lifeiscarbon®

Rare Bergman Documentary

Ingmar Bergman produced two films about his beloved Fårö, the island on which he made his longterm home and that served as the setting for seven of his films including Through a Glass Darkly, Scenes from a Marriage and Persona.

In 1969, troubled by the island's disappearing traditions and the exodus of its young people to the mainland, Bergman made a surprisingly direct and political document about Fårö's importance. Swedish critics hailed it as "one of his finest films." Ten years later, he decided to take a second look at situation, and made his second Fårö Document (a third was planned for 1989, but was never made). The update is surprisingly optimistic, with several remarkable "then and now" juxtapositions. The unhappy teenagers about to decamp for Stockholm in the first film turn out to have settled into the quiet, isolated Fårö life.

Interweaving scenes of extraordinary beauty with interviews and rigorous sequences depicting everyday chores, customs and rituals on Fårö, Bergman develops a complex, understated and loving portrait of his tiny island. Both documentaries will screen during the upcoming Ingmar Bergman Festival of Gotland in New York. Take a look below for more information:

Everyday Photographic Surrealism

Following in the tradition of Tony-Ray Jones, Garry Winogrand, Jacques Henri Lartigue and Mary Ellen Mark (with whom she recently studied), the young Norwegian photographer Mona Ødegård seeks out people in their natural habitat and photographs them in their most unguarded moments. Her quietly intriguing photographs reveal the nature of modern life as a series of narrowly avoided catastrophes.

With her distinctive aesthetic sense, Ødegård´s photographs somehow manage to slow time and show us glimpses of a world that, for all its technology, still relies on simple human interaction. Follow the link to read more about Mona Ødegård, one of our favorite Scandinavian photographers, and to see a small selection of her work:

Contemporary Danish Design Triumvirate

Having collaborated on multiple projects for years Lars Holme Larsen, Bjarke Ingels and Jens Martin Skibsted decided to turn their intuitive inclination to work together into a full time collaboration. The result was KiBiSi, a Copenhagen based industrial design firm that is spawning a new breed of idea driven design.

In an age in which products should be the carriers of brand ideas rather than merely the form and formula of an individual designer, KiBiSi is successfully navigating a course in the fertile overlap between design, architecture and ideation. Take a look below to read more about KiBiSi and to see a selection of lifeiscarbon® favorites:

Rugged Edged Sophistication

The usual signatures of grungy tailoring, sheer fabrics and layered textures are all much in evidence in the latest collection from Finnish designer and lifeiscarbon® favorite Heikki Salonen.

Born in 1979 Vantaa, Finland, Salonen graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2008. A year later, his graduation collection was part of the Victoria & Albert museum Future Fashion Now exhibition. Before starting his eponymous London ready-to-wear line in 2008 with his artist partner Johanna, Salonen worked for Erdem and is currently a consultant for Diesel. The artist and designer duo combine their shared passion for arts and fashion by striving to create collections with rich layers of references and innovative experimental techniques. Take a look below at the photographs and a video from the stunning Heikki Salonen AW 2011 Look Book shot by Nicole Maria Winkler:

Neo-Punk Infused Fashion

After spending time working for the London based Danish designer Jens Laugesen but whilst still studying at Central Saint Martin’s, Lina Österman launched her own ready-to-wear label Pudel. Not long after Pudel’s first showings in Copenhagen, the young Swedish designer was approached by Top Shop and asked to design a capsule collection to be sold exclusively at their Oxford Circus store.

After graduating from Central Saint Martin’s in 2008, Österman launched a second line, the eponymously named Lina Österman. Building on the unisex concept behind Prudel, the new high-end line is famed for its signature studded garments, intricate knitwear and deconstructed tailoring. As a color, Bottle Green may not be for us, but other than that we love the Lina Österman AW 2011 Collection. See it below:

First Look - Acne Spring Summer 2012

The Swedish fashion house Acne unveiled their Spring Summer 2012 collection for women yesterday in a pre presentation in New York. To quote Acne founder, Jonny Johansson, the Resort Collection draws inspiration from “a downtown, young jeans girl….who is colliding with romantic, historic fashion and creating a trapped volume”. Tortuous fashion speak perhaps but the resulting mash-up of couture fabrics such as taffeta, brocade, silk and denim, in historically inspired Scandinavian colors, creates a world of volume somehow impossibly captured within ultra slim silhouettes.

Loving it all, as we do, look below to our favorites....photos and video of the entire SS 2012 Resort Collection:

Traditional Scandinavian Futurist

Staffan Holm, a young Swedish designer with a studio in Gothenburg, is fast building quite a reputation for himself with his impressive work in interior architecture, industrial design and furniture design. The designer´s work has already been widely exhibited, including shows at Salone Satellite in Milan and at the Stockholm Furniture Fair for the last three years in a row. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that a number of his prototypes have already been put into production.  

lifeiscarbon® loves the designer´s eclectic sources of inspiration and ability to combine traditional craft techniques with the latest manufacturing technologies. Take a look below at all five pieces that Staffan Holm exhibited in Milan this year and some earlier favorites of ours:

Quintessential Scandinavian Photographer

Born in Scotland and educated in San Francisco, and yet for us, Julie Pike is a quintessentially Scandinavian photographer. Seemingly innocent and playful images are often tinged with a sense of melancholy. Describing her own work as fragile but strong, and as nostalgic with an edge, few photographers manage to capture and utilize the unique quality of Scandinavian light as successfully as Julie Pike. 

Based in Oslo, since 2001, the photographer´s work has been widely exhibited internationally and published in a range of magazines around the world: Including many of the notable independents such as Cake, Carl´s Cars, Vanity Teen, Let Them Eat Cake, I Love Fake, Nylon, Tokion Factory, Vice and S Magazine.

Loving the photographers work as we do makes it difficult to pick our favorites, but take a look below to see a small selection of Julie Pike´s stunning images: 

Scandinavian Master Of Light

Ranging from limited editions, art installations, architecture and product prototypes, the work of Norwegian design Daniel Rybakken has always been difficult to define; occupying as it does, a space between art and design. One example is Right Angle Mirror (pictured above). A simple yet intriguing piece by Rybakken, that has recently become part of the Ligne-Roset collection. CNC-milled from a single piece of aluminum that is then polished and chrome plated, the design casts reflections and shadows on surrounding walls to create the illusion of being suspended in space.

Earlier this year, Daniel Rybakken was commissioned by Cosmit to create an installation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Salone del Mobile, and exhibited not only at must-see Spazio Rossana Orlandi but also at Salone Satellite. Take a look below to see photographs of pieces from the installation and some of our favorite works by this highly talanted designer:

Neo-Baroque Sculptural Fashion

Founded in 2004 by Astrid Olsson and Lee Cotter, the Swedish fashion label Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair boasts not just one but two successful lines; a ready to wear line as well as a couture inspired line under the name By The No.

We love Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair´s AW 2011/2012 ready-to-wear collection for men and women. A truly minimalistic investigation of different shades of black, grey, beige and white, resulting in a monochrome world of subtle nuances. Take a look below to read more about Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair and to see more images of the new collection:

Emerging Graphic Design Talent

lifeiscarbon® applauds the comprehensive identity program developed by Norwegian graphic designer Mikael Fløysand for the New Deichmanske Library at Bjørvika in Oslo. Including everything from logos and fonts to notebooks and promotional posters (and much in between) the design was actually created for Fløysand´s 2nd year final exam.

Originally from Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, Mikael Fløysand is currently part of Studio 3, the in-school 
design agency consisting of 15 handpicked third year students at Westerdals School of Communication in Oslo. Take a look below at the full scope of his design for the new Deichmaske Library and then make sure to follow the link to check out more great work on his website:  

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Despite our somewhat puritanical view of Scandinavian fashion, it´s difficult not to fall for Monki, the story-based female fashion concept from Sweden. Created in 2006, the Monki brand has grown from a handful of stores in its homeland to a successful international retail chain. Monki´s core collection manages to successfully flirt between street-style and crisp Scandinavian fashion sense.

The brand concept is based on the idea of the Monki World; apparently a magical place where anything can happen. However, this is not the clever creation of a group of independent designers. Monki happens to be the feisty, quirky little sister of Weekday and Cheap Monday, and is therefore owned by omni-present H&M (Hennes & Mauritz AB). Take a look below at some more wonderful images from Monki´s style campaign: 

blackgraphite by lifeiscarbon®

Photo by Danièle Martinie

Given the frequent coverage of Scandinavian photography here on lifeiscarbon® and our long running carboncollective™ series, it´s no secret that we have a vested interest in photography. In between our various commercial projects we are sometimes commissioned to do fashion shoots. In the spirit of openness and honesty, we thought it time we shared one of our other popular blogs with you. blackgraphite® is a continual curation of random inspiration for our various art fashion photo shoots. Take a look below to see a small selection of images and start following blackgraphite® today:

Ida Gullhav for Helly Hansen

Contrary to popular belief, we are not effete aesthetes. We hike. We climb. We cycle. And, of course, we ski. When we do, we like to be clothed and equipped with the best stuff for the job. Having long been fans of Helly Hansen´s classic products (there´s nothing that can match the performance of their timeless Lausanne Fibre Jacket), we are happy to see that the company is using the talents of Scandinavian designers to create interesting new product ranges.

It´s been a while since we´ve written about Ida Gullhav, one of our favorite Norwegian fashion designers, but we´ve fallen in love with the new Training Collection she´s created at Helly Hansen. It´s clear that Ida has drawn inspiration not only from her own background as a lingerie designer but also from the heritage of the distinctive Helly Hansen Lifa stripe: Take a look below to see our favorites from the new collection:

New Book from Lina Scheynius

Lina Scheynius, one of our favorite Swedish photographers, will be launching her latest book this week at the Mörel Space in London. The first edition of the photographer´s third book, published in an A5 format with 80 pages, is limited to 1000 numbered and signed copies. Given the popularity of the Lina´s first two books, both of which quickly sold out, we´ve already nabbed a copy. You can do the same by following the link below: