lifeiscarbon®

Finnish Control Freaks

Photos by Knotan

lifeiscarbon® have long been fans of the Finnish street fashion brand CTRL and recently caught up with their designer, Freeman, to hear about the origins of the company and their plans for the future.

“CTRL was born a little over ten years ago, first it was all about skateboarding, deep roots, camel toes, tee-shirts, loose attitudes and the art of chasing tail in the streets of Helsinki. Then, about 4 or 5 years ago, we jumped over into the fashion world, or at least into the street fashion world, because we realized that the best way to get attention from the hottest girls was by running a fashion label. And they really do fall for that, and Oh boy we love it!”

CTRL have come a long way since those early days, having produced several clothing lines, a lot of skateboarding equipment and been behind numerous parties, social gatherings and secret events. Having successfully become heroes in Finland, their next moves are to make it big in New York and take over Stockholm. As Freeman explained; “We don’t intend to remain an exclusive small cool brand - instead CTRL is going to be a HUGE COOL BRAND.”

With a strong belief in universal love as part of the company’s core philosophy, CTRL are keen to get involved in creative collaborations and especially with organizations like Greenpeace or Amnesty International. As Freeman so aptly put it; “Saving the world is no joke”. CTRL has already created two collaborative skateboards, the first with VICE magazine and a second (old-school style board) together with ROCKERS NYC and are about to release a limited edition board together with Adidas.

Take a look below at some of our favorites from CTRL’s AW08 collection:

Fashionable Swedish Dandyism

Despite the strictly enforced dress code of either all black or all white clothing at lifeiscarbon® (yeah we know…hardly original since it’s the ubiquitous dress code for most Scandinavian designers), we do occasionally have a tendency towards the flamboyant. Call us strange, but some of us take a perverse pleasure in wearing highly colorful underwear beneath our monochromatic and puritanical exteriors. When, we wonder, will Superman’s habit of wearing underpants on the outside catch on?

Not that we want our readers to think that we’re in the habit of showing each other our underwear around the office but something of a competitive nature abounds and when our reliable old Björn Borg undies don’t cut the mustard we turn to the latest funky designs from Frank Dandy.

The Swedish fashion brand Frank Dandy was born in early 2002, supposedly as a reaction to underdeveloped underwear market of the time. Clearly on a mission to break the rules of traditional underwear, these days the brand is represented in over 13 countries spread across Scandinavia, Europe, North America and Asia. Not content with creating underwear, Frank Dandy have invented the term Superwear to cover a range of clothing including jeans, jackets, shirts and accessories for men, women and children. We’re particularly partial to their crazy colored Long Johns. Take a look below at a few of our favorites:

Sustainable Minimalism

Given our peculiar aesthetics, it’s probably no surprise that lifeiscarbon® have long been huge admirers of the art and architecture of Donald Judd (we are even planning a pilgrimage to Marfa, Texas when we can spare the time). Easy therefore, to see why we love the brutally hard edged work of Norwegian architects BKARK.

Comprising of Geir Brendeland, Olav Kristoffersen and Simen Stori, BKARK was originally established after the architects successfully won a competition to design sustainable low-cost housing for the Svartlamon district of Trondheim. Completed in 2005, the Svartlamoen housing project is a unique example of sustainable multi story wooden housing in an urban context and has been widely published internationally as well as being nominated for numerous awards (including Mies van the Rohe award 2007, The Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architecture 2005, Iakov Chernikov prize 2006 and Young Norwegian Designers of the year, 2005)

BKARK have continued to address the issue of sustainability in their projects and to explore more and more innovative uses of wood in their designs. Recent projects include a stunningly minimalist private home that seems to float above a skirt of glass, converting a car dealership into a kindergarten and over coming Polar conditions to create designer apartments on Svalbard. Latest news is that BKARK have won first prize in a competition to create visitor facilities at the spectacular Torghatten mountain in northern Norway. Take a look below at some examples of their work:

Young Swedish Fashion Duo

It’s not often that lifeiscarbon® lacks inspiration but when occasionally we do, we know we can always turn to our friend Martin Bundock at AWB AB, the innovative Stockholm based communication agency. Martin somehow seems to be plugged into all the latest must-know-about trends and must-be-at happenings in Sweden, not to mention that he's probably friends with all the must-get-to-know people in Stockholm.

Martin's most recent piece of inspiration was to introduce us to the up and coming Swedish fashion brand Jojo & Malou. The label was founded by the Swedish design duo Jojo Ericson and Malou Palmqvist, who met eight years ago whilst completing an Art Foundation course at the Kent Institute of Art & Design. Both went on to complete fashion degrees in Womenswear Design, Jojo at Ravensbourne College of Design and Malou at Middlesex University.

Despite always having the intention to one day combine forces to create their own fashion brand, after graduating in 2004, Malou gained experience by working for Markus Lupfer and Katie Hillier, whilst Jojo split her time between Dover Street Market and Peter Jensen. However, the friends eventually before pooled their talents to create a collection for the renowned Fashion Fringe competition in 2005.

Since then, Jojo & Malou have created an exclusive diffusion line for Topshop, taken part in the RED campaign, and collaborated creatively with Gabriel Garcia Gauche, Japanese Nylon, Dazed and Confused and ELLE. They have twice been awarded a New Generation sponsorship to participate in London Fashion Week, staged their first ever catwalk show in Stockholm during +46, and represented the UK for the British Council in Lithuania. Take a look below at some of our favorites from their SS08 collection:

Scandinavian Ecoluxury

Sadly, many would say that today’s chemical-focused textile industry not only harms the environment but also creates garments that are in fact harmful to the wearer’s skin. Luckily, the Swedish fashion designer Camilla Norrback has recognized this fact and chosen to produce the major part of her garments in ecological or environment-certified natural materials. For fabrics to be labeled ecological they must be created in environmentally friendly ways tat every stage of production; cultivation, processing and coloring.

Camilla Norrback only uses production methods that affect the environment as little as possible, for example by using natural alternatives to toxins and chemicals. Environment-certified fabrics are processed and colored in an environment-friendly way, making sure that pigments aren’t released into the groundwater and that the finished fabrics contain no toxins or heavy metals that could be harmful to potential wearers of her garments.

Recognizing that environment-friendly technology for producing fabrics has evolved far enough not to compromise a designer’s artistic freedom, Camilla Norrback has called her fashion range, Ecoluxury. Take a look below at our favorite outfits from the SS08 collection:

IVANAhelsinki's New Collection

The last few days have seen Helsinki bathed in warm sunshine and it seems as if Spring has finally arrived in the far North. It’s time for Scandinavians to finally start donning their lighter weight summer clothing and no doubt many people will own at least one classic looking outfit from IVANAhelsinki, our Finnish fashion favorites.

These days, IVANAhelsinki describes itself as an Art Fashion brand but despite having come a long way since its humble beginnings, as leisurewear for matchstick factory workers, it hasn’t lost its delicate combination of Scandinavian style with a hint of Slavic melancholy.

Still fresh from being given the honor of being the first Scandinavian brand to have ever been accepted on the official main show list during Paris Fashion Week, IVANAhelsinki are currently promoting their new collection for AW08, entitled BirdRing. Take a look below at a selection of our favorites from the collection and be sure to check out IVANAhelsinki’s dramatically different updated website:

carboncollective™: Lina Scheynius

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series in which we are showcasing some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last year, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. All of the photographers we've chosen are proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and demonstrate a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics.

Our latest photographer in the series is Lina Scheynius (born 1981) from Sweden. Originally from the small Swedish town of Vänersborg, Lina was brought up in Trollhättan in the southwest of the country. As well as being home to Saab Auto and Volvo Aero, these days Trollhättan is also home to the Swedish film industry and fast becoming known as Trollywood (Fucking Åmål, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville are just a few of the films to have been shot there).

Despite having only shown her work for the last two years, Lina has already chalked up an impressive list of exhibitions, having been included in a group show in London, two in Dublin and one in Lund, Sweden. 2008 is shaping up to be an even busier year for Lina, with a further four shows including one in Barcelona, one in Paris and two in New York.

We love the brooding sense of intimacy and subtle play of light in Lina’s photography together with the way she injects mystery into everyday moments. See for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the new carboncollective™ IX gallery. Remember to read the profiles of the other photographers in the carboncollective™ series and to view our galleries of their work:

Team Carbon Update

For less regular readers of lifeiscarbon® or those who may be new to the website, we thought it worth quickly restating what we do and why we do it. At it’s simplest, lifeiscarbon® is a way for us to raise awareness and interest in Scandinavian Aesthetics and particularly in the art, design, fashion and music from the region that we happen to love. Why? Partly because it provides useful research for a number of The Carbon Foundation’s own ventures (ie carbonislife® –retail concept, carbonphotography® - commercial photography, ordinaryeverday® - fashion brand and lifeiscarbon® - print edition) but more importantly because we want to help local talent. Sadly, we’ve had the privilege of knowing too many talented individuals and companies from the region who simply don’t get the critical and financial return that they deserve. This website is one of the many small ways in which we try to help them.

Despite the fact that we enjoy writing about others, our motto of Faire Sans Dire makes us rather reticent to talk about ourselves. However, being a not-for-profit organization makes it necessary for us to occasionally turn to our readers for help. Whilst our editorial neutrality is important to us and we’ve gone on record as never accepting advertising on this site, we are currently involved in a number of interesting conversations with global brands that would like to collaborate creatively with us. Given the number of projects we’re interested in creating (including co-branded fashion ranges, guerilla stores, touring art exhibitions, book publishing etc etc), we’re keen to hear from brands that want to work with us. Beyond hearing from brands, if you happen to be a graphic designer, web designer or a stylist and would like to get involved in one of our up coming projects, we'd love to hear from you.

Finally, a quick word about music. We have to confess that music has been neglected of late but, given the number of musical discoveries we’ve made recently, we’re pleased to announce that carbonsounds™ will be relaunching later this week. It seems that it’s not only readers who have been missing our musicals profiles but also the bands themselves. Whilst we can’t promise to review all of the CDs that are sent to us, we’d like to encourage artists from the region to continue sending us their new releases (contact details here) in order for us to keep writing about the best new music from the region.

Danish Designer, Artist, Filmmaker, Musician...

Often heard in its incomplete form, the expression Jack of all trades, master of none is these days mostly incorrectly used as an insult. The full quote, Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one, was originally intended as a compliment and used to describe anyone who was something of a polymath or Renaissance man. From his base in Copenhagen, the multitalented Danish designer Henrik Vibskov is certainly a Jack of all trades, and we mean that in the nicest possible sense of the expression.

As if his wonderful funky fashion creations (take a look below) and extravagant catwalk shows don’t keep him busy enough, Henrik Vibskov is also a musician, filmmaker and artist. His short film The Monk was selected by a panel of prominent personalities such as Jarvis Corker, Douglas Gordon and Dave Stewart to win the Beck’s Future Prize 2000 in the UK with another of hi short films, The Egg, also being shortlisted. Both films have subsequently been shown at numerous art exhibitions and film festivals around the world. Together with the Japanese fine art artist Mitsunori Asakura, Vibskov has also produced a documentary entitled Pigs In Tokyo. Music is another of Vibskov's passions. Having been introduced to them by his brother, Henrik Vibskov has been playing drums since the age of 10. He has so far appeared on 10 releases with various independent artists and is the drummer for the Danish musician Trentemoeller.

Read more about Henrik Vibskov below and see a selection of our favorite images from his recent Fantabulous Bicycle Music Factory collection:

Why Red? Why Not Blue?

We love the clean lines, neat shapes and quirky details of modernist Swedish fashion brand Whyred. Established in 1999, Whyred was founded by Roland Hjort, Lena Patriksson and Jonas Clason, three former employees of H&M who decided to combine their collective skills in design, production and marketing to create their own fashion brand.

Separate from their regular collections, Whyred have also created Art Project, an ongoing series of creative collaborations with artists, as a way of gaining inspiration though experimentation with fresh ideas in contemporary art. With the belief that artists and designers should inspire each other and come up with new creations together, Art Project was launched in 2005 with help from the Stockholm based curator Ben Loveless.

Whyred’s most recent collaboration is with the Swedish artist Malin Pettersson Öberg who created a wall painting (in the Whyred store at Mäster Samuelsgatan in Stockholm) that touches on the themes of language, cultural identity, urban rumors and the borders between reality and fiction. Two earlier collaborations have also been successfully produced with two other Swedish artists: Underwear with Jockum Nordström in 2005 and Bags and T-Shirts with Roger Andersson in 2006. Take a look below to see a selection of our favorite outfits from Whyred’s SS08 collection and to read more about the company:

Art Commerce Collision

The Swedish-American renegade creative duo Hart + Larsson have been quite a stir of late, first with their spoof Marc Jacobs advertising campaign (complete with it’s Juergen Teller pastiche) and then with their hijacking of the front cover of New York Magazine. Envious of their ability to mix art with commerce, lifeiscarbon® recently caught up with Tomas Larsson to hear about some of their more interesting projects.

“More than anything, we are purveyors of style. We want to create things - whether it be films, photography, websites or clothing - that all refer back to the H+L style. Ultimately we want to populate the world with things that posses a certain look or voice. We see no clear distinction between art and commerce. What we do, in essence, is called The New Enthusiasm.”

“Some of our more notable past and present clients are AOL, MTV, GE, Olympus, Mike&Ike, Every Day With Rachael Ray, and Paramount. Presently we are developing an original online program with Comedy Central.”

Take a look below to read more about Hart + Larrson and to see some our favorite projects by them. YouTube, Frank Gehry and Brad Pitt are just a few of those who have had the honor of being given given the Hart + Larrson treatment:

Scandinavian Fashion Acquisition

Whilst it’s unusual for us to cover corporate news on lifeiscarbon®, given the popularity of the previous articles we’ve written about Cheap Monday, we thought readers might be interested to know that the company has agreed to sell itself to H&M.

H&M has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the privately owned Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien AB, the company that runs the store chains Weekday and Monki, and sells a number of its own brands including Cheap Monday. At this stage, H&M states that it plans to run the company as a standalone subsidiary within the H&M Group.

H&M acquires 60 percent of the shares in Fabric Scandinavien for SEK 564 million in cash ($94.5 million) from its current owners, the founders Adam Friberg, Lars Karlsson, Örjan Andersson and Linda Friberg, who will all continue to work within the company. Fabric Scandinavien have also entered into an additional agreement in which H&M has the possibility/obligation to acquire the remaining shares in the company within three to five years. Take a look below to read more about the deal and to see images from Cheap Monday’s SS08 collection:

Swedish Fashion Japanese Style

Following on from their collaborations with Roberto Cavalli and Viktor & Rolf, Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz has announced that their next collaboration will be with the Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo. Sadly, you’ll have to wait a while before you get your hands on the new collection as the world launch is not until the opening of H&M’s second store in Tokyo in the beginning of November.

Comme des Garçons’ founder and head designer Rei Kawakubo, much admired for her rebellious sense of style, will design a women’s and a men’s collection, together with some pieces for children. Accessories and an exclusive unisex fragrance will also be included in the collection.

"I have always been interested in the balance between creation and business. It is a dilemma, although for me creation has always been the first priority. It is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M since it is a chance to take the dilemma to its extreme, and try to solve it" explains Rei Kawakubo:

New Films From Iceland

Whilst we define Scandinavian Aesthetics as encompassing art, design, fashion and music from across the Nordic region, one of our greatest passions is for film. Classic Scandinavian films like The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, Pelle the Conqueror by Bille August, Elvira Madigan by Bo Widerberg, The Celebration by Thomas Vinterberg, The Pathfinder by Nils Gaup, Elling by Petter Næss and Cold Fever by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson encapsulate the history, culture and aesthetics of the region far better than we can ever hope to do so with this website. We’re not suggesting you stop reading lifeiscarbon®, but we do recommend that you find time to see all of the films mentioned above.

As if catching up on must-see Scandinavian films wasn’t enough, the list of notable new films from the region is growing all the time. For those of you who happen to be in New York, there’s an opportunity to view some of the best new short films from Iceland on Thursday, April 17 at Scandinavia House. The films are part of Scandinavia House’s Nordic Shorts series, an on-going series introducing some of the finest new shorts by the next generation of Nordic filmmakers. The series concludes next month with new films from Norway.

Take a look below to watch Dog, an animation by Hermann Karlsson and to read more about other recent short films from Iceland including Misty Mountain by Óskar Þor Axelsson, Thanks For Helping by Benedikt Erlingsson, Wrestling by Grímur Hákonarson, Whatever by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Rattlesnakes by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, and Anna by Helena Stefánsdóttir.

carboncollective™: Jenny Kristina Nilsson

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series in which we are showcasing some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last year, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. All of the photographers we've chosen are proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and their work demonstrates a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics .

Our eighth photographer is Jenny Kristina Nilsson (born 1985) from Gävle in Sweden. Originally from Östersund, in the middle of the country, Jenny is currently studying Creative Writing at the University of Gävle but has plans to study photography from the Fall.

“I take pictures because I want to tell stories and in order to explore subjects I’m interested in. Right now my photographs revolve around the issues of identity, loneliness, everyday life, emotions and one’s sense of self. I feel that my pictures tell me something about myself and my life. They form a sort of a weird diary.”

Together with other carboncollective™ photographers such as Sannah Kvist and Emilie Björk, Jenny Kristina Nilsson’s work can simplistically be described as Scandinavian Realism with a strong undercurrent of Nordic Angst. Solitary figures, always partially obscured, are glimpsed within intimate but claustrophobic spaces or dwarf-like against the brooding force of nature. Flooded, as always, by the intense and oppressive white light of Scandinavia. Judge for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the carboncollective™ VIII gallery. Remember to read the profiles of other photographers in the carboncollective™ series and to view our online galleries of their work: