Other Women's Jobs // A Day In The Life & Career Of Hanne Ripsaluoma

NAME: Hanne Ripsaluoma

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: @hanneripsa @dunesicollection

JOB TITLE: Founder & Creative Director at Dunesi

MOVED TO THE UAE IN: 2007 from London with my husband and have been madly in love with this city since then.

Hanne is the Founder and Creative Director of Dunesi, a Dubai-based conscious luxury fashion brand. She runs the business whilst also being a mum to our 2 sporty teenage boys. Hanne is from Finland, her my husband is from Chile and their sons were both born here, quite typical for Dubai, this beautiful cosmopolitan city. Hanne's family also includes two rescued dogs, a desert mix and a husky who she loves taking to the desert regularly. She get re-energised and inspiration from nature and seeing the dogs running around happily fills her with joy.

After over a decade-long career in telecommunications in Europe, USA and UAE, Hanne fulfilled a longing for an entrepreneurship in fashion. As a second career, a purpose felt as important as the business idea itself and she feels very lucky to be able to do that now with Dunesi, finding ways to create luxury clothing and especially evening wear in a way that is sustainable.

Beyond the day-to-day, what inspires Hanne most is the opportunity to create something meaningful, pieces that women don’t just wear but treasure. She is fascinated by the idea of slow fashion: how clothing can carry memories, express personality, and still be made with respect for the planet. It’s extremely rewarding when she spots a stranger wearing Dunesi, knowing that it's something she created in her atelier that is now part of someone’s story. It is also very important to her as a mum to be leading by example at home, teaching her sons ways to take steps towards more sustainable living. 

Outside of work, family is Hanne's anchor. Their life is a crazy busy mix of school schedules, sports training and football matches, friends and travel, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Today Hanne shares a typical day in her life and career:

6 AM:

Leaving the house with our two sons. Their school sports teams train before school on most days so we start very early. After dropping off the boys, I walk our two dogs and although I’m not a morning person, a brisk walk at sunrise with the birds chirping is always a promise of a good day starting.

7.30 AM:

Even when life gets busy I want to move my body and try to squeeze in a quick gym or yoga / stretch at home every day before starting the work day. Then it’s a quick breakfast, usually a smoothie as I’m not hungry in the mornings. This is when I take a while to scroll on my phone, mostly to see what is happening in the world of fashion, who wore what, what are the fashion news and so on. 

9 AM:

If I’m working on a new collection (like I do currently, preparing for the Almaty Fashion Week in October), around 9 am I’m heading to the atelier with my iced matcha in hand. Producing a collection is my favourite part of running a fashion brand! It’s almost magical to see the ideas and sketches come to life and time flies working with the team on the new designs. It’s kind of like a testing laboratory where we see which ideas work well and which in the end don’t. All our clothing are made one by one by hand and created almost as a piece of art. Customers who order bespoke dresses often come to the atelier for measurements and fittings. This is when I feel conscious fashionis at its best; the client receives something that is made just for her and that somes with a personalised experience all of which makes her treasure and re-wear the dress for many seasons.

1 PM:

In order to maximise my time with the production team, I set my meetings for when they are at lunch. Sometimes it’s a call or meeting with an existing or potential retailer, sometimes a catch-up lunch with Dunesi’s PR agency or our intern for example. Lunch is either a business lunch (I love this concept of quality food served quickly in a beautiful setting) or a salad in a cafe in CityWalk near the atelier.

4 PM:

Afternoons are a bit of a logistical challenge. If things are going well in the atelier, I like to take the boys to their activities when I can as our chats in car are lovely quality time together plus I get to see them train. However, they are never training in the same place at the same time so I take turns which one I take. Shout-out to the other parents in the teams who we are able to carpool with! 

8 PM:

After we are back from sports, homework is done and husband arrives from Abu Dhabi, it’s dinner time. We make sure to eat dinner together as a family at home or in a restaurant nearby as often as we can. As children get older, the family dinner table conversations become really interesting and entertaining.

9.30 PM:

Once the boys are ready for bed, my evening starts. I’m a night person and evenings are when I feel most creatively productive. I try to switch off from work mode before dinner but unless we are out socialising or on a date night with my husband, I will happily sketch, plan shoots, put together looks or even cut fabric late into the night.