Backward beginning..Copenhagen discoveries

The tropical climate I’ve experienced in London past couple of weeks is sort of helpful and not. Would be difficult to travel around dragging along wintercoats and cardigans (and due to temporary homelessness I’m travelling around a lot..mainly within East London I mean)..But at the same time, it’s even difficult to breathe sometimes, let alone indulge in creative thinking. Or let’s say trying to find resources for getting the Nordic visionaries to London Design Festival for September.

Time has never seemed to tick so fast..Four months to go, three months to go

..almost two..

But – the developments have been rather good. I’ve managed to pencil in a venue and that was a real relief. Have been on the phone for days, trying to find a ‘home’ for ÖÖ project: councils, estate agents, friends...(therefore no blog entries as have been way too tired of staring the screen at 2am). Well, can’t be too happy too soon, as the venue is not secured yet, but..

It’s really rather wonderful how you meet/contact one person, who leads you to next, then the next leads you to another, and another, and another.. If there’s anything I truly believe in, this is it: random meetings are actually meant to happen. When you move towards right direction, new doors (of perception) do open..often out of the blue.

I should really go backwards from now just to cover everything. Well, quite a few months ago I spent a week in Iceland (yes, exactly the time when volcanos decided to wake up..) to attend the first Reykjavik Fashion Festival and DesignMarch. I have a friend there, Katrin, who I know from our careless student days in London, and who is back in Reykjavik running a boutique called Einvera as well as doing her own fashion label KALDA with her sister Rebekka.. collection full of darkness and irony and humour. I do have a special feeling about them !

So much more to say about the Iceland-adventure (which was brilliant and surreal and I cannot wait to go back), but just a note here: it is way easier to get acquainted with the creative people like this – hanging out with a friend who knows everyone. So how would you go about when you have one week in a city (where you literally don’t know anyone apart from an ex-boyfriend, who you haven’t seen since 2002) and with the task to discover the best undiscovered creative talent – or at least undiscovered by people who are not deeply involved with the art and design scene.

As my plan for ÖÖ was to include ca 4-5 of those undiscovered creatives from each Nordic country, I was in urgent need to get more familiar with the new Danish art & design scene (after Verner Panton and Arne Jacobsen that is).

Really, it started at a Buddhist meeting I was dragged by a good friend of mine – somehow ending up at an all-nighter listening psychedelic records until 4am in the morning..trying to find the otherness and deeper meaning our own way, I guess. Anyway, his former agent who invited us (another victim of ruthless fashion industry?) suggested to get in touch with her friend, the editor of DANSK magazine. He, then, put me in contact with manager of Copenhagen Fashion Week – and if someone knows the best new talent from Denmark, it should be her. Between flying from New York to Copenhagen organizing an event with VMAN she managed to email me few hints..

Barbara i Gongini is definitely one of my favourite Danish designers - she is amazing and would be perfect for the project. Vilsbøl de Arce is another of my favourites. Look them up. Henrik Vibskov..

Actually, I had already been keeping an eye on Barbara from last year. She was mentioned by my Finnish friend, who is a stylist and Helsinki-based project partner. So I was very much looking forward to see her collection: conceptual and pure Nordic avant garde. Of course, I got a brilliant idea to have a stroll and go to their office on foot - I love walking, but not 6 km in the pouring rain (almost getting lost on the way). But it was more than worth it. The clothes are really pure art: experimental, conceptual, dark; often inspired by collaboration with other creatives from film, art, music etc. Exactly my vision for ÖÖ. Next to the conceptual (art) pieces under Barbara I Gongini line, she is also launching a simplified collection of ‘basic avant-garde’-The Black Line.

After seeing all this, I would have been happy to even walk back the whole way, if Karin, the energetic Swede taking care of sales & marketing, wouldn’t have offered a ride back to Vesterbro. Which was rather nice as my shoes had transformed into two pools.

Vilsbol de Arce is the label by two girls, Pia and Prisca, who have their studio on the top floor of the same house where Henrik Vibskov and Andreas Emenius work. I didn’t really know about them before, although they won the Design Talent of The Year prize at Danish Fashion Awards and I found an interview with them on Dazed Digital, so I sort of researched the background a bit. It’s always nice to do your homework before meeting people. However, I had to accept my hopelessness with the language - after trying to ask for Vilsbol de Arce three times I realised that no-one understands whether I’m speaking in Danish or Chinese. How do they do it?! Anyway, decided to learn Swedish instead..

But meeting the girls was great and I was literally jumping up and down of excitement- can’t wait to have (wear) their pieces in London. Reminded me 2001: The Space Odyssey. Sculptural and space-y. They also collaborate with artists from other fields (and one of the main aims of ÖÖ project is to show how different areas mix and fuse with each other). For example, combining fashion, music and modern dance in a project called ‘The Egg, The Monk and The Warrior’ back in 2008, which can be seen from here:

http://jdsarchitects.com/EMW/

Their new collection is called Woven Armour.

As I was already inside (probably one of the most 'creative' hubs in Copenhagen) I thought I ask for Henrik and Andreas - had been chasing them with emails and, luckily, I managed to meet up with then just before leaving for London. We had a chat in the yard in front of their studio. I guess they thought I’m a bit crazy, which is probably true (but in a good way..). They are both graduates of St Central Martins and started working together on ‘The Fringe Series’ in 2007 – it’s a series of work exploring illusion, surface and movement. And as Henrik is a fashion designer and Andreas an artist, their collaboration is something what really interests me.

Magnus Sangild is a furniture designer, who had been collaborating with Vibskov&Emenius for the exhibition during Milan Design Week 2008- piece above. I discovered him through random google’ing (some time between 2-3am while hiding in Tallinn), but for some reason I get this feeling when I know someone/something is right for the project and he was happy to meet me in his office/studio in Christiania. A great guy! Actually this was the piece which enticed me.

MagicMagnusMountain

So yes – the week in Copenhagen was more than expected. We had drinks in Café Dyrehaven, wondered around, did some (window) shopping, searched for flea markets, had a nap in the park..

In addition to all the designers also had a chat with Sophie Hardinger, the founder of Wonderland magazine and WAS – a contemporary art gallery in Vesterbro. Felt like a stalker again as she was superbusy installing a new show, but oh well.. She and her partner Simon (who, as I read from another blog, has been going to Roskilde since 1992!) have set up an Absolut Wonderland Bar at Roskilde festival, which I’m sure is wonderful!