lifeiscarbon®

Finnish Control Freaks

2008-05-08T08:23:00+02:00

lifeiscarbon® have long been fans of the Finnish street fashion brand CTRL and recently caught up with their designer, Freeman, to hear about the origins of the company and their plans for the future.

“CTRL was born a little over ten years ago, first it was all about skateboarding, deep roots, camel toes, tee-shirts, loose attitudes and the art of chasing tail in the streets of Helsinki. Then, about 4 or 5 years ago, we jumped over into the fashion world, or at least into the street fashion world, because we realized that the best way to get attention from the hottest girls was by running a fashion label. And they really do fall for that, and Oh boy we love it!”

CTRL have come a long way since those early days, having produced several clothing lines, a lot of skateboarding equipment and been behind numerous parties, social gatherings and secret events. Having successfully become heroes in Finland, their next moves are to make it big in New York and take over Stockholm. As Freeman explained; “We don’t intend to remain an exclusive small cool brand - instead CTRL is going to be a HUGE COOL BRAND.”

With a strong belief in universal love as part of the company’s core philosophy, CTRL are keen to get involved in creative collaborations and especially with organizations like Greenpeace or Amnesty International. As Freeman so aptly put it; “Saving the world is no joke”. CTRL has already created two collaborative skateboards, the first with VICE magazine and a second (old-school style board) together with ROCKERS NYC and are about to release a limited edition board together with Adidas.

Take a look below at some of our favorites from CTRL’s AW08 collection:

CTRL

Fashionable Swedish Dandyism

2008-05-06T08:42:00+02:00

Despite the strictly enforced dress code of either all black or all white clothing at lifeiscarbon® (yeah we know…hardly original since it’s the ubiquitous dress code for most Scandinavian designers), we do occasionally have a tendency towards the flamboyant. Call us strange, but some of us take a perverse pleasure in wearing highly colorful underwear beneath our monochromatic and puritanical exteriors. When, we wonder, will Superman’s habit of wearing underpants on the outside catch on?

Not that we want our readers to think that we’re in the habit of showing each other our underwear around the office but something of a competitive nature abounds and when our reliable old Björn Borg undies don’t cut the mustard we turn to the latest funky designs from Frank Dandy.

The Swedish fashion brand Frank Dandy was born in early 2002, supposedly as a reaction to underdeveloped underwear market of the time. Clearly on a mission to break the rules of traditional underwear, these days the brand is represented in over 13 countries spread across Scandinavia, Europe, North America and Asia. Not content with creating underwear, Frank Dandy have invented the term Superwear to cover a range of clothing including jeans, jackets, shirts and accessories for men, women and children. We’re particularly partial to their crazy colored Long Johns. Take a look below at a few of our favorites:

Frank Dandy

Sustainable Minimalism

2008-05-05T09:06:00+02:00

Given our peculiar aesthetics, it’s probably no surprise that lifeiscarbon® have long been huge admirers of the art and architecture of Donald Judd (we are even planning a pilgrimage to Marfa, Texas when we can spare the time). Easy therefore, to see why we love the brutally hard edged work of Norwegian architects BKARK.

Comprising of Geir Brendeland, Olav Kristoffersen and Simen Stori, BKARK was originally established after the architects successfully won a competition to design sustainable low-cost housing for the Svartlamon district of Trondheim. Completed in 2005, the Svartlamoen housing project is a unique example of sustainable multi story wooden housing in an urban context and has been widely published internationally as well as being nominated for numerous awards (including Mies van the Rohe award 2007, The Architectural Review Award for Emerging Architecture 2005, Iakov Chernikov prize 2006 and Young Norwegian Designers of the year, 2005)

BKARK have continued to address the issue of sustainability in their projects and to explore more and more innovative uses of wood in their designs. Recent projects include a stunningly minimalist private home that seems to float above a skirt of glass, converting a car dealership into a kindergarten and over coming Polar conditions to create designer apartments on Svalbard. Latest news is that BKARK have won first prize in a competition to create visitor facilities at the spectacular Torghatten mountain in northern Norway. Take a look below at some examples of their work:

Villa Nilsen/Borgen: Villa for private client

Svartlamoen Nursery: Kindergarten for Municipality of Trondheim

Svartlamoen Housing: Social housing for Svartlamoen Housing Trust in Trondheim

Svalbard Housing: Apartments for Store Norske Project in Longyearbyen, Svalbard

BKARK

Young Swedish Fashion Duo

2008-04-29T08:50:00+02:00

It’s not often that lifeiscarbon® lacks inspiration but when occasionally we do, we know we can always turn to our friend Martin Bundock at AWB AB, the innovative Stockholm based communication agency. Martin somehow seems to be plugged into all the latest must-know-about trends and must-be-at happenings in Sweden, not to mention that he's probably friends with all the must-get-to-know people in Stockholm.

Martin's most recent piece of inspiration was to introduce us to the up and coming Swedish fashion brand Jojo & Malou. The label was founded by the Swedish design duo Jojo Ericson and Malou Palmqvist, who met eight years ago whilst completing an Art Foundation course at the Kent Institute of Art & Design. Both went on to complete fashion degrees in Womenswear Design, Jojo at Ravensbourne College of Design and Malou at Middlesex University.

Despite always having the intention to one day combine forces to create their own fashion brand, after graduating in 2004, Malou gained experience by working for Markus Lupfer and Katie Hillier, whilst Jojo split her time between Dover Street Market and Peter Jensen. However, the friends eventually before pooled their talents to create a collection for the renowned Fashion Fringe competition in 2005.

Since then, Jojo & Malou have created an exclusive diffusion line for Topshop, taken part in the RED campaign, and collaborated creatively with Gabriel Garcia Gauche, Japanese Nylon, Dazed and Confused and ELLE. They have twice been awarded a New Generation sponsorship to participate in London Fashion Week, staged their first ever catwalk show in Stockholm during +46, and represented the UK for the British Council in Lithuania. Take a look below at some of our favorites from their SS08 collection:

Jojo & Malou

Scandinavian Ecoluxury

2008-04-28T09:16:00+02:00

Sadly, many would say that today’s chemical-focused textile industry not only harms the environment but also creates garments that are in fact harmful to the wearer’s skin. Luckily, the Swedish fashion designer Camilla Norrback has recognized this fact and chosen to produce the major part of her garments in ecological or environment-certified natural materials. For fabrics to be labeled ecological they must be created in environmentally friendly ways tat every stage of production; cultivation, processing and coloring.

Camilla Norrback only uses production methods that affect the environment as little as possible, for example by using natural alternatives to toxins and chemicals. Environment-certified fabrics are processed and colored in an environment-friendly way, making sure that pigments aren’t released into the groundwater and that the finished fabrics contain no toxins or heavy metals that could be harmful to potential wearers of her garments.

Recognizing that environment-friendly technology for producing fabrics has evolved far enough not to compromise a designer’s artistic freedom, Camilla Norrback has called her fashion range, Ecoluxury. Take a look below at our favorite outfits from the SS08 collection:

The exciting yet often painful clash of carefree childhood versus responsibility-laden adulthood has been the inspiration for Camilla Norrback’s SS08 collection. The designer has foraged through her old patterns from the transition time between the eighties and the nineties, and given them a revitalized look - feminine and classic with a twist. Ecoluxury is more in focus than ever and the new collection contains a mix of luxurious materials and classic base materials.

Camilla Norrback

Read about the Norwegian fashion brand FIN and their Eco Lux range and the Danish Eco Fashion label Noir

IVANAhelsinki's New Collection

2008-04-23T08:56:00+02:00

The last few days have seen Helsinki bathed in warm sunshine and it seems as if Spring has finally arrived in the far North. It’s time for Scandinavians to finally start donning their lighter weight summer clothing and no doubt many people will own at least one classic looking outfit from IVANAhelsinki, our Finnish fashion favorites.

These days, IVANAhelsinki describes itself as an Art Fashion brand but despite having come a long way since its humble beginnings, as leisurewear for matchstick factory workers, it hasn’t lost its delicate combination of Scandinavian style with a hint of Slavic melancholy.

Still fresh from being given the honor of being the first Scandinavian brand to have ever been accepted on the official main show list during Paris Fashion Week, IVANAhelsinki are currently promoting their new collection for AW08, entitled BirdRing. Take a look below at a selection of our favorites from the collection and be sure to check out IVANAhelsinki’s dramatically different updated website:

Paola Ivana Suhonen, the designer behind the new collection, draws inspiration from a combination of dark naive mind-landscapes, tales of romance and northern legends to creat prints, graphics, shortmovies and well, everything that is involved with the visuals. Paola runs the family-owned company together with her older sister Pirjo. All pieces are manufactured in IVANAhelsinki ‘s studio in Finland, with a ethical and ecological production philosophy.

As Paola explained: “IVANAhelsinki started as my personal art-project, now it’s a way of living to us. I could easily spend my life traveling around and going on road trips, but it is pretty much ok to do cute, straight cotton and woolen dresses for charismatic drummer girls and girl women. They are the ones who love moonlight fields, pirates, dark forests, crummy motels, fragile butterflies, unstable relationships, cowboys and guardian angels. After all, I’m sure they are just after a love of their lives, just waiting to see whether he will be a rock star, a motor biker, a gnome, a cosmonaut or a sailor.”

IVANAhelsinki

carboncollective™: Lina Scheynius

2008-04-22T09:15:00+02:00

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series in which we are showcasing some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last year, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. All of the photographers we've chosen are proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and demonstrate a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics.

Our latest photographer in the series is Lina Scheynius (born 1981) from Sweden. Originally from the small Swedish town of Vänersborg, Lina was brought up in Trollhättan in the southwest of the country. As well as being home to Saab Auto and Volvo Aero, these days Trollhättan is also home to the Swedish film industry and fast becoming known as Trollywood (Fucking Åmål, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville are just a few of the films to have been shot there).

Despite having only shown her work for the last two years, Lina has already chalked up an impressive list of exhibitions, having been included in a group show in London, two in Dublin and one in Lund, Sweden. 2008 is shaping up to be an even busier year for Lina, with a further four shows including one in Barcelona, one in Paris and two in New York.

We love the brooding sense of intimacy and subtle play of light in Lina’s photography together with the way she injects mystery into everyday moments. See for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the new carboncollective™ IX gallery. Remember to read the profiles of the other photographers in the carboncollective™ series and to view our galleries of their work:

Having left Sweden at the age of 19, Lina initially moved to London to concentrate on a modeling career but has subsequently traveled widely and is currently living and working in Paris. Following an education biased towards science and mathematics, Lina discovered her inner creativity, firstly through an obsessive passion for drawing and then by an intense love of photography.

lifeiscarbon® are certainly not the first people to fall for Lina’s photography, a number of magazine publishers have discovered her artistic talent and her work has been already been profiled in Exit, Pig, Dazed and Confused, Ikidebir from Turkey and 0086 from China.

Seemingly not content with the current level of exposure of her work, Lina is currently working on two book projects. The first is a monograph together with a London book publisher whilst the second is a self-published book of Polaroids. We love Lina’s idea for the Polaroid book and applaud her ambition to produce small and affordable paperback art books costing no more than 10 Euro each. We're looking forward to seeing her idea come to fruition when her first book is published sometime in late Spring.

Take a look at a selection of Lina Scheynius’ photographs in the carboncollective™ IX gallery.

Lina Scheynius on Flickr

Lina Scheynius

Team Carbon Update

2008-04-21T08:21:00+02:00

For less regular readers of lifeiscarbon® or those who may be new to the website, we thought it worth quickly restating what we do and why we do it. At it’s simplest, lifeiscarbon® is a way for us to raise awareness and interest in Scandinavian Aesthetics and particularly in the art, design, fashion and music from the region that we happen to love. Why? Partly because it provides useful research for a number of The Carbon Foundation’s own ventures (ie carbonislife® –retail concept, carbonphotography® - commercial photography, ordinaryeverday® - fashion brand and lifeiscarbon® - print edition) but more importantly because we want to help local talent. Sadly, we’ve had the privilege of knowing too many talented individuals and companies from the region who simply don’t get the critical and financial return that they deserve. This website is one of the many small ways in which we try to help them.

Despite the fact that we enjoy writing about others, our motto of Faire Sans Dire makes us rather reticent to talk about ourselves. However, being a not-for-profit organization makes it necessary for us to occasionally turn to our readers for help. Whilst our editorial neutrality is important to us and we’ve gone on record as never accepting advertising on this site, we are currently involved in a number of interesting conversations with global brands that would like to collaborate creatively with us. Given the number of projects we’re interested in creating (including co-branded fashion ranges, guerilla stores, touring art exhibitions, book publishing etc etc), we’re keen to hear from brands that want to work with us. Beyond hearing from brands, if you happen to be a graphic designer, web designer or a stylist and would like to get involved in one of our up coming projects, we'd love to hear from you.

Finally, a quick word about music. We have to confess that music has been neglected of late but, given the number of musical discoveries we’ve made recently, we’re pleased to announce that carbonsounds™ will be relaunching later this week. It seems that it’s not only readers who have been missing our musicals profiles but also the bands themselves. Whilst we can’t promise to review all of the CDs that are sent to us, we’d like to encourage artists from the region to continue sending us their new releases (contact details here) in order for us to keep writing about the best new music from the region.

Images taken from Behind The Catwalk, a recent photo documentary by Carbon Photography. Behind-the-scenes photographs of the launch of Norwegian designer Ida Gullhav's latest collection.

Danish Designer, Artist, Filmmaker, Musician...

2008-04-15T22:50:25+02:00

Often heard in its incomplete form, the expression Jack of all trades, master of none is these days mostly incorrectly used as an insult. The full quote, Jack of all trades, master of none, though ofttimes better than master of one, was originally intended as a compliment and used to describe anyone who was something of a polymath or Renaissance man. From his base in Copenhagen, the multitalented Danish designer Henrik Vibskov is certainly a Jack of all trades, and we mean that in the nicest possible sense of the expression.

As if his wonderful funky fashion creations (take a look below) and extravagant catwalk shows don’t keep him busy enough, Henrik Vibskov is also a musician, filmmaker and artist. His short film The Monk was selected by a panel of prominent personalities such as Jarvis Corker, Douglas Gordon and Dave Stewart to win the Beck’s Future Prize 2000 in the UK with another of hi short films, The Egg, also being shortlisted. Both films have subsequently been shown at numerous art exhibitions and film festivals around the world. Together with the Japanese fine art artist Mitsunori Asakura, Vibskov has also produced a documentary entitled Pigs In Tokyo. Music is another of Vibskov's passions. Having been introduced to them by his brother, Henrik Vibskov has been playing drums since the age of 10. He has so far appeared on 10 releases with various independent artists and is the drummer for the Danish musician Trentemoeller.

Read more about Henrik Vibskov below and see a selection of our favorite images from his recent Fantabulous Bicycle Music Factory collection:

Henrik Vibskov, has come along way since his quiet childhood spent deep in Danish countryside of Jutland. Afterwards graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, Vibskov came to the attention of a host of style and culture magazines around the world including The Face, Brutus (Japan), Dazed and Confused, I-D, Wallpaper, Purple, Selfservice, Numero and Vogue. Not to mention receiving major exposure in newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent and The Times before hitting the front page of the major Danish Newspaper Politikken.

The Danish TV channel DR2 has twice broadcast documentaries on Vibskov; first by following his graduation from St. Martins over a six weeks period in 2001 and then by following him though the Switzerland, Berlin and Paris during 2003/2004. His work has been exhibited at Expo in Japan, Midwest in Tokyo, Factory in Tokyo, Millbank Gallery in London, ICA in London, Sotheby's Gallery in New York, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Danish Design Center in Copenhagen and Kunstraum Kreuzberg in Berlin

The Swedish TV channel SVT2 recently broadcast a documentary on Vibskov as part of Velvet, their excellent art and fashion program. For those of you that understand Swedishg, the program can be viewed here.

The Henrik Vibskov lable is sold in select stores around the world, including globe Colette in Paris, Pineal Eye in London, Mads Nørgaard in Copenhagen, Midwest in Tokyo, Aloharag in Hawaii, Traffik in Moscow and Kron in Reykjavik.

Henrik Vibskov

Why Red? Why Not Blue?

2008-04-14T08:51:00+02:00

We love the clean lines, neat shapes and quirky details of modernist Swedish fashion brand Whyred. Established in 1999, Whyred was founded by Roland Hjort, Lena Patriksson and Jonas Clason, three former employees of H&M who decided to combine their collective skills in design, production and marketing to create their own fashion brand.

Separate from their regular collections, Whyred have also created Art Project, an ongoing series of creative collaborations with artists, as a way of gaining inspiration though experimentation with fresh ideas in contemporary art. With the belief that artists and designers should inspire each other and come up with new creations together, Art Project was launched in 2005 with help from the Stockholm based curator Ben Loveless.

Whyred’s most recent collaboration is with the Swedish artist Malin Pettersson Öberg who created a wall painting (in the Whyred store at Mäster Samuelsgatan in Stockholm) that touches on the themes of language, cultural identity, urban rumors and the borders between reality and fiction. Two earlier collaborations have also been successfully produced with two other Swedish artists: Underwear with Jockum Nordström in 2005 and Bags and T-Shirts with Roger Andersson in 2006. Take a look below to see a selection of our favorite outfits from Whyred’s SS08 collection and to read more about the company:

Why Whyred? Apparently the inspiration for the name Whyred comes from Roland Hjort’s grandfather, the artist Sven X:et Erixon, who was asked to reveal his favorite color was during an radio interview in the 1950’s. Not knowing quite how to answer, he said “Red”. When the journalist asked “Why red?”, the artist replied “Well...blue then”. Since fashion, as art, should never be one dimensional, Whyred was chosen as an apt name for the new fashion brand.

With three Whyred stores in Stockholm with a new store opening this month in Copenheagen, Whyred has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen and Paris and is available in well over 230 stores across 21 countries, including: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan.

Whyred

Art Commerce Collision

2008-04-09T09:53:00+02:00

The Swedish-American renegade creative duo Hart + Larsson have been quite a stir of late, first with their spoof Marc Jacobs advertising campaign (complete with it’s Juergen Teller pastiche) and then with their hijacking of the front cover of New York Magazine. Envious of their ability to mix art with commerce, lifeiscarbon® recently caught up with Tomas Larsson to hear about some of their more interesting projects.

“More than anything, we are purveyors of style. We want to create things - whether it be films, photography, websites or clothing - that all refer back to the H+L style. Ultimately we want to populate the world with things that posses a certain look or voice. We see no clear distinction between art and commerce. What we do, in essence, is called The New Enthusiasm.”

“Some of our more notable past and present clients are AOL, MTV, GE, Olympus, Mike&Ike, Every Day With Rachael Ray, and Paramount. Presently we are developing an original online program with Comedy Central.”

Take a look below to read more about Hart + Larrson and to see some our favorite projects by them. YouTube, Frank Gehry and Brad Pitt are just a few of those who have had the honor of being given given the Hart + Larrson treatment:

Based in New York City, Hart + Larsson was founded in 2002 by Tomas Larsson (born and raised in Sweden) and Greg Hart (originally from Ohio, US).

The complete Marc Jacobs spoof campaign can be seen here:

Part of the hijacked New York Magazine cover publicized via a recent poster campaign.

Get a glimpse inside the creative genius of Frank Gehry when he’s commissioned by Theodore Kaczynski.

Be sure to watch the wonderful though bizarre Brad Pitt Cube film on Hart + Larsson’s website

No coffee table should be without Arktip magazine (another lifeiscarbon® favorite), especially not the issue featuring the Hart + Larrson collaboration.

Hart + Larrson

Scandinavian Fashion Acquisition

2008-04-08T09:05:00+02:00

Whilst it’s unusual for us to cover corporate news on lifeiscarbon®, given the popularity of the previous articles we’ve written about Cheap Monday, we thought readers might be interested to know that the company has agreed to sell itself to H&M.

H&M has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the privately owned Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien AB, the company that runs the store chains Weekday and Monki, and sells a number of its own brands including Cheap Monday. At this stage, H&M states that it plans to run the company as a standalone subsidiary within the H&M Group.

H&M acquires 60 percent of the shares in Fabric Scandinavien for SEK 564 million in cash ($94.5 million) from its current owners, the founders Adam Friberg, Lars Karlsson, Örjan Andersson and Linda Friberg, who will all continue to work within the company. Fabric Scandinavien have also entered into an additional agreement in which H&M has the possibility/obligation to acquire the remaining shares in the company within three to five years. Take a look below to read more about the deal and to see images from Cheap Monday’s SS08 collection:

“We have been impressed by Fabric Scandinavien’s development for a long time and we see a potential to develop stores and concepts in other markets. By working together we can accelerate the growth further. We can also do it in a more efficient manner by drawing on H&M’s experience and knowledge of for example production, logistics and establishment” said H&M’s CEO Rolf Eriksen.

H&M is a fantastic company and we have found that we share the same values. Together with H&M we will have better opportunities to truly develop our ideas within fashion and design. H&M’s knowledge of for instance production and international expansion will be extremely valuable to us, says Fabric Scandinavien’s CEO Lars Karlsson.  

Weekday Brands designs, produces and sells a number of young fashion brands. Its largest single brand is Cheap Monday, sold in more than 1,000 stores globally, but other brands include MTWTFSS Weekday and Sunday Sun. Weekday is an urban unisex concept with a total of six stores in Stockholm, Uppsala, Gothenburg and Malmö, and a newly opened store in Copenhagen, Denmark.  

Monki is a store concept and an own brand for young females. Since the start in Gothenburg in 2006 Monki has expanded to Stockholm, Uppsala, Malmö, Karlstad, Sundsvall and Norrköping, amounting to a total of twelve stores.  

Weekday

Cheap Monday

H&M

Swedish Fashion Japanese Style

2008-04-07T08:56:00+02:00

Following on from their collaborations with Roberto Cavalli and Viktor & Rolf, Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz has announced that their next collaboration will be with the Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo. Sadly, you’ll have to wait a while before you get your hands on the new collection as the world launch is not until the opening of H&M’s second store in Tokyo in the beginning of November.

Comme des Garçons’ founder and head designer Rei Kawakubo, much admired for her rebellious sense of style, will design a women’s and a men’s collection, together with some pieces for children. Accessories and an exclusive unisex fragrance will also be included in the collection.

"I have always been interested in the balance between creation and business. It is a dilemma, although for me creation has always been the first priority. It is a fascinating challenge to work with H&M since it is a chance to take the dilemma to its extreme, and try to solve it" explains Rei Kawakubo:

Our favorites from Rei Kawakubo's AW08 Ready-to-wear collection for Comme des Garçons

Hennes & Mauritz

New Films From Iceland

2008-04-02T09:07:00+02:00

Whilst we define Scandinavian Aesthetics as encompassing art, design, fashion and music from across the Nordic region, one of our greatest passions is for film. Classic Scandinavian films like The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman, Pelle the Conqueror by Bille August, Elvira Madigan by Bo Widerberg, The Celebration by Thomas Vinterberg, The Pathfinder by Nils Gaup, Elling by Petter Næss and Cold Fever by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson encapsulate the history, culture and aesthetics of the region far better than we can ever hope to do so with this website. We’re not suggesting you stop reading lifeiscarbon®, but we do recommend that you find time to see all of the films mentioned above.

As if catching up on must-see Scandinavian films wasn’t enough, the list of notable new films from the region is growing all the time. For those of you who happen to be in New York, there’s an opportunity to view some of the best new short films from Iceland on Thursday, April 17 at Scandinavia House. The films are part of Scandinavia House’s Nordic Shorts series, an on-going series introducing some of the finest new shorts by the next generation of Nordic filmmakers. The series concludes next month with new films from Norway.

Take a look below to watch Dog, an animation by Hermann Karlsson and to read more about other recent short films from Iceland including Misty Mountain by Óskar Þor Axelsson, Thanks For Helping by Benedikt Erlingsson, Wrestling by Grímur Hákonarson, Whatever by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Rattlesnakes by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, and Anna by Helena Stefánsdóttir.

Dog (Hundur) by Hermann Karlsson (Iceland & Scotland, 2007)

A melancholic yet witty story about people’s reactions to a dog’s death. There is something to be said for a movie that can convey a wave of emotion in little over a minute. What this Icelandic film lacks in running time, it certainly makes up for in feelings. With a muted color palette of mostly gray and white, Dog feels like an overcast winter afternoon. Despite looking as though old-fashioned animation techniques were used, in reality the director used a mixture of 2D computer-drawn animation and painted-cell animation. Shown in the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. (English dialogue. 1 min 18 sec.)

You can view Dog (Hundur) here.

Anna by Helena Stefánsdóttir (Iceland, 2007)

Anna has carefully laid a coffee table for two. Sitting at the table, making sure that everything is ready, she realizes that she has no sugar. Her excitement at the prospect of inviting her neighbor Adam over turns to concern: she needs to go to the grocery store. Her fear is due to the fact that she has Tourette Syndrome and can’t stop herself from imitating other people’s movements. On her way to the grocery store the Tourette’s gradually takes control of her body. Anna manages to buy the sugar, but back at home, she is messy and tired. She cannot invite Adam over. Once again, she has failed. Determined to end her miserable, lonely life, she steps onto the balcony railing intending to jump. Standing at the other end of the balcony, a concerned Adam sees Anna and makes contact with her. He then cleverly saves her life. (No dialogue. 13 min.)

Misty Mountain (þokufjöll) by Óskar Þór Axelsson (Iceland, 2007)

During the Cold War, NATO operated a Radar Station at the top of Mount Heiðarfjall in the remote Northeast of Iceland. While based there in the late 1960s, Sgt. Willard made several inexplicable trips through time to the year 2006. During his last trip, he witnessed the funeral of a young woman he had met and fallen in love with. And now, as his former destination in time becomes the present day, he returns as an old man to rectify the young woman’s destiny. (English dialogue. 32 min.)

Rattlesnakes (Skröltormar) by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (Iceland, 2007)

Rattlesnakes recently won the Audience Choice, Student Choice, and Festival Awards at Columbia University’s annual film festival and was nominated for the best short film at the Icelandic Edda awards. Some people spend their lives constantly looking out for snakes. Some people have to wear boots all the time. But people in Iceland have the privilege of wearing whatever shoes they want when they leave their homes. (English subtitles. 23 min.)

Thanks For Helping (Takk Fyrir Hj̙álpið) by Benedikt Erlingsson (Iceland, 2007)

Gunna is driving on a lonely mountain road when she suddenly runs out of gas. Luckily, she sees a car parked a little further down the road. Clueless, she doesn’t notice that the driver is planning a suicide and asks him for help. Their acquaintance leads to a new twist of fate. (Icelandic dialogiue. 13 min.)

Whatever by Gísli Darri Halldórsson (Iceland, 2005)

This animated music video for the Icelandic band Leaves follows a zoo worker who has drifted through life without interacting with anyone. Everything is turned upside-down, however, when he meets his one and only. (No dialogue. 5 min.)

Wrestling (Bræðrabylta) by Grímur Hákonarson (Iceland, 2008)

Iceland’s national sport seems rather homoerotic to director Grímur Hákonarson. In glíma, or folk wrestling, two opponents maintain a fixed grip on each other’s harnesses, broad belts that encircle their waists and thighs. Locked in this apparent embrace, they attempt to wrestle each other to the ground as they step clockwise in a slow, measured movement resembling a waltz. A code of honor called Drengskapur demands that the wrestlers always exhibit fairness, respect, and caring towards one another. Training partners Elnar and Denni take Drengskapur one step further when they fall in love. Despite inevitable comparisons to Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, this new Icelandic film isn’t about society’s bigotry as much as it is about the men’s resistance to forming a relationship in light of Elnar’s marriage. Wrestling participated in the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. (In Icelandic. 20 min.)

Scandinavia House

carboncollective™: Jenny Kristina Nilsson

2008-04-01T09:00:00+02:00

carboncollective™ is an ongoing series in which we are showcasing some of the more interesting up and coming photographers from Scandinavia. Over the last year, we've selected some of the best new photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in order to show you a selection of their work. All of the photographers we've chosen are proponents of the New Nordic Photography movement and their work demonstrates a strong sense of Scandinavian Æsthetics .

Our eighth photographer is Jenny Kristina Nilsson (born 1985) from Gävle in Sweden. Originally from Östersund, in the middle of the country, Jenny is currently studying Creative Writing at the University of Gävle but has plans to study photography from the Fall.

“I take pictures because I want to tell stories and in order to explore subjects I’m interested in. Right now my photographs revolve around the issues of identity, loneliness, everyday life, emotions and one’s sense of self. I feel that my pictures tell me something about myself and my life. They form a sort of a weird diary.”

Together with other carboncollective™ photographers such as Sannah Kvist and Emilie Björk, Jenny Kristina Nilsson’s work can simplistically be described as Scandinavian Realism with a strong undercurrent of Nordic Angst. Solitary figures, always partially obscured, are glimpsed within intimate but claustrophobic spaces or dwarf-like against the brooding force of nature. Flooded, as always, by the intense and oppressive white light of Scandinavia. Judge for yourself by taking a look at a selection of her work below and in the carboncollective™ VIII gallery. Remember to read the profiles of other photographers in the carboncollective™ series and to view our online galleries of their work:

“Since I was a little kid I’ve always loved acting and my big dream for many years was to become an actress. Photography was not even on my radar.”

Jenny started taking pictures in 2006, around the same time that she moved to the small town of Blekinge. Perhaps due to the effect of living alone for the first time in a small town without much going on, but the move led to a sudden desire to be more creative. Jenny bought her first camera (a Canon EOS 350d) and began taking photos everyday. Having truly discovered her passion for photography following her move to Gävle to attend art school, it turned out that the official course syllabus didn’t include photography and so Jenny had to work hard in her spare time to keep her passion alive.

“I realized then that this was something I wanted to do. I had so much fun with it and got a lot of appreciation from my Flickr. People seemed to like my stuff.”

Take a look at a selection of Jenny Kristina Nilsson’s photographs in the carboncollective™ VIII gallery.

Jenny Kristina Nilsson on Flickr

Jenny Kristina Nilsson