This is Not Fashion Week.

Of course I'm in denial when I tell myself I don't need to visit the Fashion Weeks. Copenhagen Fashion Week starts on thursday and in Stockholm it's on now and next week. I should at least be there networking, being visible. But I still won't do it!

I don't know if I'm different from all the other designers or I'm just one that won't lie about it. The whole trade fair thing really makes me depressed, bored and sick. It's not at all that I'm too good for it or too much "artiste" or anything like that. It just plain gets me down and I'm clearly not made for sales. Please get me right, I have the greatest respect, even envy of people who can sell, do it well and enjoy it.

I've been to the fashion trade fairs in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Paris and Tokyo, showing Robert&Blad, so I know what I'm talking about here. I've made some great friends among fellow designers out there, but I'd much rather meet them in another environment.


This is the gum that was stuck to crazy modell Karolina's cardigan the day she came in for the filming with Ulrika Rang. Just thought it could illustrate how fashion fairs make me feel... ;-)


Thankfully I've NEVER needed those affairs for inspiration. Ideas just pour out of my head as soon as I open that particular tap.


So while the rest of the fashion world are enjoying/suffering the Fashion Weeks out there, I'm really busy with a bunch of more interesting stuff. Chaos in above pic, is me preparing for my first-ever-in-life-ooh-soo-scary Dj-set for music magazine Gaffa. I'll probably screw up technically, but the music will be great!
I'm also booking locations to show the re-design and film project "Adios MTHRFCKR". Galleri Rostrum and ATT: in Malmö this spring, so far, dates still not fixed. And of course we'll take it on the road!
Other things keeping me from the Fashion Weeks are writing a column about re-design for the magazine Grön Stad, prepairing a photo shoot of new designs, with Irika.

And of course hunting for an agent to represent Robert&Blad at those dreaded fairs... ;-)

Artsy, punky, re-design film project.

Don't you just wish you were me?

This is the wonderful stuff I've been filling my days with lately.

Film maker Ulrika Rang and me at "work" on the short, punky film about the re-designing of a wedding dress. Working title: Adios MTHRFCKR!

Phases # 1, 2 & 3
Fucking it up.

Duel at high noon.

Phase # 4
Screen printing shop brutality.

Phase #5
Making nice.
Not caught on camera due to the usage of super secret re-designing formulas. ;-)

Phase # 6
The moment of truth - fitting and styling.

The super cool film photographer working the angles from perilous height,
with neither safety net nor body double. Art before safety!

Model Karolina Wojcik looking the part.
Karolina is also a great artist and illustrator. Check it out!

Aaaaand... ACTION!

The filming bit is now finished and Ulrika has the tough job of cutting enough material for about two seasons of weekly tv-shows down to maybe 3 minutes. I don't envy her all that killing of darlings. But I feel confindent in the fact that she is a seasoned pro.
Next week exciting meetings with the musicians we're hoping to work with. Cross your fingers!

You all better do some shopping so I can keep this no profit, artsy shit up!


Ps. Thanks "Emma - the intern" for the stills.

Bits & pieces...

Googled Robert&Blad and to my surprise found this...
and this as well. Two little films from Robert&Blad's participation in London Fashion Week.
Enjoy...

NGBG t-shirt release party. Everybody was there...

The bar. Or the altar, as someone suggested.

Some of the best guys I know, from left superb bluesman Svante Sjöblom, Sebastian who runs the club "Ain't nobody's mistress but my own" and to my left Daniel Pedersen, one of my great photographer friends.

A perfect, early Friday evening after work in the studio. I was very pleasantly surprised by the turn up (around 60 people), in spite of it being really snowy and cold. Thanks friends!!

Lured them in with free beers...

Sharpest dressers this evening: my former intern Johan and Louise his girlfriend.

So this is what it was all about. The release of the t-shirt which is an homage to the street
Norra GrängesBergsGatan, where the studio is located. This is the street for illegal after hours clubs, baclava bakeries, Polish bootleg booze and a bunch of other dodgy emterprises. Robert&Blad included. ;-D

My dear old friend Heléne Thoresdotter, another of my much appreciated photographers, here with her fiancé Max. Two of the best, all categories!

Aha, customers! Staffan, teacher and funk-nerd with Johan who works with something super interesting to do with interaction design. I think.

Jenny Nordberg, half of Apokalyps Labotek, designers of our time, working with different types of waste as raw material. Brill, check out! And stylish Louise again, with pearls on her sweather.

In charge of marketing & pr this evening, Svante Sjöblom. Great salesman grin! Next to him his girlfriend Malin who also acted as my assistant for the evening. She most definitely did not spend it sitting on her ass!

The most picturesque printing shop in the world?

Yeah, we got snow... Just in time for me to do a two-day session in the silkscreen printing shop. The radiator isn't so hot (pun intended). It has to be turned really high in the morning, and do it's thing for a while. Eventually it's ok to go out there to start working. But it does look extremely inviting, wouldn't you say?

There they are, hanging three rows deep, the t-shirts in honour of that gloriously grungy, gritty and grimy street Norra Grängesbergsgatan, where the studio is located.

Release party in the studio this friday at four. Do come! :-)

The hunt for eco-fabrics & the recycling of own designs

In October I went to Sweden's textile capital Borås for the fabric fair. I was particularly searching for a good woven eco-cotton or hemp, for trousers and skirts. I think I may have found the right fabric, and as you can see, if I would want to incorporate colours in the collection the possibilities are there... Being a quality and control freak I will want to make a few samples an wear and especially wash a few times before settling on the fabric. It will definitely be great to be able to add a bunch of bottoms to the collection, as it is a bit weak on that front at the moment.

An other thing I was on a quest for was a wool to do a remake of this Robert&Blad coat from 1992 or -93. I was amazed at how much I liked it upon being reunited with it. Dear old customer My let me borrow this on-off piece so I could refresh my memory. I'm flattered and proud that My has kept, used and loved it for all these years! Thanks My!

So here is the first sample remake. Accidentally got sewing machine oil on the lining so I'm afraid I'll be forced to keep it myself. Dommage! ;-)

I did find a very interesting Portuguese recycled wool for it. So it will be available in the collection from next fall. By then I will have tested this one and can tell you truthfully if it's possible to bicycle in it or not. I might have to lie...

Shop away!

Finally the webshop is live! Go crazy, knock yourselves out and by doing so be proud in helping out with the financing of The Fridge (and maybe a glass of champagne or two).

Stockholm part 2

Up-dating, finally!
Stockholm really got the better of me and I ended up with a pretty bad cold and of course a lot of follow ups on the to do-list. Well, while I was still in the big city I had a couple of very interesting meetings with sales-agents. Of course nothing is simple, swift and in the bag... but, there's definitely hope.
And of course I managed to squeeze a little more of my best sport into the stay. Hanging out with friends and colleauges over drinks, that is.

Very conveniently the lovely Susanne Beskow of Van Deurs opened her shop in shop, at Snickarbacken 7 in Stockholm, where she shares a beautiful space with a café, gallery and interior decoration shop. So it was art show opening, shop opening and premiere of the whole space, all rolled into one. And lots of people, even if they're not in my pics.

The accordion-pleats are the signature of Van Deurs. Here also illustrated by the smart and elegant hang-tag. Congrats Susanne, well done!

See me dwarfed by my wonderful old friend Bodil and Susanne, two true amazons! Let me tell you, Bodil was very excited about finding a designer also taller than 180 cm (both with good margin, I believe). I'm sure there's gonna be some tall garments sold as a result of this...

The next day I went to see Ylva Liljefors at her office at post fire dew. Of course everything they were working on was top-secret and I had to be very careful not to accidentally get Ylvas mood-board in the picture. But I did get her round window and Ylva very proudly wearing her Slayer T-shirt.

Just before getting on the train I hooked up with funny, bubbly, crazy stylist Angie, who flattered me immensely by wearing a Robert&Blad dress for our meeting. After two hours of catching up, since it's been a while, she followed me across the street, to the train station.
And so it was over between Stockholm and me for this time. Well, I got to keep that little souvenir, the cold, of course. Thanks Stockholm!

Fashion friends united and Finnish TV

Busy days in Stockholm...
Last night I got together with another fellow designer and wonderful friend. Ylva Liljefors has dressed all the coolest people in Sweden and is also a great person to be around. I will try to fit in a visit to her work, at mens brand Post Fire Dew, before going back to Malmö.

As you can probably tell from the pix, Ylva and I have slightly differing approaches to life...

In spite of this we really like each other! Though she didn't really buy my braid as being the genuine article and was a bit disrespectful about it...

One of the things on todays schedule was a meet with Finnish television, for a show they are making about Minna - the successful fashion blogger.
Going there, reminded me of how it's not always (in fact hardly EVER!) limos and champagne. It's a lot more like, with tired feet on a very scryffy old bus No.74, and the collection in a battered old aluminum suit case.

Anyway it got better! Minna is very concentrated while taking instuctions from producer Liisa Akimof. Truthfully, she looks petrified.

Something she quickly got over! Once she had three cameras pointed at herself, she seemed perfecly comfortable. I got some footage too, and we really managed to wave a lot of Robert&Blad designs around, and tried to sneak the logo in to every shoot and every angle.

It's going to be super fun to watch, even though I don't understand a word of finnish. Apparently the tv-show will not be accessible on the web, outside of Finland, due to copyrights. So those of you who can watch Yle 1, be alert!

Visting Astrid Björk

I'm in Stockholm at the moment. Today I spent a lovely afternoon in the studio/workshop of jewellery designer and friend Astrid Björk.
Astrid has a super nice little shop connected to her workspace at the top of the steps at Blecktornsgränd. A very picturesque adress at Söder, worth the climb whether you're into stylish jewellery or not.

This is Astrid worktable. Inspiring, indeed!
No wonder she's got that huge smile on her face!

I managed to keep Astrid from working for at least two hours, over coffee and brownies. Or I shouldn't say keep her from work, since we are our work. It's always on our minds and we are constantly talking about it. It's great to have collegues and friends to share info and tips with, as well as warnings! Not to speak of to test ideas and just generally support each other.

Now Astrid and I are toying with the idea of some kind of collaboration. Maybe an exhibition, maybe a fashionshow. We'll see what the future holds...

Paradise revisited & specimen taken for experiment.

Recently I went for a meeting with one of my favourite retailers, Carlson Ahnell in Skanör. It's a great shop and webshop where you'll find a range of Robert&Blad clothes in the new, lovely and environmentally smart hemp/lycra jerseymix.

Skanör is the village by the sea where I grew up, where my parents live and where my dads family comes from, for generations. It also happens to be one of the most beautiful places on earth, now sadly under siege by an army of suv-people.

While in Skanör, I naturally went for a swim...

But I also took the opportunity to start a little perfume & preservative-free cosmetics-experiment. Since I love what swimming in the sea does for my hair, I decided to try using the real thing this winter, instead of perfumed saltwater-spray off the counter.

Quite a lot of seaweed, due to the winds on this day, made the water pretty cloudy. My mother convinced me it would be full of eggs and larvae and other unknown things that would either hatch or rot. I actually took that in, in spite of the source being mom!

So once the icky stuff settled, I carefully decanted the water and boiled it.

Stay with me and I'll keep you updated on the experiment.