Mark "Jamo" Jamieson

I am Mark Jamieson, Jamo is the name I am known to by most. We are based in Noarlunga Downs in South Australia, my partner and I have been producing high quality knitware designs since 2018. However the business has only been operating since 2019. MY KNITTING HISTORY…. In the scheme of things I am really quite new to knitting, I only started in June 2018. During an illness I was told by my Doctor to “sit on the couch and watch TV“, but that is just not me! I always have to be doing SOMETHING! I had taken a Lego (my other passion) model apart and put it back together but was still incredibly bored. Lucikly a dear friend of mine offered to teach me to knit and I was on her doorstep the next day. She taught me to knit 20 lines of plain, 20 lines of purl. Immediately after that I started my first beanie. I was hooked and have never stopped knitting since. After a while I had amassed a pretty decent collection of completed knitting projects, but I kept on knitting even as they piled up around me. I met my partner Mat in early 2019. Mat encouraged me to make more of what he called my ‘talent’. It is amazing what you can achieve when someone believes in you. We did a lot of brainstorming and in September of 2019 we launched Jamo Designs. Since then we have done a few pop up markets, COVID-19 caused some set-backs but we still managed to get out there with our products and make things happen for us. We decided early on that everything we do in Jamo Designs needs to be fun…. if we did not enjoy it we would not do it, it is the whole ethos behind the business, we have to enjoy it, and so far people have responded well to our creations. We think you can tell when something is created with care and love… it makes all the difference. I have grown in confidence in the short time I have been obsessed with kitting. I love finding new and interesting stitch patterns then converting them into my own creations. We plan to someday soon, create a ‘Knit with Jamo’ range, offering patterns, information, videos and community classes and demonstrations. Mat has now been bitten by the bug, he had dabbled before with knitting and crocheting, now as a labour of love he produces a lot of crochet beanies and focuses on the blokey stuff. He is also my subject matter expert for all technical issues and designed this fantastic website which is continual adapting to the business needs. He does this to support me, he takes no payment from the business. Jamo Designs is still going through many changes as we find our market, change the way we do things and of course experiment with new ideas. If you keep things the same you cannot improve and you will certainly get bored!!!!!!! So lastly from me a couple of thank you’s Mat – For being my inspiration, my support and keeping me sane and focussed Joan – For teaching me the art, being one of my biggest supporters and all the help over the years Julie – For being a friend, my voice of reason and your fantastic continued support and ideas Jamo x