27-year-old Ranti Ehinmola is a London-based, self-taught knitwear designer who is pushing boundaries in knitwear through distinctive textiles. Her brand Ranti Studios launched last year and the designer initially had ambitions to create pieces that garner community. Ehinmola may have founded the brand recently, but she’s been creating garments since 2020–she began knitting during the pandemic as a way to pass the time. She learned by hand as she voraciously watched YouTube tutorials, and she eventually built skills through trial and error.
Ranti Studios has garnered nearly 25,000 followers since her initial beginnings with knitting as a hobby. “I have always made things for myself, but I found after posting my pieces on social media that people resonated with what I was creating and wanted to make similar projects for themselves,” Ehinmola shared with ESSENCE.com in an email. Her brand consists of knitting patterns to purchase, custom orders, and batches of ready-to-wear pieces. She toils meticulously on creating one-of-a-kind patterns and catering to people who want to experiment with new techniques with knitting. “I love seeing all the variations that come from people putting their spin on my patterns,” she also shared.
Her architecture degrees from the Royal College of Art have helped her ideate new knitting patterns with an ethos of amplifying all the possibilities of textiles through hand-knitting. “I aim to combine texture and form to create unique wearable art pieces,” she notes. The designer ensures her brand splits its focus between physical products and hand-knit patterns. To her the creation process is just as meaningful as the final result. The community she’s wanting to build is already gathering organically, although she would love to introduce more Black creatives like herself into the space. The knitwear community, in general, is welcoming and wholesome through her experience.
Ehinmola’s most popular pattern is the Romanesco jumper which features bulbous texture throughout the knit when you’ve completed the pattern. This pattern is repeated throughout the piece to achieve the specific texture. She adds it was a “labor of love” but, in the end, it was worth pushing herself to explore the limits of hand-knitting. Another texture-filled pattern she’s recently revealed is the eponymous Ranti jumper. This texture is a bit subtle but captures the eye right away. She describes it on her Instagram as a “fluffy top-down jumper” that creates a striped texture with a two-needle and stockinette stitch technique.
She is inspired by textures wherever they’re found and always tries to incorporate some form of them in her work. Issey Miyake is a designer, in particular, that she also looks to for inspiration when experimenting with texture. Miyake is known for his minimalistic silk pieces and his iconic pleated designs.
As a whole, Ranti wants to continue to share her ideas with the world. Collaborating with other designers is on her future to-do list while also expanding her brand with more ambitious and bigger projects that she has yet to share. “The possibilities are endless,” she notes.
What makes Ehinmola’s brand so interesting is the fact that she’s open to giving the blueprints to her patterns to her community. Not many brands operate in a community-centric way. By doing so, she’s creating an experience for her consumers while leaving her mark on the knitwear market.