"The simple path to the journey to Nahyat Designs has just begun," reads a note on the sleeve of a cashmere scarf.

Nahyat Designs is the creation of resident Mary Ann Gebhardt, and that journey leads right to Cose Belle next to the Market Basket, where the speciality shop sells hand-crafted items and accessories.

Yoga and Yarn

In many respects, Gebhardt can thank her two passions for her success: yoga and knitting. 

As the two had once been separate parts of her life, now with her Nahyat Designs collection, yoga and knitting are finally interconnected, weaving together the methodology of meditation with the task of pure creation.

The result is an organic collection of scarves, vests, shawls, and baby accessories, "inspired by nature, and made from nature," said Gebhardt.

“There’s something so calming about weaving your own fabric,” she said, adding that now she teaches knitting workshops “like a form of meditation.”

As a child, she was always knitting, enjoying the relaxation that replaced tension in her fingers and releasing anxiety from her mind.

Yoga came later, when she was in her 20s, but the same principal applied: relaxation and appreciating life in all its forms. Eventually, her two passions led to teaching yoga, and teaching knitting to children and the elderly.

“I’d tell my students, one stitch is woven into the next stitch and it soon becomes a beautiful thing,” she said.

Nahyat, meaning “to knit or weave” in Sanskrit, came to life after Gebhardt started wearing her own designs over her yoga clothes. Pretty soon, her class of yoga enthusiasts began requesting shawls, and her business was born.

Stitch Season

In 2008, Gebhardt bought her label, designs and pads, and got to work designing her collection. She buys most of her yarn in bulk in Paterson, N.J., once famously known as “Silk City.”

Her goal is to keep it organic, buying colors inspired from nature so that it’s a “beautiful accent,” while paying attention to quality, using only cashmere and bamboo. On her Web site, sweaters and vests are also available, as well as her infinity scarfs and baby clothes sold in Cose Belle, which opened in November.

At first, business consisted of yoga participants and a few small shops, with Gebhardt relying on word-of-mouth to propel her business.

However, after she did a fundraiser for Oasis shelter, the collection caught the eye of Market Basket owner, Arthur DeMoulas’ daughter.  She bought a baby sweater, shawl and a few other things before mentioning The Market Basket’s new gift, stationary and accessories boutique, Cose Belle.

“Sometimes things are just meant to be,” said Gebhardt. “You never know what will lead you into your next path.”

Since Cose Belle started selling Nahyat Designs, Gebhardt’s baby shawls and infinity scarves have flown off the shelves. 

“The scarves have been very popular especially with the winter weather,” said Cose Belle Manager Erica Mazzilli. “Customers like that it’s hand-done by someone local.”

While a lot of her designs are hand-crafted, she also uses her ‘50s-era knitting machine, which allows Gebhardt extra time to create accent pieces like flower-ties and lace flourishes.

“I always had the belief that when you really love it, it’s not really work,” she said.

Before Nahyat Designs, Gebhardt was a medical technologist at Hackensack Medical Center. Later, she manufactured miniature teddy bears made out of cashmere for Ganz Cottage Collectibles. Many of those bears were featured in magazines, toy fairs, comptetition and in international museums.

Creating specialty items stuck with her, inspiring her to display her collection in boutiques and shops.

“These are for people who are looking for an item that won’t ordinarily be seen in department stores,” she said. 

Down the Road

Like any proud parent, Gebhardt wants her collection to grow and be successful, but because of a value she places on comfort, she wants to keep her collection in specialty shops so that “it doesn’t lose the personal part of it.”

Vests cost $195 retail while cardigans are priced up to $295 and shawls share a similar price tag as the sweaters. But Gebhardt said she’s offering something unique and soft – not itchy like poorer-quality cashmere– and she has “no doubt it will last longer,” assuming the wearer dry cleans the garment or washes it properly. 

With the expensive price tag of cashmere, many companies look overseas to cut costs, but Gebhardt wants to keep her designs in the United States.

Gebhardt's Web site, along with her Facebook page, show her past designs, provide information about her fabric choice, ways to order and upcoming events.

Her knitting room contains yarn, needles, her sewing machine and many of her miniature teddy bears, the ones  from Ganz Cottage Collectibles. Though they are part of her past, she keeps them, she said, because they gave her “the confidence to go into a clothing store,” which is “now part of my future.”

Her biggest inspiration comes from her customers, she said. 

“Everyday I have something that I made and it’s such a wonderful thing,” she said.