Designer Harriet Cole has created a luxury crotchet line, 108 Stitches Harriette Cole Collection. The line that includes scarves, shawls and very soon, accessories. Cole is no stranger to the fashion realm, as she was a child model and later held prominent positions at both Essence and Ebony magazine, for more than two decades. Find out how this business savvy, crotchet hook-wielding maven “stitched” her own path.
Why did your name your company 108 stitches?
It has that name because I practice meditation, and there are 108 beads on a meditation mala [like a rosary] the way you use the [mala] is, you say a mantra move on to the next bead … anyone who crochets knows that it’s a meditative experience. I’ve been practicing meditation for over 20 years and decided to approach the creation of the line as a meditation … many of the pieces are 108 stitches wide.
Who taught you how to crochet?
My mother taught me how to crochet and by the time I was 12, I was designing and crocheting clothes for the newborns in my Baltimore neighborhood. I had a little business. It began and ended very quickly, I started modeling at 13.
So, you knew from a young age you would be involved in fashion?
I always knew from a young age that I was interested in fashion and writing. My career has been on that trajectory since. I worked at Essence for many years running the lifestyle department and the fashion department. I worked there for 11 years. I left in 1995 because I had a dream that I had a business, and I opened it!
That was a leap of faith!
Yes, I wrote my first book “Jumping the Broom: The African-American Wedding Planner” and it became a best-seller. It helped me brand myself with a product that I owned. People knew me from the high-profile job I had, but now I was branded to my book. It helped me believe that I could do it own my own.
What celebrity would you love to see wearing one of your pieces?
I’ve worked with my celebrities in my career, Erykah Badu and Lenny Kravitz, definitely. I can’t wait to get a piece to Michelle Obama! I would love to see her in one of my pieces.
Click continue for more pieces from Cole’s collection.
