, co-creating, having fun, aligning with the nature.

LAUNCHING COLLECTIONS

I remember this one collection ‘PSYCHEDELIC’ that I launched – I nearly sold out on my launch date ! !
I had never had an outcome & response like that.
I didn’t use any paid advertising, just purely me and some of my friends hyping the collection before the launch. The night before I launched, I was up all night to make sure every product and every little thing was correct in the back end of my online store. I had announced the launch time to be 7am on the following morning but there I was, still at 730, fine tuning the product descriptions. I ended up launching the collection at 8am and I thought I’ve effed it up for being late.
I launched the collection, packed my bags for university and rushed to my uni class. To my surprise, the whole day my phone was going off – orders after orders. They were coming in like I’ve never received them. I was mind blown. I was mind blown with what I had created and how many orders were coming in followed by the most stunning messages from people all over the world. Wow.

COMMUNITY & FAMILY 

Best part about having a brand was to see how my designs connected people around the world. I built a friggin COMMUNITY! Community of beautiful men, women and beyond who shared the same values as me. Savari felt like a family. I organised few beach clean ups followed by a cute coffee to connect after, I had few ambassadors in Australia and globally, with every collection I launched added more sizes to be more and more inclusive for everyone, I asked the community and I listened. During natural disasters like flooding or fires, I always called out help via my Savari platform to donate money for those in need. And the community jumped on board straight away.

Some of my favorite moments were to see my designs unexpectedly in the ocean and getting pictures tagged with Savari all over the world – surfers ripping in Costa Rica, Australia, Hawaii… Incredible women ice swimming in Finnish lakes, snorkelling in the tropics.. Some public figures I used to look up to growing up ordered my designs.
If I went for a surf and saw a girl or a guy wearing my designs my heart started beating in joy and I would whisper to a friend near by (like a shy fan)
“I designed that!” and gave the surfer a big smile. Like WHAT! Every time I witnessed these moments my heart melted in gratitude.

I also loved giving back to the community so I collaborated giveaways with various brands like Cocobella, Kappi, That Eco Lifestyle and many more!

I still can’t believe what I built and did with Savari and Savari Community. At the end of 2022, I merged Savari with my creative business/personal brand and decided to call it “Sonja Vahasaari”. I was doing a Bachelors Degree in Design and Visual communications and it all felt too much. I had people emailing me with their CVs to work for me. I couldn’t believe it! So I decided to take a break from designing and it’s been few years since I have launched a collection. Whether I design under my brand or collaborating with other amazing brands out there – I feel like I am ready to design again and bring awareness to the world through my designs.