You’d be forgiven if you mistook Cillie’s playful throws for your favourite knitted sweater, slung over the couch or thrown on the floor. The new Sydney homewares label – pronounced ‘silly’– walks the line between playful illusion and high-quality, responsible design.
“I love playing on trompe l’oeil, it’s a French term that means ‘trick of the eye’,” says founder Yael Frischling. The ex-fashion designer honed her skills working for top Aussie labels including Dion Lee, Nagnata and Bec & Bridge – where she started the brand’s knitwear category – before becoming a freelance knitwear consultant for labels like St Agni.
“My main passion is knitwear, because it’s a very end-to-end process – you have to think of the yarns, the gauge and the finishes,” she says.
Throughout those years, the idea of starting her own label was brewing on the side. Initially conceived as a fashion brand, Frischling pivoted to the world of homewares after producing her first clothing samples.
“I thought, ‘Am I really bringing anything new to the fashion industry?’ I wanted Cillie to be this innovative space and I felt like my designs weren’t that different from what was out there in the Australian market,” she says.
Homewares seemed like a natural progression for the designer, who often sought inspiration for fashion in interiors and architecture. “I realised I can just flip the script. And I love the idea of home because it’s a lot slower as opposed to the fast-paced fashion industry.”
Cillie’s throws feature elements of classic knitwear such as cable, jacquard and patchwork techniques. Its Sweater throw – Frischling’s first design – is made up of a two-tone twisted cable, with a hand-embroidered mohair sweater shape on top.
For the Patchwork throw, Frischling says she “literally just threw a vest on the floor and sketched it out”. Resembling a deconstructed sweater, it’s created with three different types of knitted textures connected by hand embroidery.
On the more subtle side, the Inverse throw features a ribbed stripe design adorned with Cillie’s signature wavy ‘C’. Each of the blankets is available in three colourways: Candy Cane, Seaweed and Fake Tan.
Much like its name, a fictitious word that Frischling says speaks to the idea of being silly and carefree while making a valuable impact on the world, Cillie’s designs embody a quirky spirit while using 100 per cent RWS (Responsible Wool Standard) merino-knitted yarn sourced from Australia and manufactured in China.
“Australia and New Zealand are where you get the best wool. But where you get the best knitwear is China – all the techniques in these knits can pretty much only be done in China because no one else has the machinery and the craft. So, the factories I use are all certified,” Frischling explains.
Each step of the manufacturing and packaging process is transparent and traceable on the Cillie website, including details on the regenerative farms used, supply chain tracking and the materials used for swing tags and shipping labels.
“I definitely want to keep building Cillie out as this all-around home and textile space that has a fashion-inspired background and also this beautiful, traceable story behind it.”
We hope you like the products we recommend on Broadsheet. Our editors select each one independently. Broadsheet may receive an affiliate commission when you follow some links.
