Kjersti Vatle Toresen is the founder and head designer of the clothing brand VATLE. Kjersti was born and raised in Stavanger/Mandal. At the age of 20 she finished her advanced craft certificate in tailoring and moved to Herning in Denmark to attend TEKO Center Denmark The Acadamy of Design & Textile. She graduated as the best student in 2003. She got top-grade for her graduation collection and was offered design positions from different labels. In spite of this she decided to go back to Norway and enter the norwegian fashion scene. She began working as a freelance designer. Among other jobs she worked with technical clothing for the norwegian snowboard brand Whiteout, owned by Norrøna. In 2007 her collection was voted “Best newcomer” from the famous international magazine “Sports Illustrated”. She was nominated in the same category as Alexander McQueen. Kjersti founded VATLE in 2008, and currently resides in Oslo. VATLE’s design studio is also located here. VATLE is at the moment working towards production.