lifeiscarbon®

Finnish Fashion Talent

Why do we love the young Finnish fashion designer Samu-Jussi Koski? Marimekko is one of the oldest institutions in the world of Finnish fashion and design. Most people will know the Unikko print or the Jokapoika shirt, both classics that have made a big comeback during the last few years. In a bold move, the company has allowed a young and fresh talent to combine his love of high fashion with the traditional Marimekko values. Almost single-handedly, Samu-Jussi has managed to bring the brand back to life, by literally translating Marimekko's designs from it’s 60’s peak into fashion for the modern day. He has been called the Marc Jacobs of Finland (well, in Finland at least).

Originally Samu-Jussi wanted to study photography at the Lahti Institute of Design but didn’t manage to turn in his entrance submissions on time. Since the deadline for fashion design hadn’t passed, he entered a submission for that and he got in. During his studies, he interned at Marimekko and was asked to come back after graduating by none other than the Managing Director, Kirsti Paakkanen. His next big break came as a result of a misunderstanding when he was asked to design a color range for an old collection but ended up designing a whole new collection. Marimekko liked what they saw and his first official collection came out in 2005. He’s been the rising star of Finnish fashion ever since.

Fine Art Fashion

Helena Fredriksson, a young Swedish fashion designer based in Brooklyn, was one of the rising stars to be featured in this year's Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion show at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York earlier this year. Not only is lifeiscarbon® in love with the H Fredriksson range but we also predict it will be a label to watch in 2007.

Fredriksson is a self-taught fashion designer with a formal background in the fine arts. Her approach to design is very sculptural, with draping techniques and unconventional shapes that are strongly influenced by her view of the body as sculpture. The balance in her collection is found in the mix of opposites; loose silhouettes matched with tapered shapes or elegant cuts with a raw finish (see below for a selection of images from the SS07 collection).

Many of her pieces are detailed with silk-screen prints based on her own photography, which adds a painterly touch to her garments. During all of her runway shows, Fredriksson has presented film installations made in collaboration with film artist English Kills and her husband, the composer Mike Skinner. The films are designed to communicate a sense of the less tangible inspirations that have influenced the colors, prints and designs in each of her collections.

New Scandinavian Films

Scandinavia House in New York has once again picked the best recent films from the Nordic region and is showing them as part of its popular annual Winter/Spring films series. Despite the fact that it began in February with a selection of films from Norway, the series continues on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons until the end of June with films from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.

If you’re a fan of classic Scandinavian films, it’s well worth popping along to watch some of the great new offerings from the region such as Hell is for Heroes from Finland and Thicker Than Water from Iceland. See below for full details of the films (which are all subtitled in English).

Also not to be missed, PD04 is a cultural sampler of the best experimental shorts, art films, and new music videos (including Sigur Rós and Múm) from contemporary Iceland that takes place on Thursday 12 April.

Norwegian Guerrillas

lifeiscarbon® recently talked to Axel Haugen, one of the partners at Norwegian design studio Gerilja Works, to hear about their recent projects. Gerlilja Works has only been in business for a little over two years but has already chalked up an impressive list of clients and picked up a number of awards for its designs.

In parallel to acting as product development consultants for clients, in which they provide a range of services including 3D Concept Development, Prototyping, CAD/DAK Services, Illustration & Graphics and Production Assistance, the company also develop their own innovative products. A good example of which is Tri Lamp, a recent design for an innovative and energy-conscious lighting solution, which has gained a large amount of media attention across the world.

As well as loving a number of their designs (see below), we also rather like titles that the partners have on their business cards: Markus Høy-Petersen (El Commandante), Vibeke Sandemo (Financial Oracle & Morning Soprano), Axel Haugan (Usability Ninja & Smoke Signalist), Stian Tesdal (Serial Surfer & Golden Touch Of Detail) and Svein-Gunnar Kjøde (Bushwacka & QA).

lifeiscarbon® in New York

Hästens by Carbon Photography

As you might have guessed from our recent postings, lifeiscarbon® is on tour in New York. Amongst other things we’ve been spending a good deal of our time visiting Scandinavian stores in the city, which might seem rather odd given that we can visit the same stores just as easily back at home. As part of a consultancy project for a client, we were curious to find out how Scandinavian brands adapted to the US market and how prices compared to the home market.

The most noticeable thing is that most of the Scandinavian brands we visited use their ‘Scandinavianess’ very selectively and seem much more interested in becoming global brands. Whilst their heritage and country of origin are important back home, it will quickly be forgotten in favor of local acceptability when expanding overseas. In terms of prices, due to the current exchange rate, there’s not much of a premium compared to buying products in Scandinavia although product selections are very limited in the US.

Take a look below at details of the stores we visited and make your own tour of Scandinavia in New York.

Scandinavia in New York

lifeiscarbon® popped along to Hus in New York, a retail store exclusively focused on Scandinavia, to check out their selection of brands and products. Hus was started by some Scandinavians friends living in America who enjoy keeping up to date with what's in vogue in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries.

Hus is clearly attempting to offer a one-of-a-kind retail shopping experience that fully immerses New Yorkers in a holistic Scandinavian experience including feel (design, products), sights (art, movies), sound (music) and taste (food, drinks). Whilst it’s a great store and we admire their ambition, the selection does seem somewhat narrow and rather biased to Danish and Swedish products (see below).

Bruun Brothers Design Duo

We’ve long been fans of Danish fashion brand, Bruuns Bazaar. Whilst not as edgy as many of the other Scandinavian designers that we love, it’s comforting to know that it’s always possible to find an interesting purchase during a trip to one of Bruun’s Bazaar stores.

Bruun’s Bazaar, who presented their first collection in 1995, is a collaboration between two brothers Teis Bruun, CEO and Bjorn Bruun, Designer and Creative Director. From the very beginning they sort to distance their designs from the norm by creating highly characteristic designs with a strong personal attitude.

Today Bruun’s Bazaar is an innovative international design company, consistently creating sharp looking men’s and women’s clothing as well as accessories (see a short selection below). Their consistent and reliable blend of classic and more edgy styles have gained them a loyal following in Scandinavia and beyond. These days the brand is present in more than 30 countries worldwide.

Tom Sandberg in New York

Ambiguous surfaces that never quite reveal themselves and an acute visual economy characterize the work of Norwegian photographer, Tom Sandberg. lifeiscarbon® went along to P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York to see his first solo exhibition in the United States, an exhibition featuring more than thirty photographs taken over the past decade, including the premiere of several new works.

Working for almost thirty years, exclusively with large format, black-and-white film, Sandberg has produced a remarkable body of work that is consistent in its vision and imbued with a sense of mystery and depth of feeling. Whether he depicts sublime snow-covered mountains, a car parked in the street, the head of an infant, or a spectral house shrouded in fog, his pictures seem to convey a sense of what it means to be alive (see a small selection of his work below).

Naked Truth About Denim

It’s almost the weekend, the sun has been shining and the days are getting longer and longer. Perhaps it’s due to the relatively warm weather and the brightness of the light, that all of us at lifeiscarbon® took a rest from our ubiquitous black outfits today and by pure coincidence we’d all had the same fashion thought: it was time to wear one’s favorite and most comfortable pair of battered old blue jeans. Even more interesting was the fact that a quick survey revealed that most of us were wearing the same brand – Nudie Jeans.

Why are they our favorites? Simply because of how well they age. Of course, most jeans age relatively well but there’s something about the way that Nudie jeans reflect their usage and so clearly show the character of the wearer (what you keep in your pockets, how your body is shaped, how you move etc). We have to confess that we strictly follow Nudie’s guidelines and don’t wash them for at least the first six months…..sometimes never (if that sounds unhygienic then it’s worth pointing out that dry-cleaning is permitted). One day, when we have time, we’ll have to explain the Scandinavian fashion phenomenon of Snus rings on the back pocket of jeans.

Nudie Jeans Co is the creation of Gothenburg-based designer, Maria Erixon and is the result of her rather extensive career in the denim industry: three years as the European creative manager at Lee, ten years as an art director and clothes designer for the retail store JC and prior to both she was the proud owner of her own denim store.

Swedes Love White

During the last couple of days, the sun has reappeared in Scandinavia, the snow and ice are receding and the days are getting longer. Despite our love of black, we suddenly felt the need for lighten the mood following all of the dark posts we’ve been making recently.

The Swedes - a design group based in Stockholm - love white almost as much as we do. Jessica Fryklund, Jonas Wannfors and Love Neuschütz met at the Beckmans College of Design, began to collaborate and eventually started up their own design company. These days, they still work closely together throughout the design process and often interpret each other’s original ideas into something new. The Swedes put great store in constantly experimenting with new expressions and ideas, and strive to be smart, soft and human in their design. Take a look below at a selection of their designs and judge for yourself.

Back To The Future

Henrik Berggren of Broder Daniel

The increasing popularity of photo sharing sites like Flickr and Pixilis are clear evidence of our fascination with photographs, and by far the highest viewed images on sites such as those are pictures of people (as opposed to objects, buildings or landscapes). The fact that all of us are looking at photos of strangers doesn’t seem to diminish that fascination, in fact in many cases it seems to stir up our curiosity even further. There’s even a thriving market for buying early black and white prints of unknown people purely for the enjoyment of trying to work out who the people in the portraits are, how they are related to one another, when and where the pictures were taken etc. Perhaps we’re not interested in photographs as art but as picture puzzles, so that we can indulge our Sherlock Holmes like tendencies?

We were fascinated to discover that old photographs have long been the source of inspiration for one of our favourite Scandinavian fashion designers, Rickard Lindqvist. His Fall/Winter 2007 collection is named Inferno III after a novel written by the Swedish author August Strindberg. Using Strindberg’s photographic self-portraits and paintings as his creative inspiration, it is the third of three collections exploring how fashion can abstract and concretise the human body.

Cosy Is The New Sexy

It’s time for the most shocking confession we’ve ever made on this site. We have to admit that we think there’s nothing sexier than seeing ones partner wandering around wearing nothing but a full set of thermal underwear. In case that sounds strange, we should let you know that this is a rather common occurrence in Scandinavia during an evening of après-ski. Victoria Secret and Agent Provocateur may be fine for some, but personally we feel there’s nothing sexier than a good old set of Helly Hansen blue thermals.

Why the confession? Simply because it’s the best way to explain our love for Vera & William of Norway, another of our Scandinavian fashion favorites. The Vera & William concept is the brainchild of Graphic Designer Kaja Heyerdahl and Fashion Designer Anne Cecilie Rinde. Having first met in 2002, they ended up merging their separate underwear and fashion design projects together and after several years of concept development and production research, they proudly presented their new brand in 2005.

Put very simply, Vera & William design and produce innerwear of the highest quality. Their collections are based on classical and traditional styles – for both everyday and delicate use – and are especially developed for the demanding climate and changing seasons of the North. All of their styles are offered in delicate colors and the finest materials such as Merino Wool, Silk, Angora, Cashmere and Egyptian Cotton.

Above Goes Boulevard

It seems there’s no stopping Kalle Peterson and our other friends at Above magazine. They only started their web-based magazine just over three months ago but it’s already gone through a couple of makeovers and now it's even getting a change of name. Hence forth, Above shall be known as Boulevard.

Much has changed since the magazine started. The photography has gone from strength to strength, in terms of both quality and breadth of coverage. The latest issue not only features more stunning street fashion shots from Malmö but also excellent catwalk photography from the recent Stockholm Fashion Week and images from the CPH Vision fashion fair in Copenhagen.

Kalle and his team have also kicked off their collaboration with Collective.se (a Swedish fashion blog) with whose help they will be expanding their editorial even further. Admittedly, Boulevard Magazine is written in Swedish but even if you don’t speak the language it’s still worth taking a look at simply for the sumptuous images (see a selection below).

Scandinavian Modern Shaker

One of our favorite furniture designs of all time has to be the Ikea PS range from the mid-nineties. As they still do today, Ikea teamed up with some of the leading young designers of the day in order to create affordable but stylish design classics. They also popularized a style that, for want of a better name, we’re calling Scandinavian Modern Shaker.

Whilst Ikea still work with young designers and occasionally produce a new PS range (most recently in 2006), these days the design brief is to explore, experiment and have fun. The result sadly approximates H&M’s business strategy of producing cheaply made copies of the latest catwalk styles. Whilst this might be successful with clothing that will fall apart after several washes and be out of style within 6 months, it doesn’t seem appropriate for rather more costly and difficult to assemble pieces of furniture. Unless, of course, Ikea’s strategy is for us to refurnish our homes as often as we update our wardrobe (no pun intended).

Luckily, some of those original designers of Ikea PS are still around and these days are producing their own ranges of furniture. One of our favorites is Sara Szyber from Stockholm. We love the simplicity and timelessness of her sparse designs. Whilst not representing the most innovative of designs, materials or technologies, her designs are highly functional despite their pared down style and very reminiscent of Shaker designs.

Bendable Interior Objects

When we wrote about the Swedish designers Form Us With Love yesterday, we saved our favorite design of theirs until last because we felt it warranted a mention all of its own.

Bendable Interior Objects (B.I.O.) is another of FUWL’s interesting and rather futuristic projects. B.I.O. is a concept originating from the flat-packed and slim-line processes of today in which minimizing packaging, simplifying self-assembly, reducing transportation and limiting harmful effects on the environment are all essential concerns.

The B.I.O. series is made of laser cut recyclable aluminum and comes in the form of a ‘flat bag’ that is easily carried home after purchase. Once home, it’s quick and easy to simply pop the objects out of the perforated sheet metal and fold them into their intended shapes. A neat solution that saves space, reduces costs and helps protect the environment.

The range currently consists of desk accessories, a shoe shelf, a shelf for clothes, clothes hangers, a corner table and multi-purposes containers. It’s a good looking range too and lifeiscarbon® are hoping that FUWL will extend the range over time….full sized chairs and tables perhaps.