A LOVE LETTER – FROM ONE SISTER TO ANOTHER

a love letter – from one sister to another

IT'S TIME TO LET GO 

This year, 2024, is our 10 year anniversary. Cornelia Sun has grown along with us as we've grown – as human beings. It has been years filled with beauty, laughter, inspiring meetings and collabs, lots of learning, lots of un-learning and tons of FUN! Cornelia Sun shaped us – and vise versa.

Since we love this collective from the bottom of our hearts it's so important to us to handle this platform with gentleness and grace. In order to stay true to ourselves we've therefore decided to press the paus bottom for while in order to truly listening in. Scary? YES! Needed? YES – because we both feel there is something else that wants to take place. This time though, it's not a new collection. To be honest we do not really know yet what this whispering from within really is about or where it will lead us. But what we do know is that change is the only constant and this platform is ready for a new chapter. 

This is not the end of the community we created together, only a transformation. We are forever grateful for all the support and for everything you've done to help us empower women through sustainable fashion in order to change the world with style. We became change makers through our wardrobes and together we literally showed the world that what we share is way more powerful than what divides us. We're now sending you this letter filled with gratitude for everything that have shaped us. Together we made her story matter and there are still stories to be told. This is not a good bye – just a 'see you later'. 

Let's trust the magic of new beginnings. 

❤
 
With pure love and gratitude,
From one sister to another

Lisa and Julia –– co-founders, sisters and best friends

...and if you would take a walk down the memory lane, please continue 


_______

 The year was 2014 and it all began back in our living room in our home town Gefle, a typical small town located in Sweden. We were re-designing our mum's old scarves and other vintage clothes and created outfits that we wanted for ourselves. Non of us had any educational skills or practical experience from designing clothes, but somehow that did not stop us from trying. Two sisters, with one vision. To be honest, we were never into the latest trends or interested in fashion - we just wanted to create a platform for creativity where we could combine our longing to make difference... to make space for all the beauty that already exists!

Today, almost 10 years later, we are so very proud that the elements of our collective still are a reflection of the values we hold. Two sisters with one mission – to change the world with style – became the guiding light in everything that followed ever since the idea was born. Before explaining why we've decided to close down we want to take you on a little walk down the memory lane since there is soooo much love shared on this platform that we feel so honored to keep in our hearts. It all actually came to life for real in region where our beautiful fabrics once originated, in India. I worked for a non-profit organization that aimed to empower women and shortly after this my sister and I took the opportunity to visit a family we had started to know in Kathmandu, Nepal. They became our business partner and we were happy to be introduced to our up-coming sewing partners which has been the core of our production ever since. We could now go from creating every single piece on our own til having these amazing skilled professional helping us transform our visions into actual design collections of beautiful up-cycled one-of-a-kind pieces.

 

Ever since we started, my sister and I ran Cornelia Sun on our spare time because we wanted it to remain fun – and not becoming something we needed to do in order to make money. Instead of opening a store on our own we started to team up with other creators and held lots of pop-up shops and events. It almost makes me cry writing this, because looking back at these memories awakes so much love and gratitude. Through these gatherings we got the chance to meet sooooooooo sooo so many talented, inspiring and conscious people! People with dreams, with hopes and with beautiful visions and ways of taking action towards a more fair and sustainable future. We dreamt of creating a collective where textiles could speak and where fabrics could tell stories. A collective that not only was about fashion, but a way to actually re-connect people through prints that mattered for real.  We always looked at the up-cycled fabrics we collected as energies embroidered in threads which in some way could remind us of our belonging in this world. Up-cycled fabric previously worn by women in Nepal and India transformed into beautiful designs as robes and dresses got the chance to find longevity through people all over the globe. Cornelia Sun emerged into more than 'just another brand', yet more a symbol for a global sisterhood and for a vision shared by people who wanted to contribute to a more conscious and sustainable future. A way to walk the talk and to actually dress up for one another. Words can't describe all the love we experienced through these years where we got the chance to meet you people through pop-ups, events and other forms of gatherings  ❤ 

We also had an ambassador program where YOU people contributed with your engagement and knowledge helping us share our vision. Through this program we felt we could truly made a difference together and to see so many of you use your creativity meant everything to me and my sister. We learned so much through this this program and we felt so blessed to find out how many heroes there are out there. We truly want to send you all a loving warm hug for participating and sharing your passion with us. Words can not describe the gratitude within our hearts and we are so humbled by the fact that you got inspired by the idea of letting old fabric speak once more. This is also how our blog serie called "HERstory matters" with personal portrait was born... and I mean, this could be a blog post in itself! Just have a look here and you'll dive into soooo many beautiful portraits of women we still adore and are inspired by.

To us, saris are prints that matter and to restore them is a way to always remember; what we share is more powerful than what divides us. We're so grateful for everything we learned through these textiles and through the people who first worn these beautiful prints as saris. Learn more via our blog post HERE

And all you amazing photographers who helped us frame our vision through out these years... can we ever thank you enough? And all you beautiful souls who dressed up in front of the camera – together you framed our vision and made it become visible. I don't know if we have words who can describe our gratitude for these beautiful memories that will remind us of the core over and over again. We are forever grateful for everything you captured and for everything you've done for us and this collective. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you – we love you all  ❤