Tone Finnanger

We all know and love the Tilda brand, but how well do we know its founder and creative director, Tone Finnanger? With years of successful business to her credit, she is still at the top of her game and expanding her empire into extra new premises to showcase her remarkable style. Tone invites us into her new Tilda Fabrics Norwegian-island showroom and shares ‘grabs’ of her unique lifestyle and her professional psychology. She is as charming as she is creative – and her romantically exotic home, studio and showroom are perfect backdrops for her impeccable style.

Tilda in the making

• I started the company Tilda in 1999, when I was just 24 years old, in a house I inherited from my mother’s aunt on a very small island in the Oslo fjord [Norway]. We decided to leave the city for a life by the sea.

• I was very inspired by Norwegian animator Ivo Caprino and classic children’s authors and illustrators. I had a vision of a city-kids’ concept. It was to take place in a town with charming characters, and the plan was to create books and animated films. I worked on stories and illustrations for the books, and in the cellar, I started building large scenes and developing dolls.