October 28, 2026 |
“We often say there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing.” It’s a Scandinavian saying, and Kristoffer Juhl, co-founder and managing director of Copenhagen label Tekla, has built a second collaboration around it. Teaming up again with Tokyo’s Auralee, Tekla has launched a capsule collection across ready-to-wear and homeware, available from today on both brands’ online stores and selected retailers. The campaign, photographed by Nikki McClarron, was shot in Fjällnäs, a mountain retreat in the Swedish highlands where a hotel has stood since 1882.
The partnership started with a case of mutual attraction. Tekla had long admired Auralee, a mutual friend made the introduction, and it turned out the feeling was reciprocated. “From that point, the collaboration grew organically,” says Juhl. “We’ve valued having Auralee’s expertise on fabric development and have enjoyed sharing our own.”
Their first outing, in 2024, was all about steam. It drew on Auralee designer Ryota Iwai’s love of Japanese onsen and Tekla founder Charlie Hedin’s devotion to Scandinavian sauna, and produced an onsen-sized towel made to be wrapped around the head, pyjamas in hazy moss and mist and a robe coat, Tekla’s first outwear. Tekla is picky about its partners – only committing to brands it feels it can return to – so a sequel was always on the cards. “We very quickly understood we would want to work with Auralee again,” says Juhl.
This time, the hospitality was reversed. “We wanted to invite Auralee to Scandinavia and, in return, share a piece of our culture,” he says, which led them to friluftsliv, the belief that time is best spent outside in nature regardless of the weather, loosely translating to ‘free-air living’. Fjällnäs, where the campaign was shot, is a place close to Hedin’s heart. “In Scandinavia, winter is something to embrace,” says Juhl. Knitwear plays a significant part in that, and with Auralee’s fabric expertise at hand, Tekla could make something both beautiful and functional.
Cue the collaborations crewneck cardigans and boatneck sweaters in forest green and soil brown, striped lambswool blankets, shearling slippers and sleepwear in brushed organic cotton flannel, checked in purple and orange and named Dawn Checks. It’s a wardrobe built around the moment you walk back through the front door. “Wintering also shapes a lot of Tekla’s collections – we create the pieces that make coming home feel so warm and inviting,” says Juhl. “Capturing this within the collection through bedding, sleepwear and blankets was important.”
Knitwear is a first for the label, and Juhl is clearly smitten. “Developing knitwear for the first time has been exciting for us,” he says. Sweaters and cardigans are a given for a winter wardrobe, but it’s the accessories he loves the most. “The arm and neck warmers are so functional, but they also tie all the pieces together, while the over-the-knee socks fit the season and complement our sleepwear, offering new ways to dress for comfort and warmth at home.”
What the two brands have in common, Juhl says, is “respect for raw materials, and emphasis on craft, centring quality” – and a hope that their pieces will be used for years rather than a season. Tekla makes more textiles and objects intended to be lived in, while Auralee creates collections defined by continuity.
Then there’s the bedding, which is rooted in Tekla’s origins. “It was important that it sat at the centre of this collection,” says Juhl. Percale is the fabric the label is best known for – “ours is light, stonewashed and retains a freshly washed feeling night after night” – and it has been reworked in a rich brown tone taken from Auralee’s world, bringing the bed back into step with the rest of this exciting collection.
Photography by Nikki McClarron.
