lifeiscarbon®

Shhh! It's A Secret

Actually it’s not a very well kept secret at all. Secret Society is a great new store in Oslo that joins the growing list of interesting stores that have opened recently such as Hunting Lodge and Pur Norsk. However, something that’s far more of a secret is that there’s a special sale event at Secret Society that starts at 6pm this evening. Since the store will be taking a vacation for the whole of July (how very Scandinavian!) it will be well worth checking. We’ll see you there…

Secret Society was founded by Fanny Jahre, Magnus Thorud and Kyrre Alver. Fanny runs her own graphic design company, while Magnus and Kyrre are the founders of the fashion company Blender Agency. Secret Society stocks a carefully selected range of international brands from Japan, Brazil, France, Belgium and the US. Brands that are hand-picked by the founders in the hope of representing the best of what’s out there.

Current brands in the store include Martin Magiela, Surface 2 Air, Comme des Garcons, Visvim, Undercover, 18th Amendment. Soon Number (N)ine, Junya Watanabe, Raf Simmons, Nike LTD and Levi's Vintage.

Science Fiction And Other Worlds

lifeiscarbon® were recently lucky enough to be invited to the Astrup Fernely Museum of Modern Art in Oslo for an after-hours guided tour of some of the highlights from the museum’s impressive permanent collection. Whilst there, we were also treated to a private view of their current exhibition, a series of works by the Danish artist Ann Lislegaard and…well, let’s just say that we fell in love. Experiencing the artist’s installations in the large dimly lit underground gallery space was a moving experience, at times like being in some sort of real world 3D Second Life and at times just downright spooky.

Astrup Fernly is one of our favorite galleries in Oslo and we highly recommend catching Ann Lislegaard's installations before the exhibition ends on the 26th August. In the meantime continue reading to see a selection of images from the show.

In her art, Ann Lislegaard (b. 1962) examines phenomena related to time and space. Her works often take form as special constructions, and she frequently deploys subtle devices such as sound and light in order to reflect over how we orient ourselves in the physical and psychological environment we are surrounded with. As well as working with installations, Lislegaard expresses herself through sound, photographs and video. In recent works such as Double Vision (2004) and Bellona (After Samuel R. Delany) (2005), she develops her fascination with spatial concerns and psychological and cognitive patterns in digitally manipulated environments. 

Ann Lislegaard has, in the last ten years, distinguished herself as a significant international artist. She represented Denmark at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and has exhibited her works at prestigious institutions such as Kunsthalle in Vienna, Louisiana Museum for Modern Art outside Copenhagen, and the Museet d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Bleed Design Studio

Who knows whether some of our readers suffer from slight voyeuristic tendencies or whether they’re just inherently nosy, but we get a lot of emails asking to see photos of designers’ work spaces. Perhaps people are looking for interior design ideas or perhaps they’re hoping to get clues as to how designers come up with their ideas. Regardless of the reasons, we think it’s a valid request and a good suggestion so we’ve decided to add it as a new feature on lifeiscarbon®.

Since we happened to be working on a project with our friends at Bleed the other day it was perfect opportunity to snap some pictures of their rather good looking offices. It’s also the chance to start making up for not having written about them before, despite the fact that they're one of the best graphic design agencies in Scandinavia. lifeiscarbon® have long been friends and admirers of theirs and we especially love the way that they blur the boundaries between graphic design for clients, their own art projects and the development of new products with friends of theirs like Norway Says and Frost Product.

We’ll be writing a full profile of Bleed in the coming weeks but in the meantime take a look below at some glimpses of their offices, café and store.

Coolest Rulers From Scandinavia

Here at lifeiscarbon® we owe a debt of thanks to our friend Geir Windsvoll for making us listen to a couple of tracks by The Low Frequency in Stereo on his iPod during lunch the other day. We were immediately hooked and haven’t been able to stop listening to the so called ‘psych-garage dronemeisters’ ever since.

Comprising of Per Steinar Lie (Bass, Vocals), Ørjan Haaland (Drums, Vocals), Hanne Andersen (Guitar, Organ, Vocals) and Njål Clemetsen (Guitar), The Low Frequency in Stereo are a post-rock group that hail from Haugesund in Norway. Whilst not the originators of the post-rock sound, their music is widely regarded as one of the best examples of the genre.

The band have already enjoyed great success in Norway and their reputation is growing fast internationally, having played renowned festivals like Quart, Dour and South By Southwest. David Fricke of Rolling Stone described their music as ”a mixture of the long solo elements of the Doors set to the riptide of Joy Division's Transmission with the surf guitar twang of Dick Dale. They are the Coolest Rulers from Scandinavia!" Confused? Take a listen to a track below and work out what he means:

More Norwegian Design

In between a shooting a video and hunting for new street fashion victims, lifeiscarbon® paid a quick visit to our friends Lasse and Marianne at Pur Norsk to get a quick update on the newest products from Norway. Apologies if we mention their store a little too often. It’s simply a favorite of ours and, since they’re a small independent business and happened to be the first people to have the bright idea of focusing exclusively on Norwegian design, we applaud their efforts and wish them every success.

We also happen to like the fact that Marianne and Lasse are constantly discovering new products from interesting designers, many of which are worth a quick mention on this website. Our latest favorite designs from their selection include an interesting new range of sofa cushions from the design team at Funkle, featuring hand embroidered industrial images on brocade material. Continuing with the theme of embroidery, we also happened to like the special edition underwear from Moods Of Norway. Each pair includes a small sewing kit that enables you to design and customize your own underpants.

If sewing sounds like too much hard work and you’d prefer to leave that to others, then perhaps Pur Norsk’s own handmade Dukke range might appeal more. Dukke translates into Doll in English, but somehow calling them Scary Bears might be rather more apt. Tanja Sæter’s highly minimalistic fruit bowl also warrants a mention. Her innovative glassware design seems to have become something of a hit locally, since we keep seeing it prominently displayed in the center of boardroom tables in offices all over Oslo. Continue reading to see images of the new designs.

Dark Songs Of Hurt

"A voice that cuts like a knife singing about those feelings that hurt… so beautiful it makes you want to cry". So wrote Karoline Eriksson of Svenska Dagbladet (one of the largest newspapers in Sweden) about the singer-songwriter Anna Ternheim. We haven’t been reduced to tears yet but we couldn’t agree more. Anna Ternheim´s music has a dark touch that’s been compared to that of artists such as Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and Leonard Cohen. Take a listen to a track below and judge for yourself.

Anna Ternheim began playing the guitar, writing songs and performing when she was only ten years old. During a year abroad in Atlanta, Georgia, Anna put together her first band Sova and played at smaller festivals and local clubs. After a brief stint back in Stockholm she continued writing songs and playing gigs in Lausanne, Switzerland where she was studying French. After almost two years abroad Anna returned to Sweden, formed a new band and produced her debut album Somebody Outside together with Andreas Dahlbäck and Linus Larsson.

Portrait Of A Nation

Despite now living and working in Stockholm, the photographer Benedikte Ugland was born and raised deep in the Norwegian countryside - a subject that she has returned to time and time again in her art projects. In addition to working as a freelance photographer for magazines, newspapers and advertising agencies she has also been worked on a string of art projects that have led to a number of solo and group exhibitions as well as several photography awards.

The first five photographs shown below are taken from the project Vi Kom Gjennom Skogen (We came through the woods), a project Ugland has been working on for over nine years.

“In general, the project has helped me understand the value of living one day at the time. The moment is all I have to work with, the past is over and the future I cannot see”. Read more of what Ugland has to say about her work and see a selection of her photographs below:

Danish Vintage Style

It is perhaps only fitting, given their name, that the story behind Danish clothing brand nümph (nymph) reads like a fairytale; seven young women had a dream about creating their own style of clothing and eventually chanced upon a businessman who ended up giving them the opportunity to do just that.

The women, all of them specialists within design, print, graphics and marketing, previously worked for major Danish fashion companies where they yearned to make work more fun. Ultimately they wanted to be able to create the type of clothes that women would want to pull out of their closets time and time again – feminine yet edgy, faultless yet affordable.

Despite the fact that the trend for all things vintage seems to be ending in much of Europe, so far it's showing no signs of slowing down in Scandinavia. Given the increasingly limited supply of decent secondhand outfits, it’s good to know that there’s always the option of modern Danish vintage from nümph (see a selection of designs below).

It's A Nice Day For A White Wedding

Yesterday saw the launch of an interesting auction of one-off designer wedding dresses on the Nordic online auction site Tradera. The dresses have been designed by nine of Sweden’s more creative fashion designers who have used their considerable talents to create an unusual collection of designs- all of which are far from conventional white wedding dresses. All revenues from the auction, which started yesterday, go to the WWF's Better Cotton Initiative which aims to minimize the negative consequences of cotton production across the world.

The participating designers are: Bea Szenfeld, Ellen Utterström (Drottningen av Saba), Sus Soddu (TÖNT), Sara Engberg (mori & mimosa), Sara Isaksson (Vond), Hanne Hague and Christina Stridlund (Fräulein von HaSt), Maxjenny Forslund (Les Couleurs Nationales), Susanne Beskow (van Deurs), Jennifer Blom. See images from the collection below:

New Products From Normann

He’s cute, smart and apparently he doesn’t bite. Woofy, is the latest addition to the Normann-Copenhagen family of products. Woofy is very simply a clever cable container designed by Gabriel Nigro, who came up with the idea during a visit to one of his friends, who happened to have cables lying around all over his flat. On the way home, Gabriel began drawing, and by the time he was finished Woofy was born.

Woofy never needs to be walked, fed or trained. His fur is smooth and he doesn’t cause allergies or wet the floor. Woofy can conceal your cables in his tummy and he will always be there when you need him.

Never content to let a week go by without launching a new product, Normann Copenhagen recently introduced the Familia kitchen series by Ole Jensen. New habits demand new ideas. Today, the kitchen and dining room are a natural extension of one another. The dining kitchen is the family’s new common space and as a consequence of this, Ole Jensen has designed a series of pots that look great on the stove and on the dining table (see for a selection of products from the new range below):

Super Crunk With A Gansta Twist

Equal parts gangsta, rave and glam, the Icelandic band Steed Lord are a true dance party act. Often described as looking like Vanilla Ice’s back up dancers, Steed Lord's unique sound, which hints at early 90’s house, only helps reinforce the comparison.

Founded in September 2005 by Kali, M.E.G.A. and Demo, and later joined by A.C.Bananas, Steed Lord has a raw edge that’s often missing in music today. Their distinctive sound speaks for itself but has been described as ‘super crunk dance music with a dope gangsta twist’. Take a listen to Dirty Mutha (below) and judge for yourself.

In the past, the band have stated their mission as being ‘to unite their powers and make a lot of noise in the music world’ - so far they seem to be doing rather well in terms of achieving their ambition.

Teenage Lust In Norway

lifeiscarbon® recently made a quick trip to the former naval facility of Karljohansvern in Horten, Norway to visit the Preus Museum (the national museum for photography) to catch a rare showing of Teenage Lust by Larry Clark.

Preus Museum is housed in a former naval warehouse that’s been cleverly converted to house the exhibition space, extensive library and honesty café. The buildings exterior and interior, designed by award winning Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn, retain most of the original features. Karjohansvern was the main base for the Royal Norwegian Navy from 1819 to 1963 and was the site of the Navy Main Yard, Navy Air Plane Factory, Navy Museum, Navy Schools and the military forts Norske Løve and Citadellet. Originally founded by the Preus family as a private museum, the collection was acquired by the Norwegian government in 1995 and renamed The Norwegian Museum of Photography.

Continue to read a brief profile of Larry Clark and hear more about Teenage Lust: