arts & life

f as h i on

Woolly
Wonder l

A local knitter turns

her passion into a

haven of creativity.

Lynne Konstantin
Arts & Life Editor

Amy Kimball
Photographer

W

Susser models one of her creations.

details

40 March 3 • 2016

Visit Woolly & Co. at 147 Pierce Street, Birmingam; call
(248) 480- 4354 or check out woollyandco.com.

oolly & Co. is
warm, welcom-
ing and lovely,
just like its owner, Aviva
Susser.
Walking into the down-
town Birmingham knit
shop and studio is truly like
falling into a gorgeous and
inviting embrace, carefully
curated to make each visitor
feel at home.
Just opened in December,
the shop is washed in white
paint and natural lighting, a
chic and tranquil backdrop
that lets the yarn pop as the
star: Luscious reach-out-
and-touch-them textures
cross the spectrum from fine
to super-chunky, with colors
both vibrant and soothing. A
textural exposed-brick wall,
a fireplace and comfort-
able sitting areas — layered
with cozy handknit throws,
of course — are meant to
encourage shoppers to relax
and lounge, read, chat and
knit.
Susser’s goal was to
emphasize the importance
of all customers — from
absolute beginners to sea-

soned pros — feeling a
part of a community, under
her nurturing and creative
tutelage. Even the studio’s
name implies a tactile expe-
rience. “To call something
‘woolly’ seems very soft,”
Susser says. “It’s your woolly
blanket. Woolly can be the
sweater, the fiber, the sheep.
We added the ‘Co.’ for the
company you keep when
you’re sitting around the
table, talking and enjoying
each other’s company.”
Born in Riga, Latvia,
where her parents experi-
enced anti-Semitism, Susser
emigrated with her family
first to Israel, then Germany
and finally settled in Forest
Hills, Queens, N.Y., where
she entered preschool speak-
ing Russian, Hebrew and
German, but no English.
She attended Hebrew
day school in Queens while
helping her parents at the
children’s clothing store
they owned, before studying
advertising and communica-
tions at the Fashion Institute
of Technology in New York
City.
One summer, she took
on a retail job at Saks
Fifth Avenue, when Steven
Susser, a young law student,
walked in to shop and land-
ed a girl. The couple soon
married and moved around
a few years while Steven
practiced law before the
Michigan native brought his
bride home to Birmingham,
where they’ve raised their

Aviva Susser, owner of
Woolly & Co.

sons Ethan and Isaac.
Susser, 45, learned to
knit as a child. “My mother
would knit while I napped,”
she says. “When I awoke,
I would recreate the scene
with my doll, using two
crayons as knitting needles.”
As she grew older, she
asked her mom to teach her,
and made her first garment,
“a cute little tunic dress,”
she says, when she was 14.
“I wanted to be different
and have something dif-
ferent from other people,”
says Susser, who designed
clothes in high school and
sold Keds she’d colored
to classmates. “I always
wanted to wear things you
couldn’t get anywhere else.
Even now, when I make
something from a pattern,
I like to change it up a bit,
add my Aviva touch.”
Last year, with her kids in
high school and college, the
stay-at-home mom decided
to put her creative juices to