At Maiwa we very much admire the approach of the Norwegian company Oleana.

"Oleana started in 1992 in the hopes of creating new jobs in the textile industry in Norway. Most of Western Europe's production has been moved to countries with far cheaper labour, but we wanted to show that it is still possible to produce in a high-cost country like Norway. "

Oleana is now seventeen years old and very successful. It employs over sixty people and has carefully thought out how, why and where it makes its products. It's considered approach to clothing has garnered a number of design and industry awards.


On September 10th an exhibition of Oleana's textiles is opening at the Pendulum Gallery at 885 West Georgia Street (HSBC Building), Vancouver. The exhibition is titled “BEYOND BORDERS – Oleana, the Norwegian Story.” The exhibition runs to September 26.

For the opening of the exhibition, Barbara Bourget of Vancouver's Kokoro Dance Company will perform a choreographed dance set to music composed by Kjetil Mørk that is based on the sounds at the Oleana factory.

Oleana founders Kolbjørn Valestrand and Signe Aarhus, designer Solveig Hisdal and retailer Julia Manitius of URBANITY (the Vancouver source for Oleana) will all be present. The exhibition will be opened by the newly appointed Norwegian Ambassador, Ms Else Berit Eikeland.

Please RSVP to oleana@urbanity.ca or by phone at 1-604-801-6262

Here is a link to the 10 minute video Oleana: The people, the collection, the story.

Follow the links for more information on Oleana, Julia Manitius' URBANITY or the Pendulum Gallery.