AMK Atelier x DAMSON MADDER
I’m honored to collaborate with the talented team at Damson Madder on a capsule collection celebrating women’s workwear.
This collection was inspired by a project I developed in partnership with women farmers at De Stadsgroenteboer, a CSA farm just outside Amsterdam. Exploring utility, durability, and functionality, the designs reflect the real needs of women at work - combining practicality with thoughtful design.
It all began when I met Chloe from Damson Madder during an exhibition of my work. We instantly connected over a shared passion for women’s wear and utility garments. Soon after, I joined forces with the team to bring our ideas to life, culminating in four signature pieces.
Concept & Design
This capsule celebrates real workwear for real women. Each piece merges my passion for functional, versatile design with insights from the women who inspired it, and each is named in their honor:
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Lisa Dungarees
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Julia Worker Jacket
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Laura Zip-Off Pants
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Maria Hiking Bag
COLLECTION
My name is Maria, and AMK stands for Anna Maria Krestina - names I inherited from creative women in my family. Growing up in the Swedish countryside, I learned the importance of quality craftsmanship, living close to nature, and facing life with a smile.
This background continues to inspire me to create products and experiences that have a meaningful, emotional impact. Whether it’s something you wear or use that brings a sense of quality and support, or an event that offers a new skill or a lasting memory.
DESIGN PROCESS
All designs and products should begin with a simple, honest question: is this truly needed, and what meaning does it bring into the world if it exists?
We already live in a world of excess. That’s why I feel strongly that anything new we create should carry intention, something that serves a purpose beyond the object itself. It should be useful, considered, and made to last.
I believe in materials that hold memory over time. Pieces that are not disposable, but grow more beautiful as they are lived in - shaped by movement, work, and care.
Garments that develop patina, that can be repaired, and that continue their life rather than end it.
To me, that is where beauty lives: in longevity, in repair, and in the quiet evolution of something that is truly worn and loved.
Meet Irma, Lot, and Julia - three farmers working at De Stadsgroenteboer, Amsterdam.
This workwear collection is inspired by and tailored to their daily realities on the farm, shaped around the strength, rhythm, and needs of the women who wear it. Developing these pieces carries the same care and intention the farmers bring to growing our food.
As they share in their stories, farming teaches you to live with the seasons, to slow down and pay attention. It reveals how disconnected we’ve become from the way our food is grown, and reminds us that by staying closer to nature, to the seasons, and to ourselves, we can bring more meaning to what we eat - and what we wear.
BRANDING - DAMSON MADDER
The branding was created and designed by the Damson Madder team. Their graphic designer developed our logo, drawing inspiration from heritage leather patch labels—most notably the iconic Levi's patch, where two horses pull apart a pair of jeans to symbolize strength and durability.
Our version is a playful reinterpretation of these late-1800s graphics: instead of horses, two strong women pull a carrot from the soil—rooted in the same spirit of resilience, but reimagined through the lens of female labor and modern workwear.
Recycled Hangtags
The hangtags attached to the collection are made in the UK using Damson Madder denim offcuts, thoughtfully upcycled into new labels - giving new life to existing materials while staying true to the collection’s ethos of care and circularity.
