PARIS — After 12 years in London, French designer Pauline Dujancourt has no plans to move back to the other side of the Channel, but she certainly has plenty of reasons to visit.

On top of her Special Prize win at the 2026 ANDAM Fashion Awards, which comes with a yearlong mentoring regimen, she is joining Dover Street Market’s Paris-based brand development program, where her diaphanous hand-knit creations have already left an impression.

“I saw her first collection online and it felt otherworldly,” said Augustin Maunier, who serves as director of the program. “Looking deeper, I loved her devotion to all the different hand-knitting techniques she uses.”

Paris-born Dujancourt studied fashion and textile design at École Duperré in Paris and rediscovered knitting, which she had initially learned as a child from her grandmother, during the COVID-19 pandemic. She went on to pursue a master’s degree with the technique as her specialty at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2022.

Dover Street Market London began stocking her label from spring 2024 and it is now also at the retailer’s Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Singapore outposts.

Her stockist list now spans 18 doors, including the likes of Net-a-porter, Isetan in Tokyo, Selfridges in London and Printemps in Paris — and has outgrown its grassroots wholesale showcases.

“I would borrow my dad’s office in Paris and turn it into a small casual showroom and invite all the buyers and press there,” Dujancourt told WWD. “It taught me a huge amount… but I also think it is about time now that I delegate this part of the business.”

Under the new arrangement, Dujancourt will have her own space in the Dover Street Market showroom in Paris, where the business development arm will introduce her collections to its wholesale clients, advise on merchandising, explore brand collaborations — and whatever else may come up.

“She does everything herself so we are happy to help wherever she needs us,” Maunier added.

This development comes at a critical juncture for the four-year-old brand, which has been gaining traction since it was a finalist of the 2024 LVMH Prize for Young Designers. On the flip side of increased brand recognition came growing pains, particularly with wholesale orders accelerating in the past two seasons.

“It was a bit of a growth crisis in a way, [juggling] cash flow while being able to still deliver a much, much bigger production within a very short time frame,” Dujancourt said. Having the financial boost of her ANDAM win plus the support of Dover Street Market’s brand development arm will keep her brand from being “blindsided” by fast-paced changes, particularly in today’s challenging macroeconomic climate.

For Maunier, the very thing that makes the brand difficult to scale — its reliance on handwork — is also its edge. “The main challenge is scale as most pieces are handmade. But it’s also the main opportunity in a world where speed is the default,” he said. “It will be our job to help her figure it all out.”

Freeing Dujancourt of that aspect of her label’s development will also give her the bandwidth to focus on broadening its footprint.

“The core product will forever remain those intricate signature pieces, but I am working on introducing more and more ‘wearable’ — commercial — styles as well to balance the silhouettes and have a broader offer for our audience,” she said.

Dujancourt is simultaneously expanding her network of artisans in France, the U.K. and Peru, with plans to travel to South America to train new makers and potentially document the process on film. “As we grow the orders, we need to have more and more makers because it’s handwork. We can’t just speed up like a machine,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons why I do what I do — working with other humans and bringing opportunities to them.”

And despite all the reasons that will pull her more frequently to Paris, Dujancourt is intent on honoring the ecosystem that nurtured her in London.

Currently a designer in residence at the Paul Smith Foundation and supported by the British Fashion Council’s NewGen initiative, she plans to stage at least two more shows during London Fashion Week before considering any changes.

“I just don’t want to burn my wings,” she said. “We are still a young business, so I want to make sure that we grow in a sustainable way — slowly, steadily and with the right partners.”