lifeiscarbon®

carbonarts™: Gustav Gustafsson

The young and talented Gustav Gustafsson from Sweden is another of our favorite Scandinavian photographers of the moment and the subject of the third installment of our carbonarts™ series. There’s a quietness and poignancy to Gustav’s images that, despite falling into the Scandinavian Realism genre of photography, often reveal a rather thought provoking sense of humor.

Born in 1983, Gustav Gustafsson was raised in Oskarshamn, Sweden, where he still lives today with his girlfriend and their dog. Rather like the photographer Knotan, Gustav originally trained as a welder - he’s been working at the Scania truck plant since 2002 - but similarly decided to take a break from his job to pursue his passion for photography full time.

Amazingly, given the quality of his work, Gustav only took up photography seriously about two years ago and has so for received no formal education in it. Perhaps this is the secret to the strength of his work - the fact that, instead of getting lost in technique, he’s been able to concentrate on what he wants to say with his photographs.

New Work From Knotan

Our friend the Swedish photographer Knotan, has been busy recently and, since we love his style, we thought we'd share some of his recent work with you.

It seems that Knotan’s reputation for gritty and unusual shots is quickly spreading beyond Sweden and he’s recently been commissioned by Duke magazine in the UK and Lamomo magazine in Spain. One of his shots also appeared on the cover of the new Swedish magazine Modette and of course he’s still much in demand by his long terms fans PAP, People and Nöjesguiden.

Somehow Knotan still finds the time to continue to develop his own personal projects in which he creates some of his most interesting and timeless images. Take a look below to check out a selection of new work from Knotan and check out a gallery of photographs from Knotan's up coming book in our carbonarts series.

Cheap Monday's New Collection

Of course we’ve written about Cheap Monday before but judging by how much interest the article caused and the feedback we’ve had ever since, many of our readers would clearly like to read more about them.

It was only a couple of years ago that Örjan Andersson, the founder of Cheap Monday, was on his knees on the floor of the small warehouse space in the back of his Stockholm store (Weekday) hand printing shirts and jeans. These days it seems as if the whole world wants to adopt the Swedish skinny-legged look by picking up a pair of tight cut, low price, Cheap Monday jeans.

Despite our peculiar taste for all things monochrome (we’ve made no secret of our love of all things black and white), we rather fell for the occasional uses of color within the limited palette of Cheap Monday’s Autumn/Winter 07 collection. In particular we fell in love with a pair of bleached jeans with one leg rather dramatically painted green and the other red. Last week, when we received our copy of Cheap Monday’s latest catalogue, we were delighted to see those particular jeans included. Who knows whether it’s a return to the 80’s or 90’s but then again, who cares? We're just looking forward to getting our hands on a pair of those jeans!

Take a look at a selection of images from Cheap Monday’s Autumn/Winter 07 catalogue by clicking the link below:

Scandinavian Design Trend

Photo by Carbon Photography

Whilst we’re not claiming that antlers are the sole preserve of Scandinavia or that using antlers in design is purely a Scandinavian aesthetic, it must be said that there are a lot of animals with antlers in the region and they do seem to have crept into the region's iconography in a big way. For as long as we can remember, Scandinavian graphic designers and furniture designers have been inspired to incorporate antlers into their designs. Visit most interior design stores in Scandinavia and you’ll be guaranteed to find at least a chandelier and a coat rack modeled after antlers.

It seems that this trend is on the increase and spreading across the world. There’s a great article in today’s New York Times that discusses the fact that ‘nature is so in’ at the moment and that antlers are the quintessential ‘metaphor for a bucolic ideal’. The article goes on to suggest that whereas the stag was once a symbol of religious regeneration, these days it appeals to everyone who worships modern design.

“Nature — or the appearance of embracing nature — is chic these days. Judging by the direction of fashion and home décor and of-the-moment restaurants and shops, you might mistake Manhattan for Montana. The raw concrete floors and white walls of 1990s minimalism have been swept away. In their place, new boutiques and cafes in the city’s glossier neighborhoods resemble over designed hunting lodges — dark and moody, with uneven floorboards to trip over and, almost inevitably, a set of antlers hanging from the rafters.”

It’s an interesting article with a good accompanying slideshow and both are well worth a look. In amongst the many examples of antlers in design that they cite, there’s even a mention of a couple of our favorite New York stores, Odin and The Freemans Sporting Club.

Emerging Musical Talent

One of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects about writing for lifeiscarbon® is making the discovery of exciting new talent in Scandinavia and the way that one discovery often leads to other interesting connections. This was very much the case when we recently wrote about the talented young Swedish photographer Emilie Björk as part of our carboncollective™ series.

As we got to know Emilie we also got to know her equally talented boyfriend, the musician Daniel Öhman. As well as performing in a number of hardcore bands, Daniel is also the creative force behind Halo Of Pendor. We’re not sure how to explain Halo Of Pendor, it rather defies description and doesn’t easily fit into a particular genre of music. What we can tell you is that within two days of downloading his tracks, our iTunes ‘Top 25 Most Played’ list informed us that we’d played them 25 times …. we love them that much!

It amazes us that Daniel hasn’t been discovered yet. So if anyone out there happens to know Cameron Crowe or Sophia Coppalla why not tell them that a Halo Of Pendor track would be perfect for their next movie. Failing that, perhaps there’s someone reading this that’s working on a new Sony Bravia TV commercial and is still looking for the perfect music track to accompany it. Read more about Daniel Öhman and take a listen to some Halo Of Pendor tracks below:

Art Fashion Fusion

Ei'kon-ic in Århus, Denmark, has long been one of our favorite fashion stores in Scandinavia. The opening of an interesting new photography exhibition at the store provides one more reason to make the trek to check out this far flung fashion outpost.

The show, which marks a new and exciting creative direction for the store, is curated by London based art director James Greenhow and Senko Studio of Denmark and features an international showcase of photographers from Denmark, Great Britain, Belgium and the United States.

The idea behind the show is to explore the similarities and differences between fashion and art, to place the images in a new environment and hopefully use them as platform for fresh ideas. You’ll find a great selection of recent work by Susie Forman, Bruna Kazinoti, Ben Weller, Sergei Sviatchenko, Ye Rin Mo and our friends Kirstine Autzen and Aia Thorup from Autzenthorup. Read on to see a small selection of images below.

Scandinavian Design Pioneer

If you’re a fan of the pioneering Swedish designer Bruno Mathsson (you should be) and live in New York, there are two special events and an exhibition happening that you won’t want to miss.

The American-Scandinavian Foundation, in collaboration with the Bard Graduate Center, is presenting two events celebrating the work of Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988) at Scandinavia House in New York. This Thursday (26th April) architecture writer and curator Karin Winter will introduce the documentary film Bruno Is Back by Katarina Dunér and Jesper Wachmeister and on Thursday 3rd May the ergonomic seating authority Niels Diffrient will discuss his own design philosophy and Mathsson’s earlier innovations in seating with New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman. Both events are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Bruno Mathsson: Designer and Architect that’s currently on show at the Bard Graduate Center (until June 10). See below for full details and a brief introduction to the work of Bruno Mathsson.

Norwegian Design Goes Global

As we hinted in our previous posts about Pur Norsk, the Oslo based design store have just launched a new international website. The new site is in English (and German) and fully designed to cater for customers living outside Norway looking to purchase either Norwegian design classics or the latest products from up and coming designers.

Pur Norsk, founded by Lasse Altern Halvorsen and Marianne Lien, is dedicated to selling only products designed or manufactured in Norway in an attempt to raise awareness and knowledge of the country’s design industry. Since the country needs all the help it can get if it is to catch up with the levels of global awareness of that exist for Danish, Finnish and Swedish design, we applaud their efforts.

The store stocks a range of products including design objects, kitchenware, lighting, clothing, home accessories and children’s toys. Among others, you’ll find products from brands such as Northern Lightning, Cathrine Maske, Figgjo, Hive, Luxo, Opp & Lek, Asono, Swims, Sara Skotte, Johan Verde and Moods of Norway. Take a look below at some of our favorites from among their recent additions.

From Sweden With Love

Having long been fans of James Bond movies (especially the older Sean Connery films), we’ve fallen for the latest collection from House Of Dagmar. For Fall/Winter 2007, the Swedish fashion label has mixed the contemporary and urban with the timeless fashion of mountain villages in the European Alps. Creating a hint of retro après ski glamour crossed with a darker side influenced by Wong Kar Wai’s ‘Fallen Angels’.

You’ll find voluminous tops combined with tight ski pants and petite tops mixed with generous trousers. Long lengths feature throughout the collection in the form of knits and shirts. Dresses are short with a focus on legs. The main colors are blacks and light neutrals, with highlights in forest green and poppy red, spiced up with accents in copper. Fabrics include soft and airy wool, thick merino, loden, cotton twill and luxurious silk. See a selction of images from Dagmar's FW 2007 collection below.

When the Swedish fashion label Dagmar launched in spring 2005, it gained wide attention from Swedish media and was awarded both the ‘Rookie of the year’ and ‘Garbohatten’ (named after Greta Garbo) prizes. The following year, in February 2006, Dagmar was awarded ‘Best new designer of the year' by Swedish Elle Magazine.

Norwegian Freestyle Spacefunkster

With four critically acclaimed albums, several vinyl releases and a bunch of remixes to his credit, Rune Brøndbo (a.k.a. Sternklang) is the indisputable don of the Norwegian club music scene. If none of that’s enough to get your attention, we should perhaps add that his live performances are the stuff of legends.

Transistor Beach, Sternklang’s latest album was released last October and has quickly been hailed as his best yet. The new album features a full roster of guest performers/collaborators including Tricky Girls, Therese Lunde from x-lover, Pål Angelskår from Minor Majority and Sigmund Floyd of Palace of Pleasure with the additional participation of Sternklang’s tried and tested live performance musicians Tor Egil Kreken, Peter Baden, Håkon Kornstad and Per Zanussi. Once again Sternklang's trademarks are all much in evidence; an open, warm sound and an irresistible sense of rhythm. All in all, Transistor Beach consists of visionary, intelligent and truly exciting music. Read on and take a listen to a track from the new album to judge for yourself.

Finnish Film Of The Year

It’s not often that we single out individual new Scandinavian films to write about on lifeiscarbon®. Not that there aren’t any good new films to write about, it’s rather that there are too many to choose from. Occasionally however, we watch a new film, can’t get it out of our head for days and have to tell all of our friends to go see it.

Suden Vuosi (Year Of The Wolf) is one of those films. The latest award winning film from Finnish director Olli Saarela is about forbidden love and the conquering of deep-seated private fears (see below for a synopsis). Luckily for our readers based in New York, the American-Scandinavian Foundation will be screening the film on Thursday, May 17, 6:30 pm, at Scandinavia House.

Olli Saarela has directed the features Rolli (2001), Bad Luck Love (2000), The Ambush (1999), and Redemption (1997). One of the most recognized directors in Finland today, he has won a total of 20 Jussi awards (the Finnish Oscar). Aside from working as a director, Saarela teaches in the Department of Film and Television at the University of Art and Design Helsinki.

carboncollective™: Emilie Björk

carboncollective™ is a series in which we are showcasing the work of some of the more interesting Flickr photographers from Scandinavia. We've hand picked some of the best photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. In our opinion, the photographers we've selected demonstrate a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics in their work and, as a collective, their photography spans a broad range of styles and subject matter.

Our sixth photographer is Emilie Björk (born 1986) from Gothenburg in Sweden. Originally from Östersund in the northern part of Sweden, Emilie grew up in the countryside along with her parents, two brothers and five sisters. Aside from her biggest dream, which is to own a kitten, her main passion is photography, something she currently studies in Gothenburg.

Emilie's work is a favorite of ours and in our opinion she's one of the better proponents of the Nordic Angst school of photography. Her shyness and rather serious nature emerge from the seeming stillness of her images. Stunning images that are poignant rather than sad, always touched with irony and often revealing a quiet sense of humor. Judge for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the carboncollective™ VI gallery.

Nordic Bling

As you’d imagine, we’re not huge fans of jewellery at lifeiscarbon®. Probably for no other reason than the fact that jewellery usually doesn’t fit in with our rather austere and somber fashion aesthetic. However, we have to confess that we rather fell for the Japanese craze for bling and we’ve been dangling things from our phones, jackets and bags ever since. Perhaps this explains our love for the Swedish jewellery designers Dada’s Diamonds.

Created by the Swedish designers Ida Forss and Kajsa Oberg in August 2005, Dada’s Diamonds is a world in which unique ideas and excellent handicraft have come together to create beautiful and slightly eccentric designs. A series of jewellery collections (they add one of two new collections every year) that draw inspiration from fairytales, stories or classic literature.

All of Dada’s Diamonds pieces are hand made, cast in 925 sterling silver and originally sculpted by Ida and Kajsa. A range of techniques, including oxidization and 23 carat gold plating, are used to highlight details and get stronger color contrasts. Take a look at a selection of images below.

Songs Of Mystery And Truth

We’ve always assumed that most Scandinavian bands want make it out in the world beyond Scandinavia, if only because they recognize the economic implications of the limited population sizes in the region. Most bands launching these days establish a solid presence online (their own website, MySpace, YouTube etc), ensure that press friendly photos, information and translations are available and usually give free access to a couple of downloadable tracks.

Then you stumble across a band like The Bronson Brothers from Denmark who have so far made no concessions to an international audience with hardly any images online and absolutely no translation from Danish to English. We can only assume that the brothers have decided to let the music speak for itself. And how their music speaks! Pat and Clyde Bronson, with their choir boy haircuts, have clearly drawn inspiration from classic singles of the 70’s by bands such as The Zombies, The Monkies, The Kinks, Serge Gainsbourg and Velvet Underground. The lack of concession to an international audience is somewhat ironic given that the boys sing in English and happen to have chosen the same band name as a slightly better known German band.

With Winter behind us, we’re in need of some Summer listening and The Bronson Brothers are the perfect fit. Follow the link below to take a listen to the wonderful Initials S.G. and Love My Little Bird. They may look like a couple of choir boys but, as you'll discover, there's a darker edge to their lyrics.

Helena Loves Black

Helena Hörstedt is an up and coming Swedish fashion label, a lifeiscarbon® favorite and yet another designer who seems to shares our love of all things black. The label was created after Helena’s graduation from Beckmans School of Design, Stockholm, in 2004 and centers around handmade garments with an emphasis on structures, techniques, advanced details and classic tailoring.

“I think the genuine work and the handcrafted feeling gives an irreplaceable value to the garment. The trade of handcrafting is always one of the most important sources for both construction of and inspiration for my design. I want my garments to be a fascinating visual experience as much as a usable. I want them to build a desire, continuously expand and to surprise the beholder.”

Take a look at a selection of images from Helena Hörstedt’s second and third collections below: