Backissues
Issue 1/2009
Styleguide Copenhagen
Interview Gestalten Verlag
Editorial
Are you thinking small-scale? You'd rather not make any big plans for now? Well, yes, there is a bit of uncertainty around: some are sitting in the corner like paralysed rabbits hoping not to get eaten. Many companies are hoping to weather the storm by "healthy slim downs". But a few are taking this as a chance to really put their foot on the accelerator.
'If it's raining, sell umbrellas!' is the credo of Niels Mikkelsen, the dynamic new CEO at fashion conglomerate IC Companys, based in Copenhagen, who isn't letting any pessimistic predictions drag him down. He's perfecting his ambitious plans instead. Read more about why every crisis has its winners in our interview with him on page 48.
Another angle to take in these recessive times is finding your niche and sticking to it. Like the jewellery label Dyrberg/Kern, also based in Denmark, which is expecting a rise in demand for jewellery at affordable prices.
A further example for a successful niche existence is the Berlin publishing house Gestalten Verlag. The aesthetes and patrons of new art aren't phased by mainstream traditional books, but prefer instead to place their bets on interdisciplinary young talent. J'N'C editor, Andreas Grüter, spoke to the creative director of the publishing house, Sven Ehmann, about book making in the multimedia age.
The future may well belong to the industrious little ones, as can be testified in our take on the topic 'Fashion and Metropolises' from page 66 – and in our current City Guide. Copenhagen has an amazingly high density of ideas per square metre: pure inspiration.
Inspiration is also what we hope to provide with our fashion shoot: Felicity Sagoe travelled from London to the Irish city of Cork for us in order to photograph our fashion spread 'Into the Wild', and returned not only with fantastic photos but also with the once-in-a-lifetime experience of having seen a double rainbow. Berlin designer, Mari Otberg, in contrast, stayed at home. She is the founder of label Just MariOt and a gifted illustrator who learned her trade with Vivienne Westwood. Instead of illustrating her own designs, she drew next season's summer dresses for us: 'Fräulein Venus Fliegenfalle' is the title of the story about a lady with a very strong erotic pull who never knows what to wear or which man to give her heart to.
Roman Goebel's protagonist, on the other hand, only has one man in mind: her neighbour. You can see his modern interpretation of Truffaut's 'La Femme d'à côté' on page 104.
Last, but not least, Junichi Kikuchi, the Japanese photographer based in London, devotes himself in oriental minimalist style to the unexpected depth of a highly underrated colour in 'Fade to Grey'.
So that covers our options on how to meet the challenges of the New Year from a fashion point of view. We hope that we have provided you with inspiration and helped you to make some decisions. Stay with us!
Ilona Marx, Editor in Chief
Freelance contributors
Photographers
Roman Goebel, Junichi Kikuchi, Kai von Rabenau, Felicity Sagoe, Gulliver Theis, Andi Zimmermann
Illustrators
Jojo Ensslin, Roman Klonek, Mari Otberg
Authors
Silke Bücker, Mahret Kupka, Susanne Theisen, Eva Westhoff, Fredericke Winkler
