IT STARTS WITH PEOPLE

One of the things I admire most is people who have a genuine gift for bringing others together.

People who make everyone feel included.

People who create places where strangers quickly stop feeling like strangers.

Florian is one of them.

I’ve known him since 2014, when mama thresl became one of the very first hotels to trust Kaaita. More than ten years later, every visit reminds me why our collaboration has always felt so effortless.

“We’ve never needed many words. Somehow, we usually know where the conversation is going before it even starts.”

The hotel, envisioned by Huwi and Renate, feels less like a traditional mountain hotel and more like an urban living room that somehow found its way into the Alps.

At its heart is what Florian simply calls the living room.

A place where overnight guests, neighbours, hikers and locals naturally end up sharing the same tables.

One guest once described it perfectly:

“It’s a restaurant with hotel beds.”

Florian laughed when he told me that story.

“I think that’s actually quite accurate.”

Which is probably why I wasn’t surprised when he immediately said yes to our newest idea.

What if worn-out woollen pullovers didn’t have to become waste?

What if they became something guests could wear again?

No lengthy presentations.

No convincing.

Just:

“Let’s do it.”

The first collection happened within the team.

People went home, opened their wardrobes and returned carrying pullovers with long personal histories.

Some belonged to parents.

Some had accompanied countless mountain walks.

Some had simply reached the end of their lives.

We gathered around one oversized felt bag and watched story after story disappear inside.

There was something strangely joyful about it.

Not because the pullovers were coming to an end.

But because they weren’t.

This autumn, the invitation will become much bigger.

Not only the team.

Guests.

Neighbours.

The whole local community.

Everyone will be invited to contribute a woollen story.

From Leogang, the pullovers will continue to Prato, where one of Europe’s oldest wool recycling traditions is still alive today. There, they will be sorted by colour, carefully regenerated and turned into new felt.

Months later, they will return home.

Not hidden away in someone’s wardrobe.

But as wool slippers, ready to welcome new guests.

Because every meaningful object begins with a meaningful relationship.

Photographer: Hana Jelovčan