Born in Ghana, trained in Finland, now calls Dallas home

If there were a Nobel Prize for patience, Elizabeth Anyaa could win it.

Few on the planet could match the Dallas-based designer's fortitude for making felt by hand, which takes days of rubbing and rolling wool and silk filaments until they lock together into a textile so strong that, even when cut, the edges won't fray. But to Anyaa, who creates one-of-a-kind fashion, home furnishings and art, it's no big deal. "I'm a weaver," she says simply. "And I'm an extremely patient person – so patient it's not even funny."

To wit, she can spend as much as a week hand-rubbing ivory wool into abstract stripes on black or white silk organza to create an artistic wrap or table runner. And she will hand-dye silk velvet with a rainbow of colors to make a double-sided pillow stuffed with down, or roll dozens of strands of wool felt and hang them, one by one, to create a curtain. "I like elegant and bohemian and eclectic styles, so my work is a mix of all that," Anyaa explains. "I see myself in all three categories. It depends on where you are going. Sometimes I want to be elegant, sometimes I want to be relaxed, and sometimes I want to put everything together. I'm not narrowed."

Such open-mindedness can be traced through Anyaa's personal history. She grew up in Sierra Leone and Ghana, soaking up the glorious colors in the mountains and seascapes and watching women dye cloth into vivid patterns and colors. She then earned a fine arts degree in textile design and manufacturing at the prestigious Rovaniemi Institute of Industrial Art in icy Finland, where she was, as she put it, "a black spot on a white dress – the only black person a lot of them had ever seen."

Anyaa makes down-stuffed pillows ($145 to $350 each) in hand-dyed silk velvet or felt. She landed in Texas and El Centro College at the invitation of a Lewisville couple, Dr. Wanda Neely and her husband, the late Herb Sherman, whom she met when they were traveling in Finland. Anyaa was among the first designers to be promoted in 2004 by the Dallas Fashion Incubator, which nurtures small businesses and has since been renamed Texas' Next Top Designer.

With such disparate and formidable influences, Anyaa is equally adept working with the cool neutral hues and spare aesthetic of Finnish design and the hot, bright colors of West Africa. "The Nordic colors of black and white are my signature, but I also do color. A lot of people ask for it," she explains. "When I make felt and weave, I think in Finnish. When it comes to color, I go back to Africa."

Anyaa's one-of-a-kind scarves, felt-wrapped soaps, tablecloths and other goods are carried by several chic stores, including Haven and Rich Hippie in Dallas. She also sells and takes custom commissions by appointment at her studio at South Side on Lamar. Prices start at $12 for a French-milled soap wrapped in multicolor felt, $90 for a silk scarf with felt accents, and rise beyond $1,000 for an elaborate wrap or table-runner. "Her work is absolutely stunning," says Nikki Solomon, who co-owns Rich Hippie in Inwood Village. "Everything is unique, beautiful and flattering, and unlike anything else in the marketplace. It is such a reflection of her – unique and beautiful."

Holly Haber is a Dallas freelance writer.