Flower power: The mother-daughter pair bringing ByTimo into full bloom

Surrounded by Monstera plants and parlour palm trees, not to mention rail upon rail of vibrant garments in an array of botanical prints, Tine Mollatt holds up a bottle of prosecco. “Would you like a glass?” she asks. It is Friday afternoon in ByTiMo’s headquarters, a converted Art Nouveau library in central Oslo with rugged cement floors and glass-paned partitions. The space is bustling with preparations for the brand’s spring/summer 2023 runway show, set to take place the next day. “The dresses have all left for the location already,” says Elisa Mollatt, Tine’s daughter and the brand’s marketing manager.

There is something magical about a Norwegian woman’s relationship to a floral dress. Worn for any and every occasion, these frilly frocks have found themselves woven inextricably into the sartorial fabric of the country. A fashion phenomenon of sorts, ByTiMo has become synonymous with the look and is largely responsible for its rise in popularity. “We’ve become an adjective,” Elisa says. “Just the other week, I read an article in the local paper, a profile on an influencer who described herself as a ‘Frankie-Shop-meets-ByTiMo girl’. I’ve never heard our brand be referred to in that way before.”

Much like those in Denmark (and beyond) who identify as ‘Ganni Girls’, Norwegian women have adopted ByTiMo as a way to describe a certain flowery, feminine style.

It is an aesthetic not instinctively related to the Nordics, a region internationally known for its minimalism, which spans both fashion and interiors. “Historically across Scandinavia, we had nothing to do with minimalism,” says Tine. Before Ikea, the region was grounded in the Arts and Crafts movement and the romanticism of tradition; a stylistic sentiment we see returning today. “It is like we need to dress with warmer, softer tones,” Elisa says.

The idea of homogenous, minimalistic ‘Scandinavian’ style as a blanket statement covering the entire region is a fashion fallacy in itself. The androgynous tailoring that dominated the last decade is largely characteristic of Sweden and Denmark. Recently, this aesthetic has been challenged by a more romantic and eclectic aesthetic, led by the success of Danish brands like Cecilie Bahnsen and the aforementioned Ganni. “I’ve thought a lot about how Sweden is more androgynous,” Tine says. “While Danish and Norwegian women tend to accentuate their curves and wear more colours and prints.”

Related: From grannies to influencers – How the iconic interior brand Svenskt Tenn never lost its mojo

However, floral frocks and feminine silhouettes weren't the plan from the beginning. “I thought the brand would be more about basics and everyday jersey and knits,” Tine explains. The designer only started creating her signature silk dresses “for fun”. “And today, we’re known for our dresses,” Elisa adds, noting that now, dresses make up around 80 per cent of the brand. When the brand launched in 2004, it was around 20 per cent. Tine describes the change towards dresses as a snowball effect, starting with “slip dresses in jersey, then we moved on to silk, and then we added arms”. Success came in tandem. “We went from zero to 100 million turnover in seven years without help from the bank,” she says.

The brand was founded by Tine in 2004, after the designer experienced “the worst sides of the fashion industry” as a buyer. “I felt like a wrung-out rag seeing what the fashion industry demanded of people and the environment,” she says. As a buyer, she saw the true margins and calculations. “I knew what I was paying for the wares and what they were sold for back home. It was awful.”

ByTiMo was Tine’s way of proving to herself that it was possible to do things differently. “It is a shitty business, isn’t it? The only way to avoid it is to not wear clothes,” she says. But as that was never an option, she spent one year at home thinking about how to “do it on a theoretical and philosophical level”. “We must’ve survived on porridge and soup that year,” she laughs. “It was a year of break even,” Elisa agrees.

Elisa was 14 when ByTiMo launched, having lived alone with her mother since the age of three. Even before the brand was founded, Elisa was involved in her mother’s work. “We joked about it being child labour,” Elisa laughs. “I went with mum on every work trip.” “Since you were four or five, you travelled with me,” Tine adds. In 2014, she joined ByTiMo officially, working to establish the brand’s communications.

When I ask what the first collection looked like, Elisa prefaces her response with, “remember it is 20 years ago”. “It was of its time,” Tina says, pointing to the slim-fit cardigans, lacy singlets, and romantic slip-dresses of the early 2000s. “It was very ballet-inspired.” Having been dancing for most of her life and getting her first taste for garment making at 16, working in the costume department at the Oslo Opera House, the world of dance has always permeated Tine’s designs. “Essentially what we’re seeing today,” Elisa says. “With a side of sparkles and tall socks,” Tine adds.

Related: Ann-Sofie Back: “When I look at the young designers today I’m often like, 'I did that in 1998'”

Rummaging through the racks of the archive, Tine brings out a pale green slip dress with an air of 1950s nostalgia from her early collections. Cream lace trims the triangle cups of the slinky fabric, fastened to the hanger by delicate straps. “I have this ability or instinct to know what will work for the time. What will be popular,” says Tine. “I think it comes from my time as a buyer.”

As she was working on spring/summer 2023 with her team, Tine finds herself putting effort into not becoming a copy of herself. “It’s the hardest part of the job,” she explains. “I see what we work on now, and I think, ‘Jesus Christ, I’ve done this before’.” What comes around goes around, but for Tine, it is always important to challenge herself and the brand. “It is difficult when our designs tend to be the blueprint for other Norwegian brands. It is one of the reasons we always look ahead. We must keep pushing and innovating to stay ahead of the curve.”

Besides dance, the most significant source of inspiration for Tine is history. Referential in her design language, almost every aspect, from design detail to print, can be traced back to her vast vintage archive. “I’m from a family with a lot of history,” she says, adding that her family traded along the Silk Road. Most of the Mollat family's collection – kimonos, fabrics, Ming vases, and porcelain – is now exhibited in Norway’s National Museum.

It seems as if the designer never had cause to question an unconventional career, leaving “normal school” early to study tailoring. “I didn’t have the patience to sit quietly with my head in a book,” she says. Instead, individualism and strong female role models have been influential in Tine’s life. The designer pinpoints her father’s two aunts as the root of this. “They were very independent and ‘non-Norwegian’,” she says.

The two sisters lived their entire lives unmarried in the family home, surrounded by beautiful treasures from their family’s travels. “They were ‘Lottor’ [a nickname for the Women’s Voluntary Defence Organization spanning the Nordics during WW2] and worked as nurses during the war,” Tine says. “They loved their way of life.” She reminisces about how these old women would dance around, wearing museum-quality silk clothing and having afternoon tea. “They lived in another time,” she says. “Simultaneously incredibly conservative and bohemian.”

In the archive, Tine has held onto clothes from her mother and grandmother. “The first vintage piece I ever bought was a green corduroy jacket with a floral motif,” Tine says. “I used it when I was a teenager as well,” Elisa adds. Tine points to the paisley printed scarf she is wearing, which used to belong to her grandfather. “I keep returning to certain things when I design,” she says. The main inspiration is always found in the archive, with “about 90 per cent of the collection based around it”. “It has always been about the meeting of the old and the new for me.”

The designer is especially drawn to floral prints from the late 1800s and early 1900s for their “interesting colour combinations”, such as turquoise and yellow. “I need to restrict myself when it comes to that as it isn’t what everyone always wants, but it’s always there in the collections,” she says. She also brings out a peach-coloured vintage Japanese silk belt with finely stitched glossy embroidery of cerise flowers and greenery. “I don’t recreate it as such, but it has always been there for inspiration.”

This sense of classic yet timeless style has given ByTiMo a dedicated following – to call their fanbase loyal is to put things lightly. “I have a whole [ByTiMo] archive, and they keep coming out season after season,” says Maria Mena, the internationally acclaimed Norwegian singer known for songs such as ‘You’re the Only One’, ‘Just Hold Me’, and ‘All This Time’. She explains that each and every ByTiMo piece she has collected over the years has been an “investment”. “It has become more important to me to own clothes that I can wear no matter the weight I am or where I am in life. I can go back to these dresses years later, and they still fit me well.”

Related: In full bloom: how to embrace florals in your winter wardrobe

The first time Mena came across byTiMo was during the cover shoot for her 2015 album Growing Pains. The celebrated Norwegian artist is pictured sitting on an antique brocade couch wearing a blush-coloured byTiMo dress with dainty florals, a dramatically tiered skirt and exaggerated tulip sleeves. “It was all about the flowiness of the dresses and the vulnerability of the music. I found it so beautiful to allow myself to be so feminine,” she says. “It was unlike anything I’d seen before, with references to old vintage looks. Hip-hugging and curve-enhancing.”

History is also the jumping-off point for byTiMo’s latest venture: interiors. Tine has worked on the new category over the last three years, since the start of the pandemic. The red thread throughout byTiMo is Tine’s fascination for craftsmanship – spanning her costume design days, tailoring degree, and now her deep dive into the world of carpentry. “Just like with the clothes, I wanted to show myself that I could learn how to make furniture,” she says.

Going above and beyond a ‘normal’ homeware launch for a fashion brand, releasing a couch cushion or bedding, byTiMo’s new interior line spans everything from weighty dinner tables to dainty tea cups. “I sometimes wish I could do things the easy way,” Tine says. “She’s all about the longest way to the best results,” adds Elisa.

The headquarters in Oslo has been undergoing some cosmetic changes to host the brand’s new line as well as a bridal atelier. “We unpacked the shipment yesterday,” Tine says as she takes me through the space. “You don’t know how good something is until you’ve seen it. Throughout the production process, things happen.” Curtains emblazoned with the brand’s nostalgic prints hang stacked behind the counter.

The space is best described as organised chaos, with floral-clad armchairs and sofas strewn around the room and delicate room dividers pushed up against one wall. Couch cushions lie folded on a massive wooden table, and tapestries are hung on a rail in one corner. Lampshades and lamps. Stoneware and wallpaper. It is a visual cacophony emblematic of the brand’s antique expression. The porcelain is yet to arrive, but Tine describes it as “rounded, with shapes inspired by Japanese designs, and adorned with a French floral motif”.

Seeing the pieces in one place is an unmistakable extension of the brand’s aesthetic. “Hand to heart, this is what it was meant to look like,” Tine says. “It is a bit different with clothes because it is easier to send samples back and forth,” explains Elisa. But with interiors, things aren’t quite the same “You get a leg or a piece of fabric. It is like puzzle pieces. You don’t send chairs back and forth.”

“With the world being extremely polarised, nonetheless politically, I find myself engulfed by it,” Tine says. As such, she wants to create a “cocoon of sorts”. Whether that’s a one bed flat or a house or a dress, for that matter. And Tine believes that she isn’t the only one. “We’ve seen a lot of strict minimalist homes for a long time, but I believe we as people will be longing for warmth and comfort,” she says. “Even if it’s something as simple as a colourful pillow case.”

Naturally, the interior pieces will find their way into Tine’s and Elisa’s homes. For Tine, she has her eyes on one of the floral lounge chairs. “Looking at it, it really takes me back to many days and hours spent walking around antique and vintage markets in France sourcing inspiration, such as the Clignancourt in Paris,” she says. One of the chairs in particular is directly inspired by a chair she purchased at the French market years ago. “I fell in love with the shape, and I bought it even though it was without fabric, just in its raw self.”

For Elisa, the room dividers offer multiple styling options. “I really adore them, especially the one with a delicate print in the front and a black jacquard in the back,” she says. “It’s really a great way to split up a room, to create a new space within your own home.” Across interiors and fashion, what signifies a byTiMo design is joy. It permeates the brand, seen in the celebratory approach Tine has towards design and her undeniable joie de vivre.

The joy is contagious, spreading with every eclectic cushion or lace-trimmed dress. Comparable to other floral empires – from Finland's Marimekko with its iconic multi-coloured Unikko print to England’s Laura Ashley – ByTiMo’s interior launch marks an evolution for the brand beyond the wardrobe. The extensive homeware collection allows its dedicated clientele to truly live the brand.

“I went to a wedding the other day, and of course, there is always a byTiMo dress there,” Mena says. And it is true. There’s always a byTiMo dress at any Norwegian celebration, whether that be the national day, a graduation, or a wedding. Mena muses over how the brand’s exuberant designs go against the country’s core belief of blending in, while simultaneously being quintessentially Norwegian. “We have Janteloven [the Jante Law] where we’re taught not to stand out,” she says. “And somehow, we do that by all wearing byTiMo dresses. So even though the designs are attention grabbers, wearing those dresses means we’re staying true to that Norwegian spirit.”