Maiken’s grandmother, Irene, was an expert hand-knitter and the mother of eight.
A resourceful woman often seen with windmilling knitting needles and a huge cigar in her mouth, puffing clouds while her needles worked like a machine.

Creativity was a necessity for Irene. She knitted and sewed for her eight children by upcycling whatever textiles were at hand. She passed this skill on to Maiken’s mother, who later passed it on to Maiken.

Influenced by these two master knitters, Maiken ventured to London, UK, to study Fashion Knitwear.

Maiken earned a Bachelor (BA) in Fashion Knitwear from Central Saint Martins, London, and received scholarships to study a Master’s degree (MA) in Fashion Knitwear at the Royal College of Art, London.

She gained studio experience with AS FOUR in New York, Alex Gore Browne in London, and Vanessa Bruno in Paris.

"As a knitwear designer I always felt an urgency to work with repurposed materials, and the upcycling movement and a reduce / reuse / repair philosophy have always had a major influence on my family’s lifestyle.

Hand-knitting for my children when they were little, I used leftover yarn, and this quickly became a meaningful practice and work concept.

I found great satisfaction in knowing that what I created came from scraps. I wasn’t driven by the necessity to upcycle, like my grandmother was, but rather by a sense of social and environmental awareness."

In the mid-1960s, Maiken’s father was part of the elite Danish naval unit Siriuspatruljen (Sirius Dog Sled Patrol), conducting long-range expeditions along the north and east coasts of Greenland. His experiences—surviving harsh conditions and travelling through the wilderness for months at a time with only one work partner and their lifeline, thirteen Greenland dogs—left a profound impression on his daughter.

Extreme expedition gear for polar conditions and terrain in the 1960s was made for durability from natural materials like down, wool, canvas, fur and leather. These strong quality textiles and materials had practicality at their core, and every detail thought through. 

“His storytelling and photo albums from his time in Greenland are forever imprinted in my consciousness and heavily influence my design aesthetics. He showed me the value of creating, repairing and repurposing what already exists around us.”