New Life Studio: a fashion metamorphosis

On a crisp winter morning, our Artist Series project visited the newly opened New Life Studio atelier on Toompea. The brand’s creators, Eva Lotta Tarn and Tuuliki Peil, come from completely different backgrounds, yet they are united by a similar mindset and a shared desire to create ethical design.

Eva Lotta is a graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, specializing in accessory design. Tuuliki has an educational background in philosophy, theology, and psychotherapy, and is self-taught in design. We asked the designers how their collaboration began, what role their shared studio plays in their work, and what resonates with them most in design.

The New Life Studio brand existed before Eva Lotta joined it, but the designers had known each other for a long time already. Their collaboration began through shared values and mutual support. Tuuliki had a full set of machinery that Eva Lotta, who had just graduated from university, did not yet have, and this encouraged them to join forces and start looking for a shared workspace.

Tuuliki first came across the rental listing for the new studio two and a half years ago. She went to see the space and liked it very much, but at the time didn’t dare to rent it. “It just felt like too big a bite to take,” she says. Still, the space lingered in her mind and remained saved in her online search archive.

When the listing became active again last autumn, it felt like a sign that it was time to make the decision. The studio offers exactly the opportunities she and Eva Lotta had dreamed of together: a separate workspace, storage, and a shop area all in one place. “It’s very difficult to find a space with similar criteria,” Tuuliki explains. In addition, the studio makes it possible to host community events and workshops, and the space can also be rented for events together with a New Life Studio workshop.

When asked how much time the designers spend in the studio and how they divide their work, it becomes clear that each of them has developed their own natural rhythm. Tuuliki, who previously did a lot of work from home, now spends most of her day here. “I don’t take work home anymore – at home, I rest,” she says.

Eva Lotta keeps her hands-on work in the studio, but often does computer-based tasks at home. “It largely depends on my mood – whether I feel like going out in the morning or would rather focus calmly at home.” She adds that in reality, she and Tuuliki mostly work on their own things and don’t see each other that much. “I deal more with social media and communicating with people, while Tuuliki focuses on the studio and the machines. But our shared mentality is that if something needs to be done, whoever has the time at that moment will do it,” Eva Lotta explains.

Eva Lotta says that her relationship with design exists on “a razor-thin line between love and hate.” “If I could choose absolutely any other field, I would do something else. This is not an easy profession, and I haven’t made my life any easier by choosing it,” she admits. Yet she always finds her way back to creation. “I need to express myself through making things, and it’s important to me that what I create has practical value. I didn’t choose this – it chose me, and I don’t know how to exist without it.”

Tuuliki fully agrees. “One hundred percent the same story. I’ve tried many times in my life to step out of the role of a designer and do the things I’ve studied. But it doesn’t work – it just doesn’t work at all. I’m constantly registering things, for example in nature: colour combinations, textures, moments, and thinking about what I could do with them.”

Tuuliki sees clothing as a form of playfulness and self-expression, a way of finding oneself. “It’s a potential open to everyone – to adopt a certain attitude and live it out. One day you’re one thing, the next day another, and clothes allow you to identify with different characters. For me, what matters most is inner alignment: that you’re the same on the inside and the outside, that there’s no contradiction.”

Eva Lotta adds that at times there is almost too much inspiration. “When I wake up in the morning, my brain is already generating new ideas. Every single day. There’s a real skill in filtering what you actually end up realizing. Living with this kind of creative urge is a kind of illness,” she says with a laugh.

Tuuliki also highlights the more painful side of design – consumption and overproduction. “When I see those piles in shopping malls… it’s hard for me to breathe. And I think, oh no, I’m contributing to all of this as well. It really troubles me, and I’ve often thought that I don’t want to be involved in this at all.” This is precisely why she works exclusively with upcycled materials. “It allows me to work without guilt. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to function as a designer.”

The name New Life Studio encapsulates the brand’s core philosophy. “It’s about giving new life to something that has become worthless to someone else and been abandoned,” Eva Lotta says. “We discover new value in it and give it a new life.”

Although they operate under a shared name, each designer has a distinct signature. According to Tuuliki, material is always at the center of her creative process. “Because I work with upcycling, my signature is very material-driven,” she explains. When she notices an interesting fabric in a second-hand shop, the idea immediately starts to take shape.

Since upcycled fabrics often come in small pieces, this inevitably shapes the final result as well. “Many items are made from ten different pieces simply because there aren’t three meters of the same fabric available. That’s the reason these pieces are the way they are,” Tuuliki says.

Eva Lotta’s design process, however, is often the opposite – she begins with a clear vision of the final outcome, which then guides the choice of materials. “That makes the process more complicated, especially with custom orders,” she says. “If a client has a very specific wish regarding material or color, it can be extremely difficult to find it second-hand.”

For both designers, sourcing materials is an integral part of the creative process. Tuuliki regularly visits reuse and second-hand centers, where she finds not only clothing but also curtains, tablecloths, and other large pieces of fabric. “Not everything has to be made from old garments – you can find a lot of unused fabric through reuse as well,” she says. Sometimes the search becomes almost like detective work: “If you need to finish a piece and are missing a section of a yellow sweater, you end up visiting ten different shops.” Most of the time, however, they find what they need in their own material stock. “It depends on the project – whether we’re creating for ourselves or working on a commission,” Eva Lotta adds.

“My ideal client is myself – it’s the target group I know best,” Eva Lotta admits. From her school days, she remembers the idea that a designer should create for others, not for themselves, but she feels that her strength lies precisely in designing for people who share similar values and a desire for self-expression. “That doesn’t mean it limits my clientele. On the contrary, it’s especially rewarding when someone who is nothing like me chooses my work.”

Tuuliki, on the other hand, enjoys identifying with different kinds of people. “I don’t have one specific ideal client. I like stepping into the client’s shoes,” she explains. She enjoys working with a wide range of people, sensing their aesthetic, and finding a shared language with them. “I really like entering the client’s mindset and playing together with them. But I would never make anything I wouldn’t dare attach my name to.”

When her work is created without a specific commissioner in mind, Tuuliki allows herself to be guided intuitively – by her mood, the material, or the aesthetic of the moment. At the same time, she has clients who have remained loyal to her over the years. “They simply say, ‘Tuuliki, make me something.’ At most, they’ll add that it could be woollen and red,” she laughs. “That’s the ideal client – someone who fully trusts you and whose expectations and hopes align with yours. You get to do what you want and can be fairly sure they won’t accept your design just out of politeness, but with genuine joy.”

For Eva Lotta, the most meaningful designs are those created using the unravelling technique she has developed herself. “I use knitted garments from thrift stores that are often among the very last items left on five-cent days – pilled and seemingly unwanted by anyone,” she explains. Through unravelling and reworking, an entirely new texture and material emerges.

The process itself is extremely time-consuming. “Sometimes I ask myself what’s wrong with me for doing this,” Eva Lotta says with a smile. “It requires finger acrobatics, I inhale textile fibres while sewing, and making a single shirt takes about two days.” It is precisely this effort that gives these pieces special value for her. “Considering the time investment and production cost, this product is worth far more than its price will ever reflect. But explaining that to a customer is one of the hardest things.”

Tuuliki agrees. “Clients don’t realize how many working hours it takes to create these textures – even those who have some understanding of sewing. Only specialists in the field, people in fashion or craft, are able to truly appreciate it, and there aren’t many of them.”

Textile artists have also asked Eva Lotta how she creates such material. “When I say that I don’t create it – I unravel it – they’re taken aback. Only then do they understand what kind of work it actually is,” she says.

Eva Lotta admits that although she would like to say trends don’t influence her, that isn’t entirely true. “Subconsciously, they definitely do. I draw inspiration from my surroundings, and trends are part of that environment. When I create, I don’t think about them directly, but they’re still in the air.”

Tuuliki agrees. “It’s impossible to work as a fashion designer without being influenced by trends at all. Trends emerge because something is in the air – a certain perceptible direction or energy. It’s not about a specific color or cut, but rather the feeling of an era. If you’re a fashion designer, you’re inevitably moving along with that wave.”

According to Eva Lotta, inspiration alone is not enough for creating – the right state of mind is just as essential. “Inspiration may come, but if you’re not in a creative headspace, forcing yourself to create is impossible.”

Tuuliki agrees that even work already in progress may stall without the right mindset. “The work process itself is continuous creation. There has to be some motivation. If there’s an especially exciting commission, you immediately get a boost, but if you spend two weeks alone in the studio, struggling… and you don’t know whether anyone will ever see or respond to your work, then the motivation completely disappears.” In such moments, only time helps. “Then you really just have to do nothing. Practice has shown that it doesn’t last forever – the urge to act does come back.”

Eva Lotta suggests drawing inspiration from the unattractive. “Among polished beauty, ideas start to repeat, but in the unattractive there’s much more originality. What fascinates me in our work is stepping outside boundaries – freedom, and the process of transformation and metamorphosis. It’s incredibly beautiful.” According to her, even the word “ugly” can take on a new meaning when viewed from a different perspective.

Tuuliki also finds strength in complete isolation. “I have a very special place for that – a hut on Saaremaa, on the Muraja peninsula. It’s located in a nature reserve that’s very hard to access: several kilometres of impassable road, no electricity, no internet. There’s only the hut, the sea, and nature. When I arrive, it takes me about half a day at first just to get used to the silence. And then you’re simply inside this bubble of quiet. You feel how your thinking changes completely. You move away from everything external and dive into your inner world. The primeval nature there gives you an incredible amount of energy. Wherever you look, everything is harmonious and beautiful, because in nature everything is harmonious and beautiful.”

Eva Lotta and Tuuliki’s collaboration extends beyond design alone – New Life Studio has also evolved into a community space. “For the third year already, we’ve been running creative sewing workshops. People come to us with half-finished projects they have at home. Maybe something needs to be taken in, repaired, or completely transformed. We provide the machines and guidance, and everyone can come with their own project,” Tuuliki explains. At the same time, she emphasizes that this is not a typical course where everyone learns the same thing. “Some want to make a new piece, others want to rework an old one – we guide everyone individually.”

The same principle applies to accessory and leatherworking workshops, where participants bring their own materials and ideas, and the designers help them move step by step through the creative process.

Eva Lotta also highlights a new direction for the studio: “We want to use the space for things like birthdays and team events, where people have the opportunity to combine the occasion with creativity and make something with their own hands.” One birthday event held as a trial already confirmed that this format resonates. “The feedback was very positive,” Tuuliki says.

Speaking about the future, Eva Lotta is candid: “My goal is quite simple – that I can continue as a designer. That it would truly be possible. All of my energy goes into that.”

Tuuliki adds that above all, she hopes the studio will start hosting the kinds of events and gatherings it was created for. “That the shop area would open, that people would come in from the street, that there would be movement and creative life.”

“And a bit of stability would be nice too. I don’t know if that’s even possible, but I hope so,” Eva Lotta adds.

“I’d like to think that the identity of Estonian design is becoming stronger and stronger. I have the feeling that since the time I graduated, the design landscape has developed a lot even as a field of study and has become more popular. Every year, more and more new and fresh designers are emerging. Global interconnectedness has also increased: technology and the circular economy are becoming ever more closely linked with design. I really hope this direction only continues to strengthen,” Eva Lotta says.

Tuuliki, however, points out another perspective. “One thing is Estonian design as we see it in shops. In order to sell there, compromises have to be made – you need to create products that sell. That’s not always the pure, heartfelt design you would actually like to make. A large part of what we see in design stores is created specifically with sales in mind. I’m not criticizing that, but these are two different worlds. The question is how much we actually get to see of the real Estonian design that is created without compromise.”

Eva Lotta emphasizes the importance of a supportive network. “I would recommend finding people around you with whom you can grow and share the work. You can manage alone too, but it’s simply many times harder. As a team, you can go further and faster.”

“The team could be even bigger,” Tuuliki adds with a smile.

According to Eva Lotta, designers often have a habit of working alone and keeping their creations very personal. “When you’ve created something that’s deeply your own, it’s hard to share it. But there are so many examples in the world of brands that started out as team efforts – and it’s no wonder they’re successful. A shared load really does take you further.”

Tuuliki: “I had heard that such a programme existed. I went to the website, read what was being offered, and it immediately seemed very appealing – all those trainings, opportunities, and contacts. So we joined. I’m still extremely happy that we did. A lot of information, people, and ideas have come through that programme. I would recommend it to any young entrepreneur.”

Eva Lotta: “You’re not born an entrepreneur. Especially if you come from an art background – you have to consciously develop and learn the business side within yourself. It doesn’t come naturally to an artist… at least not to me,” she says with a laugh.