Made by Hand, Made by Fans: Behind The Scenes of ACOTAR™ x Knix
Before ACOTAR™ x Knix was a finished collection, it was a lot of things.
Sketches. Artwork. Screenshots. Samples. Group chats. Very specific debates about seashells. And more than a few people asking, would an ACOTAR fan get this??
For more than 18 months, the collection moved through the hands of designers, artists, product teams and about 40 ACOTAR fans at Knix HQ.
And while you’ve seen the finished pieces, we wanted to show you a little more of what it took to get there.
Because this collection was built by real people who cared deeply about the world we were stepping into.
Before It Was a Print, It Was Artwork
Every exclusive print in the collection began as original artwork created by an ACOTAR-obsessed artist on our Knix design team - named Kylee.
Long before those designs appeared on satin, lingerie or leakproof underwear, they existed in the artist’s workspace—drawn, developed and refined by hand.
The details came directly from the world of the books, but the challenge was figuring out how to interpret them in a way that felt new.
What belongs in the Summer Court? What makes something feel unmistakably Velaris? How literal should a reference be? Which details should you notice immediately, and which should reveal themselves later?
Those questions shaped the artwork as much as the initial idea did.
Then the Fans Got Involved
Having ACOTAR fans all over Knix HQ meant there was never a shortage of opinions.
And we mean that in the best possible way.
An early version of Adriata Toile, for example, quickly turned into a conversation about what had to exist in the Summer Court print.
Seashells and ships came up immediately. Then jewels. Then the necklace Tarquin gives Feyre.
It’s exactly the kind of conversation that happened again and again throughout development.
Someone would share an idea, and suddenly a group of people who knew these books inside and out were debating whether one tiny detail made the reference better.
Sometimes those details changed the design. Sometimes they confirmed we were on the right track. But they always gave us another question to ask:
Does this feel right to a fan?
Making the Pieces Was Only Part of It
That hands-on approach didn’t end once the clothes were finished.
When it came time to photograph the collection, we wanted the world surrounding it to feel just as considered.
So the campaign sets were built with the same spirit.
The backdrops were painted by hand, with each one created to give its Court a distinct atmosphere. Colors, textures and scenery were developed specifically for the world we wanted to create in front of the camera.
Which meant that behind the final campaign images were paint brushes, drop cloths, works in progress and an artist physically building the world around our models.
There’s something we love about that.
A fantasy world imagined on the page, interpreted by our designers and artists, and then quite literally built/painted into existence.
The Stuff You Don’t See in the Final Photo
A finished collection can make the process behind it look very neat.
It wasn’t.
There were versions that changed. Names that changed. Artwork that evolved. Samples that came back and went out again. References that sparked entire conversations.
That’s part of making something.
And with ACOTAR, those conversations could get extremely specific.
Was the right shell represented? Did a name accidentally suggest something entirely different to someone deep in ACOTAR theory? Would another reader understand why that detail was there?
When you care about a world this much, the little things stop feeling very little.
18+ Months. A Lot of Hands. One Collection.
There isn’t one person behind ACOTAR™ x Knix.
There are artists who put pencil to paper. Designers who turned ideas into pieces you could actually wear. Teams who worked through samples and details. Artists who painted the sets. And dozens of ACOTAR fans at Knix who brought their own knowledge of the books into the room.
That’s what “made for fans, by fans” means to us.
Not just that we love the books.
That fans had a hand in making the thing itself.
And now, after 18+ months, it’s almost yours.
The limited-edition ACOTAR™ x Knix collection launches October 15 at 12 AM EST. Explore the collection, plan your buy and sign up to be the first to know when it goes live.
