In conversation with .. ! Part1

In conversation with Olaf Hajek, Dimitris Papaioannou, Dream Wife, Tove Styrke, Gaddafi Gals, Henkjenz and more

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On The Cover Olaf Hajek > p.14

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In conversation with Dimitris Papaioannou

“I want to be reminded of how much I need for my life to be creative.”

On rare occasions, experimental theatre breaks through to the mainstream. Dimitris Papaioannou is one of the few names that has filtered from the art scene into pop culture. His name first 6

appeared in 2004 as the Creative Director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Athens as well as being the first artist to create a full-length work for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. He has been touring since 2017 with his latest piece The Great Tamer and we had the chance to sit down and discuss a few aspects of his creative process and work after the German premiere in Dresden.

The Great Tamer is a production that definitely speaks Dimitris’ unique language. He takes the role of director and controls every aspect of it both on and offstage, including the recording and documentation. He sees the finished product as a result of a collaboration with the performers and actors involved. His mosaic of ideas shape the show and come to life as a cohesive piece after the rehearsal process.

Photos by Julian Mommert Interview by Manuel Moncayo and Nicolas Simoneau When do you decide that a piece is ready to be shown to the public?

Within the format and time limitations that each piece has I identify what is trying to be created and my role is to help it manifest its best version. It is a game I play, trying to sense what is being created and serve it.

The stage plays an important role. When did this appear as a premise to build The Great Tamer?

From the beginning of this play I had the desire to create a show that explores digging things from underground, conceptually speaking: the archeology of humanity, the search of a hidden pleasure and an excavation of our own personal and collective memory. Which graphically meant you need to search something that is “under� an elevated stage. There are solid factors that define what you have to do, and I realised that what I would construct will need to come from already-made parts.

So we took the standard parts of theatrical floors and we created a set in the form of a wave by changing the heights of four points. I am explaining this because the parameters are not very artistic. Artistry is how to tame all these parameters and to create some kind of poetry if possible. I wanted something under, so we needed to elevate the surface. I wanted people to see, so it needed to incline. I wanted something that looked twisted but I had to work with already-made parts, so these factors define the aesthetic morality of the result.

How many people were involved in the creation of The Great Tamer?

I designed the set, an architect analysed my requirements and worked out how achieve it. Other than her, I had several collaborators for set, costume, props, lights, sound design, and of course the performers and actors.

Are these people your permanent team?

They are not a permanent team: I tend to be faithful and some collaborations last for years. So if I am happy with the collaboration, I take it to another level, until we feel like we do not evolve together or until the time comes to get some air. My basic team is a producer, stage manager, tour manager, technical director, and three or four performers that I work with. These are the people that will go with me from one project to another, and we attract different artists to complete each work. We are a house production, we started from various backgrounds and we have learned by doing.

Is the size of the team for a new work influenced by your previous work?

There is a direct relationship between the way each work is built and how it evolves into the next one. Right now The Great Tamer is an extensive tour with a large group of collaborators, and therefore I am craving a smaller production for the next time, but I don’t know if this craving will prevail. When I did Inside which is one of my favourite pieces, it was this big theatrical installation that needed 30 performers, it lasted 6 hours per day, and it happened in the middle of the Greek financial crisis so it was my biggest financial flop. Up to then, I had been blessed with years of being financially successful and selling tickets, considering that what I do is a bit weird for me. I believe part of this success or interest from the audience came because I did the opening and closing ceremony for the Summer Olympic Games in 2004 so I became a kind of local star and people came to see my work even when they would not understand or prefer it to something else. But then Inside came and it was a big financial flop and the producers forgot about 7

me because I was not the money maker anymore. I took a break for a year. At this time art had become political because of the crisis. I hated that because I found it narrow. On the other hand, I felt that what was happening around me was too intense not to take it into consideration. I tried to think of what my contribution would be and I made a bet with myself to create the next piece out of nothing: no resources, no money. So this meant no music, no lights, just recycled sets, the minimum props possible, to use nobody was not possible, so I used myself, because I could afford to not get paid. But I could not do it alone, so I did a duet: a low budget duet. And my statement would be that even though I had been blessed with all the resources, it’s not really important whether you have them or not in order to create something interesting.

So this is a decision, I tried to do something out of nothing.

So did the production costs define Primal Matter?

Not necessarily. I did have the resources to produce because the crisis did not fully affect me. It was more of an aesthetic and political choice to reduce the production to a minimum, as a statement to myself, to my colleagues and to my fellow citizens. Let’s not cry about lost money, let’s realise how little we need to create poetry or something else.

Is it also a statement to only use Greek people in your productions?

No, it is not a statement. The Greek contemporary art scene took some time to explode around the world, which is happening now for Yorgos Lanthimos, Papadopoulos, Euripides Laskaridis, Kat Válastur. For me it came late: I am 54 years old, working frantically since I am 23. Now that I have some recognition, and it happens to be that the people you see on stage are Greek, it becomes joy, because it means that in order to get going I did not have to collect talent from all around the world. Curators waited for the country to be destroyed in order to look at the amount of talent that exists here. We had to go through a crisis to become “trendy” and people look at us now and they 8

discover that we had been there before. I am not a child of the crisis: I was here since much earlier, and now that you look at us and see the talented performers here, it makes me smile. But it never came as a conscious decision, in this case we would only limit ourselves. The Great Tamer is my first international co-production, so I had considered propositions of performers from all over the world that were interested to come and work with me. I was not sure if I was ready to work in English, and probably on my next production I will attempt it but trying to have a balance of proportions because the work can be extended to up two and a half years of travelling together. So it’s a major decision when it comes to the language.

What were the visual references that you had for The Great Tamer?

“The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp” by Rembrandt came in the middle of the making as a key. It created irony, a secret contract with the audience in the storytelling because violence is very difficult on stage.

How do you have people kill somebody on stage? If you want to create an emotion you have to make it intense; the more intense you make it the more ridiculous it becomes because it is fake. So you need something and the way that I used and twisted the image and tried to make it into a freak show helped me because it creates a smile, and at the same time gets the point through, and for some people it also becomes a little bit realistic and a little bit disgusting. In a way it carries the emotion of those people destroying and eating a person.

Do you have any visual references that you would like to work with in the future?

I never see a painting and say: “Oh, I would like to make a work about it.”

There are more basic decisions that come first. My biggest problem when embarking on a play is the background. Theatres are black; if you don’t want to create an enormous set and you don’t want to have a white screen à la Robert Wilson you have to work in black, your visual references are immediately defined by chiaroscuro. These are the defining visual factors, so in Primal Matter I was liberated because I decided to stage it against a wall. But the premise never starts with saying: Let’s do a Botticelli. You work with premises and you identify how they look, and you either call it in, or you try to forget them if they’re not useful.

Are the new pieces trying to take ideas from your past work further?

A bit further or a bit backwards [laughs]. I film and personally edit my work, creating short films, promos or summaries: trying to recreate an edited product that will go onto the internet and that it will be the only thing that survives after we are gone. I am trying to understand what

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I am doing and make its best edited version. Going through this process, I realised that there are some fixed ideas and themes that come back, some evolve and some just repeat, so possibly in the future a researcher could find a thread in my work but is not my job to comment on this. I discovered that there are similar images that go deeper than style, they have to do with something that I am looking for, something I am obsessed with and I can not do anything about it. Is already hard enough to find something interesting enough to accept to let the audience see.

Is there a specific idea or message that you want people to perceive with your work?

I do have ideas that I see on my work, not while I am working on it but when I am done with a piece and repeating it. Touring with a piece is a way for me to understand what it is about and to try to make it more clear to be articulated on what it is about. But there is no message, I don’t even like this word when talking about art, I am a little bit conservative that way.

Sometimes a big blue painting is the best message.

Photo by Mariana Bisti

What is the relationship you have with the actors or performers, in order to understand the freedom they have as contributors?

As an analogy with music, I select performers that take my score as a chance to express themselves, and that in order do so do not neglect the score. They follow it and with creativity make it better, better in a way that I was not able to think on my own. The performer’s job is to solve this equation by following the form I give, and so comes freedom.

It is not a very popular idea: we live in a period where we crave a kind of tolerance or safe space for everybody, and we try to place our sensitivity as such an important factor that we tend to forget what our human responsibilities are. Is the same with freedom, we tend to forget how many parameters of discipline we need to have among us in order to be free. We tend to believe that freedom is just an image or is a “whatever”.

Do you think as an artist you have a responsibility towards spectators?

I do think that my personal responsibility is to exhaust every amount of talent that I was given until I die. And it would have been the same if I was a father, researcher, or anything else.

Personally, there is a morality attached to it: I would like to exhaust my talent in a territory 11

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of human expression that is encouraging a positive vibration in humanity. I would like to invest in the bank of free expression, as opposed to using my talent for my personal ambitions.

When it came to the time of doing the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics, I had to make the distinction about the fact that there are some jobs that need artists to do them, but the result is not art because morally you are not free to express what you want.

You can not be bitter and negative about it, you have to be positive, and if you have to be something then it’s not art.

Of course, this is a long conversation because we have great artists who, within the limits of the Christian tradition – that they obviously wanted to break – found a way within their limitations to break it but accepting the format of the commission. Another aspect of this conversation is that after years of having seen performances

by Pina Bausch, every time I would leave the theatre besides the admiration I would feel for the work, I realised that something had changed inside me, I would feel more human. I loved humans more, and this is the most powerful political statement.

What do you work on besides what you show to the audience?

I paint, photograph and film. I always do something if I am not in rehearsal. I don’t know how to live without making things. Sometimes all of these creates a library of ideas to work with but also it creates a confirmation that I am made to create out of desire.

When you start having a career you go from one project to another one and suddenly you know what you are going to be doing in two and a half years, so it can be that I miss the need for creation. It’s important for me, since I don’t like to be chained in an automatic reaction of something like a career, or building a name or having a job, to bounce back to my real connection to why I am doing things.

It is important not to lose the joy, you need to be reminded that this is your choice. Since I was a child, I got oppressed really easily if I had to do things, so I would not want to do them. I want to be reminded of how much I need for my life to be creative.

@papaioannou_d 13

Dream Wife: Breaking The Mould

“I never think about gender. We didn’t start this band because we all have vaginas.”

British-Icelandic punk-rock trio Dream Wife have been on our radar since we first laid eyes on them during their pastel coloured days of tonguein-cheek poolside pop. What first started as a piece of performance art, based on an imaginary girl band in Brighton art school, soon turned into something much bigger in reality. Comprising of Rakel Mjöll (lead vocalist), Alice Go (guitar, vocals), and Bella Podpadec (bass, vocals), Dream Wife are most well-known for their powerful, ragefilled anthems, constant rallying for equality, and memorable DIY live shows including, most importantly, their “bitches-to-the-front” policy 14

Photos by Hollie Fernando Interview & Polaroids by Nicola Phillips

where they encourage women to rock the fuck out at the front of the stage. Since the release of their first EP in 2016, the band have made incredible waves throughout the globe, most notably described as one of the most exhilarating live rock bands to emerge within the last few years by Billboard in 2018. In the same year the three-piece were also included on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of “The 13 Best Things We Saw” at Lollapalooza music festival. Since their self-titled debut album released in January 2018, receiving 5 stars across the board, the band have been on an extensive tour of Europe and North America, opening for The Vaccines, Sunflower Bean, The Kills and Garbage.

This was soon followed by performing in several cities in Australia as part of the St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival and their first headlining tour in North America. In short, Dream Wife have conquered the world, performing no less than 150 shows in 2018 alone.We caught up with Rakel during Dream Wife’s packed-out Berlin show about encouraging more girl bands, the unrealistic expectations of being the perfect performer, making music on the road, and providing safe spaces in festivals.

You played so many shows in 2018! Can you name one performance that stood out?

We played a show in a city we’d never been to called Hasselt in Belgium and there were a lot of cool teenage girls there. It was a full house and people had driven from all over to be there. That was pretty cool! I think it’s good to play shows in more obscure cities sometimes and bring these types of shows to smaller settings because it can have a longer-lasting effect. It’s like in Iceland when I was a teenager, my bands would play relatively smaller venues, but then you’d have this intimate gig with the people there and you remember that moment your whole life – like the first gig you went to when you were 13.

Maybe that’s because it helps you to feel more in tune with your fans?

It’s nice to show people something they haven’t necessarily seen on stage, especially if you don’t live in a capital city. Also just to see a women-fronted band, and unapologetic women doing something different on stage.

Like Alice’s style, you know, her guitar style is totally different from any other guitarists I’ve seen, and Bella as well with her bass style. So it’s like we each have our own character and it’s good to be able to showcase that. To share the message that you don’t have to be fit into some kind of mould that you think women musicians on stage should be in. That you should just be the truest version of yourself.

Do you ever have the chance to chat directly with your fans after the show?

Sure! It’s so fun afterwards when we have really good discussions with people, we try as much as we can to speak to them. We all come from mixed backgrounds as far as our musical education goes but there’s this underlying idea that you have to be perfect. The perfect pianist, the perfect guitarist, and if you are not as perfect as you think you should be, then you don’t feel as though you can be the lead guitarist, the vocalist, the drummer. I noticed that even from my youth when I went to a music academy in Reykjavik. It’s weird because, you know, I always think back and remember thinking that I had to be perfect. And if you’re not then you can’t be in a band. We love it when we get a group of teenage girls and they’re all coming up to us like, “we’re gonna start band!” – that’s always really great to see because we’re showing them that they don’t necessarily have to be an educated musician to follow that dream.

Have you found yourself comparing yourself to other female-fronted bands?

I never think about gender. We didn’t start this band because we all have vaginas. We started this band because we were friends and we didn’t even think about gender until that was sort of put on us by the media. And then we started thinking about things differently, especially when we started getting attention.

So how did you figure out what you wanted to do?

I think to be honest this idea of being perfect didn’t go away for me until recently. I think so much of this is bred into us. But at the end of the day, you don’t have to be perfect to start a band. Especially with rock music because it leaves room to make mistakes. The music you love to listen to isn’t polished but that’s what makes it interesting. When it’s too perfect it’s boring.

What do you think about festivals pledging to achieve 50/50 gender balance by 2022?

Interesting. Right before we started this interview a friend of mine messaged me telling me that she pulled out of a festival because of this topic. She’s kind of in the same friend groups that we’re in. But I mean there’s one thing that was sort of bugs me with that, you know, with festival headlines. It’s when festivals say, yeah, we are putting more women on the bill and we’re like, great, OK, cool. And then you see the bill and the top 10 names are all male and then the women are small ones and you’re like, OK, can they not be bigger on that bill please. And I think that idea is not just about having more women play, it’s also having them as the headliners. I’m not saying that we’re all close to that mark now, but with that kind of ideas, why not book women that are at that stage? I think if festivals are pledging this, we also have to make sure that those top names that you see are women, or at least include a woman in the band. There are so many amazing women. You need representation.

What was it that made you get over the fact that you don’t have to fit into that role?

I think actually through this band, which is odd enough [laughs]. I think when you sort of play more, do more, see more scenes, you start to understand these weird roles that you’ve put yourself through your entire life and why you did that and why society did that to you as well. I think performing in this band is the first time that I could actually fully express myself and feel a part of the band. It’s so comfortable to write with Alice and Bella and now we have a session drummer – our friend Alex who is also from University where we all met – and that’s how you should write music. In a room where everyone feels safe to contribute and everyone respects your creative process. Where you’re not trying to please someone.

But there’s also the topic of keeping women safe at shows, especially teenage girls, and changing attitudes, right?

That’s another thing too. I think we have to have representation in both ways. I was also talking about this with friends of mine who were organising the stage at one of the festivals, they’re called Girls Against, and they want to make it very known that during gigs sexual assault does happen and that it’s all of our responsibility to make others aware of it happening. It’s the bouncer, it’s the staff, it’s the person next to you. They’ve been talking to every single person involved in these events, the promoters, people that are performing, especially bouncers and just had this conversation of if a person is acting this way, there is no tolerance. They get kicked out. Like, if there’s any kind of offensive remarks towards your gender, anything, you just have to go. You’re not welcome here. And I think that’s really good to have this knowledge passed along. You know, I’ve known people to pull out of festivals because they’ve booked bands who have been accused of assault. But then people will still go. You don’t book names that are known for having assaulted women.

And you shouldn’t say that you’re going to be a festival that supports women in music but then they’ve hardly booked any acts who are women.

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We’ve noticed that people are taking a stand against this type of issue though more and more.

I think it’s also just because like there’s a younger generation coming to these shows and they are demanding more equality.

So why is it the people that are booking, that are maybe a few decades older, deciding what people want and not taking their views? But then luckily there is this new generation that is working now for the festivals and they are demanding that there is more different representations.

Can you tell us more about the journey that the band has been on up until now?

We’ve played a lot of live shows.

We’ve sort of carved our way by just doing it and coming into our own and experimenting and making mistakes. Not striving to be anything because truth be told this band was made as a bit of a joke originally! Basically we all wanted to go to Canada, or at least Bella and I did. This was a post-night-out on the dance floor kind of idea. We decided if we started a band that could finance us to travel then we could tour Canada and visit all of our friends and just sleep on their sofas. Our friends are musicians and we thought – well they can sort us with gigs. We knew we needed to find someone else for the band and that Alice is a great guitarist so we asked her to join us. She was down and we went to Canada. We even did the same around Europe! It was in the first year of us forming like three years ago. When we did that we had such random shows, like, random as fuck. And we were like sleeping on coaches (this is in the first year) we hadn’t released a song, and nobody knew about us. We just wanted to tour. But looking back on it I think it was pretty healthy approach.

So you basically had the same mentality to just go for it and start a band?

Yeh. You should just start! You shouldn’t have to wait until the demos ready or waiting until you find the perfect people. Make a band with your best friend, or make a band with someone who looks cool and fun and you get along with. Not someone that you think that there could be a power dynamic where it just ends up being weird. Someone that’s on the same kind of level as you and if that’s your best friend, awesome. So I think it’s a really powerful thing to do and we didn’t realise it at the time. The first year we literally made this band for a

reason to travel and meet friends and then through doing that we were like, wow, there’s some chemistry here. There’s some good vibes and it’s really easy for us to write music together. I think it’s a good way of doing stuff.

What’s the biggest learning for you from that experience?

Just not putting such high expectations at the start.

Of course there’s a point in time when it should get serious, but there’s also be a point in time when there’s play, when you should play shows that are weird, when you should just do stuff and when you should play a bunch so you can find your sound. A band is never going to find its sound in just a few months. Like bands that are like fully formed playing their first show, that’s never going to just happen. It takes time to find your sound. It takes live shows to figure stuff out.

So the advice that you’d give is to travel on coaches, record in coffee shops....

I mean everyone has their different approaches. We actually recorded some of the songs in Alice’s old nursery at her parents house. It was great and her dad is the drummer on our E.P, when we realised our songs were getting more like rockier here and it’s like pretty difficult to be a rock band without a drummer. So we asked her dad to play drums, and he hadn’t played drums since the early eighties, and his sounds is quite retro which was perfect for our E.P. So we were like putting simple retro styles, and a little bit punkier too, and whilst we were doing that we understood okay that sounds great and we should definitely incorporate drums in our live set, so you learn through doing. It was really cool to do that, doing it our way and then allow other people to step into our lives rather than having people like try to make it right. I think you always have to do it your way instead of people in the start instead of people I’m wanting to assist you and them to not be in your way and ends up not sounding like you. So I think it’s really important to get your own sound down. I think that’s why we still writing the album which is right after this. Then it was really easy for us. It was really natural. And we also signed to a label called lucky number that were like you have the last say on everything. And that’s the kind of label that you want.

How does it feel to go back and hear your earlier work and then see how you’ve progressed?

As soon as we added live drums things changed.

Especially because we recorded an E.P. off the back of that really weird Europe tour I was telling you about where we slept on coaches. We even did our own sound sometimes, like, mixing on our knees or like tiny cafes somewhere [laughs]. Like, at one point we didn’t even know what country we were in.

It was weird. But doing that I think we really got to know each other. We also realised that it’s so good to learn what you don’t like. We got better and better at performing songs together and the chemistry together. And right off the back of that tour we went to Alice’s parents house and she recorded our E.P. that we released with a small Brighton Record label and made like 50 cassettes.

The last thing you want is to be pushed into something that doesn’t feel like you.

I mean you’ve got to earn your chops and we sure have earned them. [Laughs] www.dreamwife.co @dreamwifetheband

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Les Diamants sont ĂŠternels

Artwork by SebastiĂĄn Delgado @bastianilkk www.bastianilk.tumblr.com Photos and creative direction by Karl Slater @slaterkarl www.karlslater.com Styling by Lewis Robert Cameron @lrcfashionstylist www.lewisrobertcameron.com Make up by Sogol Razi using 3ina @sogolmakeup www.sogolmakeup.com Hair by Tetsuya Kaneko @tetsu3139 www.tetsuya-kaneko.com Model is Jacob L from SUPA Model Management London @longdaylarner @supamodelmanagement www.supamodelmanagement.com 18

Top - Nathalie Coste Gloves & shorts - Aleksandra Seweryniak

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Earrings - Vivienne Westwood Shirt & gloves - Aleksandra Seweryniak Necklace - Topshop

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Jumpsuit - Aleksandra Lalic Shirt - Ralph Lauren Brooches - House of LoLo, Swarovski Belt - PRTTYBOI

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Earrings - Espiegle Jacket - Aleksandra Lalic Gloves - PRTTYBOI

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Coat - Aleksandra Lalic Pearl choker - PRTTYBOI

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Earrings - Espiegle Blazer - Tagliatore Shirt - TOPMAN Brooch - Swarovski Shorts - Aleksandra Seweryniak Gloves - PRTTYBOI

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Necklace - PRTTYBOI Coat - Aleksandra Lalic Trousers - DHENZE Tights - ASOS

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Let’s talk

about

BERLIN +

FETISH

with HART Magazine HART Magazine is a bi-annual magazine for post fetishism and queer culture. Based and created in Berlin — one of the world’s most vibrant, queer cities. We had a chat with the two founders Niklas van Schwarzdorn and Léon C. Romeike about their work, fetish and why Berlin is the place to be for them.

Interview by Marcel Schlutt www.hart-mag.com @hart.magazine @miss.ivanka.t @leochrom

What does Berlin mean to you?

Moving to and living in Berlin for both of us meant a big shift in many parts of our identity. How we identify, what we value, what we want from life. We both come from smaller cities. Even if we thought back then we knew who we were, in the context of such a different city, that all changes dramatically.

fetishes come from exactly but to me, they are very natural.

What are your favourite spots in Berlin? And why?

Hm, I could definitely name clubs, bars and café that we love to go to but it’s more about the people than the spot itself. The same club can vary depending on the party and if the party attracts the people that make us feel home. I would definitely say that GEGEN at KitKatClub means a lot to us but even in the last year, it has changed a lot.

What do you think the most important things are when beginning to explore a fetish, especially in the queer world?

Being safe. There is not much open discussion about the practices of fetish and some of them need experience. In Berlin, we are fortunate to have organisations that specialise in sexual education.

If you could use just 3 words to explain HART Magazine to my mother, what would they be?

She wouldn’t probably know what queer means, so that’s already a problem. It’s pretty abstract but I would say: honest, unafraid, forward-thinking. I know that’s 4 words.

We are in LOVE with your magazine. Tell us more about it. Who came up with the idea? And when did you found it?

Well, it started as Niklas’ university project. He and I realised that we had such a productive energy together so we worked on a shooting.

That to this day is one of my most favourite ones.

That was in summer 2017. In the beginning, it was a free editorial but none of the magazines we sent it to would have it. For some, it was too much fetish, for some too much fashion. Niklas was just sick of it and said, “We are going to do our own thing.” He always dreams big.

HART is all about post-fetishism and queer culture. What is postfetishism? And how do you translate it into your content?

OK, so myself, Léon, am the one who came up with the sub-line. I have to explain both of these words. At that time I was really interested in how queer people formed a kind of culture that ideally isn’t based on nationality, skin colour, gender or whatever. What connects people and how they identify.

What is interesting is that the idea of queerness is very hard to define.

It’s an idea that takes its power from not being “definable”. It describes people that are usually discriminated against because they don’t fit into the way most people understand identity. I have to say that this is the ideal vision. In reality, even queer-identifying people can be extremely exclusive. However, when I thought about the origin of modern queerness the connection to the fetish scene was very apparent to me.

What I learned in Berlin was that sexual freedom and freedom of sexual identity almost go hand in hand. Again, ideally. We want to talk about queerness we have to think about the post-fetishistic movement. I loved the word post-fetishism because again it’s hard to define. What even is that? For me, it describes a new interest in the aesthetics of fetish. Suddenly everyone wears a harness and lots of small and big designers use this aesthetic to create fashion. It is still a phenomenon that we have to investigate and think about what that means for our society.

What’s the difference between sexual preference and fetishes?

Well the lines a very blurry. We hear a lot about fetishising of black bodies and there are people that for example would say they have a foot fetish or a fetish for redheads. The word used to describe a sexual excitement caused by inanimate materials or objects. I think when we talk about fetish, we talk about the fantasy that comes with sex. That it is not just an act of reproducing.

Where do you believe most fetishes come from? More past experiences of more innate/genetics? Do you think everyone deep down has a fetish?

It’s the most natural thing for me. It is so human to disconnect from the natural act of doing something. I think eating is a good comparison. We obviously have to eat, but food is such a huge cultural factor. It has turned into so much more than receiving energy to live. It’s not that different to sex. It’s a natural urge that offers the possibility to create a huge storyline around the thing itself.

There are so many things that play into that. It’s hard to tell where

Why do you think fetishes are still so taboo?

It makes people feel unsure about structures of power. Fetish plays with that, dominate and submissiveness. And of course, everything that has to do with sex still makes people uncomfortable.

Do you think it’s more difficult for women or for men to begin exploring their fetishes and entering the scene?

First and foremost, it is always harder for women. In many aspects, women are over-sexualised but their own desires are mostly overlooked.

I don’t really know any lesbian sex-positive parties for example. I guess there are some but they are definitely under-represented. But I can’t really speak for the female experience.

You have just published your second issue. Tell us more about the theme. Who is in the issue and what is the topic?

We don’t have a topic for each issue. I guess “Magazine for postfetishism and queer culture” is already quite a special topic. However, this issue is a big improvement for us. We dig deeper into our mission to analyse, document and celebrate the scene. We had the chance to work with people that have inspired us even before HART, like Love Bailey, Sussi and Miss Meatface. We are able to provide a platform for small and big artists, all of them exciting forerunners.

As an indie magazine, we know it’s not always easy to print. How do you find a way around that?

Oh god, yes it’s a huge challenge. We can’t pay any of the people that we work with. Considering that, it’s even more exciting those artists let us publish their work. For the first issue, Niklas invested his own money, for the second one we did a Kickstarter to cover the printing costs. Niklas has done most of the work when it comes to getting the money. Trust and believe me, this queen has so much willpower, it’s unbelievable.

Are there any artists who you would die to work with for HART Magazine?

Well, there are, and we might soon work with them. So I won’t say too much!

If you could have dinner with any two queer people in history, who would they be?

Divine and Marsha P. Johnson, Let’s get personal! Léon, who is Niklas? What are his strengths and weaknesses?

I said before Niklas is extremely ambitious. His willpower is the reason why HART exists. It can definitely get exhausting to keep up with him but what we created together is very rewarding. He always knows exactly what he wants, which also means that our shootings usually go pretty fast. We have this amazing productive energy together. I know that whatever I style or whatever idea I have he will make it look stunning. If I would have to name a weakness, I would say that he doesn’t like to rethink an idea. Even if there are concerns on my side, it can get difficult to change an idea. But I guess that’s my job.

Niklas, who is Léon? What are his strengths and weaknesses?

Léon is a person that sometimes needs a kick in his ass to see how talented and amazing he is. And I feel that together we form a good union. I kick ass, and he brings me down when I am sometimes getting a bit too hyper. When I met him he still was really insecure, shy and now he really blossomed into the creative person he is today.

Since you’re also in a relationship outside of HART, is it easier to produce the magazine as a couple? Or is it more of an obstacle?

I have to say that there is no separation between life and work. It means that the work never really stops but also that it never just feels like work. There are actually a lot of stylists/photographer couples.

And as I said, we have a pretty good energy together.

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Vital Vulnerabilities: BLVTH and Ben Esser talk production values

Interview by Nicola Phillips BLVTH photos by Roberto Brundo @robertobrundo Ben Esser photos by Gianna Shamone @gianna_shamone

BLVTH

“You have to work hard every night and every fucking day.

That’s what I think is the best lesson for me.”

BLVTH, the moniker of Patrick Hüttenhoff, cannot be placed easily into a box. The half-Polish, half-Albanian, Berlin-based producer and singer-songwriter chases a vision in which his art is not merely a standout, but rather a stand-alone. BLVTH has shown a willingness to go against the grain of the current musical landscape. Whether it’s the genre-hopping antics found on his debut EP “Blut” or his gritty live performances, his rebellion could not have arrived any sooner. Fuelled by his punk roots and the buzz of Berlin’s electronic music scene, BLVTH’s songs are raw, hard-hitting, but nonetheless, catchy as hell.

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Ben Esser

After autonomously releasing numerous EP’s and singles and producing for German rap acts Casper and Ahzumjot, along with international acts such as K.Flay and Point Point, BLVTH released “Blut” September 2018, produced by fellow Berlin-based artist Ben Esser.

The classically trained pianist already proved that genre and boundaries can always be bent. Esser totes heavy hip-hop, R’n’B and jazz influences, sliding these into his originals and production work. After his debut single “Love You More”, the prolific producer took a backseat, extending his production hand from German rap, to working with artists such as Noah Slee, Max Graef collaborator Wayne Snow, Jordan Rakei, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Shiloh Dynasty, and XXXTentacion - but a handful of creators he has piqued the interest of.

An undeniable match made in heaven, Ben’s slick production values and BLVTH’s fresh attitude have forged something bold yet perfectly balanced. We had the chance to find out what makes these two so in tune with each other, the foundations of “Blut”, and why visiting Berlin is next on your bucket list.

Let’s start from the top. What is your musical background and how did you end up working together?

Ben: We already met in Hamburg because we both had the same shitty job building stages for concerts. We kind of knew that we would make music, but we never thought about making anything together. We ended up at the same spot in a way. At some point, I saw Patrick’s name pop up and then I saw him play live for the first time, that for me was very important. There’s the studio and then there’s the live performance, and he has a very strong personality on the stage. That impressed and inspired me a lot. We had a chat after the gig and it was just funny that we crossed paths again.

I’m a big fan of getting to know the person before making meaningful music. The first sessions we had we were just talking about music, about what’s happening, you know. And then you kind of warm up to each other.

Then you can start being vulnerable.

BLVTH: Because music is super personal. If you don’t catch the vibe, then it just won’t work.

Ben: I started with classical music when I was younger, things like playing the piano. One year before I moved to Berlin from Hamburg in 2013, that’s when I decided to focus more on production. The two cities are so different in terms of music.

What’s so different with the Hamburg music scene?

BLVTH: I think the 90s were better, like more dominant. I mean, a lot of great musicians that we appreciate are originally from Hamburg or near the area, like Boys Noize, Nils Frahm, so there are musical people, but I think the flourish went to Berlin. There’s a huge scene in Berlin. People are here from everywhere around the world.

I first started playing in like punk and rock bands back in Dusseldorf and then I moved to the Baltic Sea next to Hamburg with my parents, started producing music, producing beats and started playing in bands again and had my own band that was not so successful, but we played a lot of shows everywhere. That was cool and got me into the music thing more deeper. And then we called it a day one day and I continued producing music and writing my own songs and was kind of trapped in the Hamburg bubble, like doing music but not really knowing what I should do or what I wanted to do. Then one day I decided to go all in and focus on my music thing. So the Blut project it’s been a lot, it’s been some years now that I’ve really been doing it full time. I think maybe like two or three years, and the whole project is even way older, maybe around five years.

I like that you can really hear some of those past influences coming through, especially with something like this industrial sound found in “Rigid” BLVTH: Yeah, that’s true. I don’t like the classic way of producing songs. I mixed up the electronic elements with real instruments. Not that I’m like, super nostalgic to instruments. But you know it from the Noah Slee productions [nods to Ben]. You do electronic stuff but you’ve also included guitars, worked with basses, I think that’s nice and that’s what I wanted to do as well. I think that’s what makes it the EP as it is.

Do you follow any particular steps when producing?

Or is it all down to a certain mood at a certain time?

BLVTH: I think for the EP the samples are very important. The samples make it what it is and are the first step into the world.

Ben: Sometimes when you have a beat it’s already on the way, and then when an artist is connected to it then it has a powerful sound. I feel like a lot of the songs on

“It’s weird, you sat there and wrote the lyrics and record stuff and you put so much into the songs and then people listen to it and they can feel it.”

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the EP came when Patrick was just sitting at the piano and trying something out. One of his best friends, Eric, he’s also a crazy songwriter and he was just doing something on the guitar. So it’s like more of the kind of classic songwriting. But I feel like if a song already works in this very vulnerable stage of maybe not even lyrics or anything, just like a melody, then you know it’ll be something amazing.

BLVTH: We’ve really been trying to work out a very rough idea first, like, to get a song idea.

To not produce it to a level where the song has already finished, like everything is ready. We’re just trying to strip down the song to just a guitar or just a piano. Ben is a very great pianist and I think it’s very important for the songwriting process too, it helped me a lot to have someone that knows technically all of the musical stuff. Because for me, I’m kind of self-taught. I didn’t study music. It wasn’t my thing. But the theoretical and practical stuff is so important, but it can kill the vibe sometimes. For me, you don’t want to write a song that’s a perfect song. I think you want to write a song that has heart and emotions and people sometimes get stuck into finding the right chords or progressions and all this stuff that is so unnecessary. When we needed it in the writing process then we’d know what to do, so it was like a perfect match. It wasn’t like Ben was always like, 30

“Yo, we need like a progression like this”, it was more like, “So we have the chord progression beds we need a more like uplifting thing or we need the hook to be more outstanding.” And he was like, “Yo, what about weight?” And I was like, “Fuck, what is he doing? I don’t know, but it sounds nice!”

Where were you finding the elements to incorporate into Blut? A lot of artists have a thread or a theme but I found each track to be totally different from the other on the EP BLVTH: I think that’s something I personally really like to have, an EP or an album that is in its own universe. Every song is different, a different country, a different place, different tastes, different styling. But it’s one artist’s world, you know? And for me, for Blut, I’m influenced by so many things.

Like I can strip it down, I can’t just describe it in two, three, five, four words, you know, it’s not one genre. I have grunge elements, pop elements, trap elements and it’s a weird mix, but it’s the thing that in the end, is the project. I’m a huge fan of not putting things into boxes.

Ben: Yeah, I think that’s what I like about working with Patrick is that it was always about the vibe.

If he wasn’t feeling the moment then it wasn’t happening, but then again if it was happening it was happening very fast. But it’s also a mood thing, completely. It’s not like you go into the

studio every day and have the same mood. That changes every day. You can kind of pin it down to these songs for that time period. But yeah, it was a lot of fun too because my mind was always racing thinking about what’s happening now, let’s try this or this. So I really appreciate this kind of work.

Were there any new production methods that you tried and tested and were surprised at how they worked out?

Ben: I think everybody develops kind of habits that you can always go to, but that’s always dangerous because then you might end up doing the same thing that you did half a year ago. But I never had this feeling when working with Patrick because there was always something new. Like for example, the “Disney” song, we had this piano thing. And he was like, “Oh, we just leave it like that.” You have to not overthink it and keep the momentum and the energy of that. I think the best stuff always happens when people stop thinking about it.

What has stuck out in your memory from 2018?

BLVTH: I think that 2018 was my best year.

I’m so fucking amazed and like blown away with what’s happened in the last few months. The Europe tour was great. I did some festivals too and seeing people singing to my songs, that was

“You have to not overthink it and keep the momentum and the energy of that. I think the best stuff always happens when people stop thinking about it.”

kind of the moment where I was like, “Yo, there are people singing my lyrics.

That’s crazy.” It’s always nice seeing people react to my music. It’s weird, you sat there and wrote the lyrics and record stuff and you put so much into the songs and then people listen to it and they can feel it. And that’s so rare, you know, it’s like telling someone this story, they’re like, “Yo, I can relate. I had the same feeling.” And you don’t even know each other. Most of the lyrics vary, like it’s a mix. It’s a mix of very personal stuff and perspectives like I’m telling stories about someone else or my friends. It’s always super weird to see people really connect to it.

How do you connect with Berlin on a personal level?

BLVTH: What I love the most is that there’s everything you need to have and everything you want, like right next to the place where you live. There’s everything I need right around the corner. I love this. There are people from all different places and so many creative people like painters, musicians, actors and it’s nice. Everyone’s doing their own thing in a way that it’s not disturbing anyone else or being competitive with someone else. Everyone’s doing their own thing but still somehow working with other people. I went to L.A. recently and I do love it, but I had the feeling that people are kind of very upfront and very aggressive. Everyone wants to be there and at the right time.

It has to happen now and if it’s not happening it’s over. Berlin is more chilled, it takes its time.

Ben: I really enjoy Berlin. I came here mainly with a focus to be involved in the music industry but I always wanted to work with English speaking musicians. When I came here I was surprised by how many people are already doing this but there’s not that pressure. As Patrick said, it’s still breathing and taking its time, and I could still experiment with stuff. There’s all of this music, you know, world-famous techno and there are loads of people doing great stuff. It’s inspiring. Also it’s pulling people from all over the world. I would have never met Noah Slee if I hadn’t moved here. People are drawn to the city because it’s still inviting and fresh.

Was there any moment in Berlin that you really couldn’t get your head around?

BLVTH: Yeah okay so, I’m a huge food person. Like, food is my life...

You’re going to talk about Burgermeister, aren’t you?

BLVTH: Yeah, fuck. Burgermeister. If I’m talking about burgers that place is in my top three burger places, but I would say my favourite moment in Berlin is having Arabic food for the first time in this awesome place on Sonnenallee.

It’s super busy, loud, and super friendly. Everyone was having a good time. A friend of mine took me when I first moved over, I even took my mum back there later on. It’s a nice way to experience a new culture. I think you can experience so many different cultures in Berlin.

Ben: I think I’d pick when I played a sold-out show with Noah Slee. It was kind of like, when you come to the city and everything’s new and you’re a nobody, and then that was that moment where I had this feeling of, okay, I earned a spot in the city. I’m not just a visitor, I’m participating fully. I’m crafting. So that was a moment where I felt like, cool, that was a milestone!

Do you have any top tips for like an upcoming artist or producer?

BLVTH: I think my advice would be when you start producing is not to start focusing just on the technical side of it. What I learned in working with different people and over time is to work on your songwriting and your musical skills more than producing, because producing will always come along. You’re always going to find like a new drunk kick or drums or a new synth, and you can always nerd out on. But focus on the music. If somebody can stand on the street and sing your song on a guitar and it’s recognisable and people still feel it, then that’s the most powerful thing.

BLVTH: My tip would be just put stuff out there. Don’t overthink too much, because you’re just wasting your time. I think that’s the best way to develop your own style and grow as a person. I think that’s what I regret the most.

Sitting around and telling my buddy that lived in my apartment, “Yo Bro, I’m releasing a new song sometime this year it’s awesome.” And he was like, “Yeah, yeah, cool man. Just put it on.” And I was like, “No, no, no. It will be finished in a couple of weeks” and then it’s still on my computer, you know?

Every time I’m putting out a new song it’s always like this feeling that you’re naked in front of thousands of people. If you’re not prepared for this, okay, I can understand that, but you won’t grow. Nothing will happen. Always be humble and appreciate things happening and wait. Everything takes so long, so much time. Work hard. You have to work hard every night and every fucking day. That’s what I think is the best lesson for me. @_blvth_ @ben__esser 31

No Shade Collective looks back on a killer year Last year was a productive and exciting year for Berlinbased DJ collective No Shade.

Working with big names like Bread&&Butter, Nike, RBMF and CTM as well as throwing their own successful event series at Acud Macht Neu they have for sure been enriching the nightlife of the city. Here are some of 2018’s highlights according to members of the group.

“Working as a collective can be broken down to simple mathematics.

People are just stronger together. That’s why people work in alliances.

Sometimes it can seem like working alone is easier or, concerning music, more promising in regards to personal recognition. But on the one hand, there is a need for an organised counter-power to the white patriarchy. And on the other, I think in the time where individualism is cultivated to a point where the self becomes the ultimate product, it’s time to calm down a bit. I want to think about art, music, culture and society in a way, that it’s not there to caress anybody’s ego, but to find enriching ways of living, working and thinking together. Some of my top moments were the events I organised were at the (soon to be destroyed off-location) at Kudamm Karree especially the one with Kelman Duran. Also the No Room 4 Shade event (Room 4 Resistance X No Shade) in September was out of this world!”

– Ace of Diamonds [@aceofdemons]

Photos at the No Shade Xmas Dinner by CEEKAYIN2U Head over to our Soundcloud player to hear some of No Shade’s top tracks of 2018: soundcloud.com/kaltblutmagazine/sets/no-shades-killer-year 32

“Top event for me was definitely Version @ OHM in January. The top event that I played at was Trade @ OHM and the first time I DJ’d (which was very special of course) was in February for No Shade @ ACUD. The top hangover of the year was the No Shade Xmas party (still tired). Top tunes idk where to start last year I had so many favourites!!!”

– FORESTA [@foresta___] “Playing my first ever festival at Splash, seeing our whole collective come together for No Room 4 Shade and kill it, playing at my first ever Boiler Room set in August, being able to spin some of my favourite grime tracks at the BBK performance in Berlin, probably one of my favourite gigs ever.”

– KIKELOMO [@_kikelomo_] “Linnea’s Gigi D’Agostino DJ set at No Shade Halloween party was life!

Best 2018 discovery – sculpting in VR” – BAD JUJU [@itsbadjuju] “Working as collective is important for me because collective ways of organizing are also a way of resisting to the fragmentation and individualisation of certain aspects of our lives. I think not losing sight that we are part of things and of something, is really important and that that’s not opposite of having our individuality and personality - it actually boosts it. With a collective, we have the possibility of creating space, and in No Shade we aim for safe, open and inclusive spaces where exchanging and possibly transforming is possible (in and around), and I think this is fundamental socially and adds a lot creatively. 2018 was a year of revising and reconnecting with my roots and waters and guts in a brand new way, personally and artistically. Favs of 2018: the labels/ collectives/groups Trrueno, Naafi, Salviatek, Hiedrah and Tormenta, that brought us so much <3️” – PERÍFA [@perifaxx]

“I have to point out two favourite moments cos both felt so rare and overwhelming. First, my mom’s wedding that everyone was expecting to be a sort of chill gathering/ ceremony but my brother has no chill, my sister is a joyful twerk queen and I was “YouTube” playing mom’s all time fav tunes. Mom went wild and ended up with the wedding dress totally soaking wet at the restaurant! The second was shaving my sister’s hair. I was so lucky for being around when the right time arrived. Felt so intimate and chemically bonded. Like falling in love with her once again. Other inspo includes Youda’s and Estrid Lutz’s work, Eichi Matsunaga’s nails, Jonny Negron “IF IT WERE LEFT UP TO ME” T-Shirt, Matt Carignan and @tranquil_top tattoos, Drake Carr’s “Gulp” show and that yummy rice pudding known as Milchreis.

So addictive...sprung like T-Pain on that.”

– Sara Fumaça [@_s.fumaca]

“Absolute highlight for me with the collective had to be the party we threw with Room 4 Resistance and Redbull Music Festival. The mix of people, energy, amazing DJ sets and Regrets live performance was just amazing and I’m so happy we had the opportunity to put together something like that. I feel the power of the collective is really establishing something special here and I can’t wait to see what 2k19 has in store. Also really excited about all the new merch we got coming!!!”

– CEEKAYIN2U [@ceekayin2u]

“RBMF was probably my favourite night in forever, the sequence of everyone’s set that night, in that space flowed in a relentless, euphoric momentum, it went off and I completely let go. Chatting outside of the venue was really dope, had this sort of out of body realisation that it had actually happened, and we did it.

Halloween was unforgettable and fun, a highlight being talking smack in a secret room I hadn’t ever been in at Acud.”

– HUNNI’ D JAWS [@lele_hunnid]

“Favourite non-musical discovery - Korean Artist Lee Bul’s Crash exhibition @ Gropius Bau - Art/ Sci-fi/Feminism/Technology Everything you need. My highlight of the year was No Shade feat.

Room 4 Resistance @ Griessmuhle for Red Bull Music Festival - such a killer collab/event/Line up/people.

Working as a collective to me is important cause you can go so much further with collaboration I find ++ Its just fucking great and a dream to have an artistic family to work & hang out with. Being part of a collective like No Shade also changes the working ways and spaces of the music industry as we hold the power & control the narrative of our own space and I believe this makes a difference.”

– GRINDERTEETH [@grindrrr_teeth]

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In conversation with Olaf Hajek

Interview by Amanda M. Jansson

Olaf Hajek is already a household name to anyone interested in illustration, paintings, art, or Berlin.

Primarily living and working in Berlin, he has a unique way of blending the most astonishing colours with primitive universal themes and punk aesthetics, while taking a stance on issues such as race and the beauty of imperfection. Our favorite painter talked to us about his daily inspiration in the city, the importance of staying true to his vision, subconscious symbols, and folk art.

You are one of the most significant illustrators and modern artists to come out of Germany. How would you say you developed your signature style?

My style just developed over the years. But the essence of it was there from the beginning. I started to work with found materials, old cardboards, and wooden boards, which I found on the streets. The material and the texture was always an essential part of my work.

Is it true you never work with digital media? What media do you like to use to produce your works of art (for example acrylics, etc.)? And why do you feel digital doesn’t work for you?

I am a painter. I work with acrylic, pastels, and crayon on wooden board. I need to work with my hands, feel the material and need to trust myself and my senses, I am not able to easily make changes, but I also think that makes the work much stronger. Of course, I use digital tools to scan my work and send it over to clients.

One thing that makes your work so visually strong is also the contrast between warm and cold colours. Is this intentional? How do you feel the two elements complete with each other?

Yes the colour palette is a very important part of my work. I always try to find the balance between the light and the dark…and the use of colour is the best way to do this. I love the power of each colour and its symbolism.

My work is also stylistically characterized by the use of abstract, graphic elements in contradiction to the use of more realistic and detailed elements.

“Berlin is a great city to meet other artists and to see amazing art and exhibitions. But to sell your art, Berlin is a disaster.”

Flowers are also dominant in your illustrations.

What do flowers mean in your work? Do you have a favourite flower?

I was always inspired by Flora and Fauna. Flowers are such an amazing symbol of birth, death, and evanescence.

I love to paint realistic flowers, but always use some abstract forms of flowers and plants as well to express the whole Circle of Life.

A lot of archaic symbols are also present, such as the sun or snakes, etc. Which ancient cultures do you feel have shaped your art?

I was always impressed by Folk Art and its archaic forms.

I love to play with archaic elements and symbols from the subconscious. I am affected by American and German Folk Art, South American and African Art, Indian Miniatures. I use all these influences to create a universal language in my paintings.

Race is also an issue you like to bring up. Like the Black Antoinette. How do you try to approach race in your work?

My travels to South Africa had a big impact on me. There I started to exhibit in galleries and painted my work on site, so of course, I was influenced by the daily issues of race. My idea of Black Antoinette was to create an image of luxury, opulence, and beauty which has nothing to do with wealth and prosperity. I adapted the idea of Marie Antoinette and created a “Black Antoinette” who is wearing the concept of the whole of nature 35

on her head—the beauty as well as the birth and death and the evanescence. Out of the first image, I painted a whole series was born.

Your work might be vibrant in colour, but there is also a melancholy side and darker feel to it. How do you perceive beauty differently from what the norm is?

I was always inspired and touched by the imperfection of beauty and the power of simplicity. I think this idea of beauty might not be the norm, but this is my obsession, and without it, I would not be able to express my own idea of aesthetics.

Where do you get your inspiration from in general? Is it parts of daily life too or more abstract notions?

Inspiration is something I can get in parts of my daily life, but also from travels and culture and art. Inspiration can be found in fashion, film, and exhibitions. It’s always good to expand your horizons and get out of your comfort zone. Every new exhibition starts with a "white canvas" and I hope to create something new.

So daily inspiration is vital.

Judging from your paintings your brain must be an explosion of colour, wild nature, archaic worlds. How do you cope in a big city like Berlin?

Berlin is a city of contradictions. It’s always in progress and never really boring. I sometimes have a kind of love/hate relationship to it, but it’s also a place where I can work and be private, but also can explore the excitement and the energy of a metropolitan city.

There is wilderness in your paintings. But also some punk aesthetics perhaps? How much of Berlin do you personally see in your work?

My teenage time I spent in the 80s. The decade of eccentricity. I sometimes miss this today – this special individualism. I think some of these elements are still in my paintings.

You travel so much, and your work is universal. Why and how did you choose Berlin as your base?

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After my studies, I lived in Amsterdam but then moved to Berlin. For me and my West German generation, Berlin after the reunification was the place we always dreamed of before. A new city with free spaces and an experimental field with an amazing mix of creatives.

Not one of these established West German cities with pedestrian zones and people who worked in a bank.

Do you think Berlin has changed over the years? In which ways?

Berlin changed dramatically. The good thing is that it got so international. I love the idea of all these different languages, and I also have no problem ordering my coffee in English. But of course, the city lost its innocence.

The dark walls are gone, and the interior looks stunning, but the rents are high, and artists lose their workspaces.

When I moved here, you were able to experiment, move from one apartment to another or find new studios to work. These days are over. I am curious in which direction the future of the city will lead.

Has Berlin changed you? As a person and as an artist?

I love Berlin because of its people and the ability to meet others so easily. I love this open attitude, which is not so civil like in other cities. I think that this is still a great character of Berlin. The good thing for me is that I was getting older with the city and so I might not miss so many of the things, that were important for me 25 years ago.

How important is a city like Berlin for an artist’s career?

Berlin is a great city to meet other artists and to see amazing art and exhibitions. But to sell your art, Berlin is a disaster.

How about the internet and social media? Do you feel they are shaping the art world or ruining it?

Time will tell but at the moment it’s an amazing tool.

I get inquiries from all other the world, and of course you never really know, where they are coming from. I think it’s the combination of all the energy you put out there: publications, websites, social media, exhibitions…

The world is getting smaller, this can be a curse or a big chance.

How do you cope with social media and the internet?

I try to update my website and use Instagram as often as possible.

In your career, you have also collaborated with big fashion houses. Was this something you always had in mind or how did it come about?

I work for such a different range of clients, but the most important thing is to keep my personal style and artistic freedom. Fashion is perfect for this.

How easy or difficult is it for you as an artist to work with commissions? Is there something you wouldn’t agree to do?

I have been working as an illustrator for nearly 27 years, and of course, one of the biggest challenges is to work for a commercial brief and to create a piece of your personal art out of it. The good thing is that I am at a point at my career, where I get assigned to create something in my personal and individual style. So I don’t see myself so much as a service provider.

What are you currently working on? What should we expect to see next?

Right now I am working on the winter collection 2019 for "Diptyque", and on a picture book with the theme of "Healing Plants." I will have a new exhibition in March in Hamburg. www.olafhajek.com / @olafhajek

www.komono.com

t h l g t i p o S c r e n Influe Who is your primary audience, and what do you think keeps them coming back to your blog?

My primary audience is creative people of all kinds. Fashion people, artists, musicians, anyone in a creative network. I mostly know a lot of my followers in person so they are interested in myself and my work, I guess.

Shoes - Buffalo London Trousers and body - ALLES Berlin Chains and earrings - Lani Lees Black leather keyring - Rosa K.

Meet Hakan Berryfinn @hakanberryfinn Photos by Sebastian Pielles @sebastianpielles Make up by Krzysztof Tomasz @krzysztof.tomasz Assistant Styling by Anne Poprausch @annepoprausch Interview by Marcel Schlutt You have an exceptionally unique look, Hakan. Where does your style savvy come from?

Thank you! It’s always kinda strange for me to get complimented on my outfits. It all started when I was 14.

Believe me, it’s evolved. My style was still unique in the beginning but also super ugly! It was a process.

My look now is just how I like to present myself. I wear what I like the look of on myself, that’s it basically.

How did you first develop an interest in fashion?

As I said it all started at the age of 14. My cousin went shopping with me the first time and I recognized that if you look fashionable or

trendy people get interested in you faster. Your look is your first impression, so this how my love affair started and my interest in fashion started to grow.

Can you tell us more about what you were doing before you became a blogger and Instagrammer?

When I was 16 I did an apprenticeship as a graphic designer, so that’s what I studied actually.

After that, I went to high school to study and my plan was to move to Berlin and study fashion journalism.

What can I say? After I got in touch with so many amazing people in the fashion scene I realised it wasn’t necessary to study at all. I started

working as an influencer/blogger without having a real education.

Social media made this possible for me. By experimenting, I learned how to create interesting and highquality content for my followers and the customers and brands I take care of.

What has been the key to your success?

First of all, it’s not as easy as it looks!

The journey is hard and you will face several fights with yourself until you understand a lot more about who you are. I still wouldn’t say that I found a “key” to be successful, it’s a process. Be patient with yourself and never give up following your dreams!

Do you cultivate a different audience being based in Berlin, or are you able to connect with an international audience?

I am definitely connected with an international audience. Olly Alexander from Years&Years for example. We got in touch this year and since then we following each other. This is the amazing thing about Instagram. There are no walls between you and an artist living in London, New York or Paris.

Have your blog and Instagram feed evolved over time?

Of course! I am in a growing phase. I am 24 years old so my style, my taste, my direction will always change – and with it, my blog and Instagram feed as well.

How do you decide which brands to partner with, and how do you ensure that your fans are receptive to sponsored content?

Luckily I can choose the brands that I want to work with these days. I have a specific style that I stand for but I am also open to new things. So it is quite easy for me to choose what I want to show in my content. If I like it, my followers will like it for sure as well.

What central message do you hope to impart to followers through your blogging?

It doesn’t matter what you look like, just be true to yourself. Love yourself, and be happy about life!

What benefits and problems have come with an influencer career?

I would say there’s always pressure to deliver. Even when there are periods in life when you not feeling up to it at all. Your followers want to see everything, but sometimes you do not want to show it. You push yourself to go to this and that event just to produce “good content” again, even when you are not really in the mood. But that’s fine I really can not complain about that too much. I really love what I am doing, most of the time!

If you had to give up all your social media accounts but one, which would you keep?

Definitely Instagram! I am addicted to this fuck on that platform [laughs]. I really like the way how you can show your art via Instagram. It’s also a timeline about your life. Sometimes I scroll to my first picture and start laughing about myself for ages.

Shirt and trousers - ALLES Berlin Shoes - Buffalo London Earring and chain - Lani Lees

In what ways do you hope your social media career develops in the next two years?

That is a tricky question. In terms of Instagram, I would say more followers. I realised that the way to get attention from brands is to have more than 10K followers and I hate that. For me, it is really not important how many followers I have. My followers are amazing people. Creative and lovely, and real! I would love to see my success would grow, but hey, I am already here and working with genius people every day so I really do not know what more I need.

Can you give us some fashion tips that you live by?

- Don’t plan your outfit for the next day!

- If you want to dress up for no reason do it!

- If you feel something, wear it, no matter what it is!

- No gender roles in clothing!

Which are your favourite Berlin fashion brands?

Alles Berlin, Rosa K, 032c, Lani Lees, Goetze.

Your favourite go-to outfit is?

High-waisted black flared pants with a ripped white tank top combination. Cowboy boots in snake optic and massive silver jewellery on top. Thanks. Bye. What is your favourite fashion quote?

“Don’t be like the rest of them, darling!” – Coco Chanel What advice would you give to those interested in building a following online?

If you just interested in building a following online I don’t have any tips for you, [laughs]. If you love what you do give yourself a platform to share your art. It is like a portfolio. After that, get in touch with the scene and the people who are working in that scene.

Body and vest - ALLES Berlin Belts and choker - Rosa K. Shoes - Buffalo London

What is your biggest dream in life?

My biggest dream in life is to marry my dream man who loves me how I love him. Also, I would love to adopt 2 children. Happy family, please. #fingerscrossed Any exciting projects on the horizon that your fans should get excited for?

Of course, there are always projects in the pipeline. I am a fucking workaholic, [laughs]!! To be honest there are several things I am planning but I will not talk about it before I have organized everything. If you want to follow me, you will find out what’s next!

ienntt ““BBee ppaattie lf ithh yyoouurrsseelf wit w ivee aanndd nneevveerr ggiv ingg win uupp ffoolllloow !“ mss!“ yyoouurr ddrreeaam

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One Night in Berlin with Amanda Lepore Text by Marcel Schlutt, Photos by Sebastian Pollin

Arguably the world’s most famous transgender entertainer, Amanda Lepore is a performance artist and nightlife icon in possession of the “most expensive body in the world.” An effervescent fixture on the New York scene, she’s been at the cutting edge of culture since the club kid era, breaking and re-making the rules for music, marketing, and gender. Back in the 1990s, a newspaper column blithely labelled her a drag queen, so she mailed them a (nude) Polaroid of herself giving them the finger – “I’m a transsexual,” the exasperated diva explained. “I have a vagina!”

While Lepore was making her foray into the city’s club scene she was spotted from across the dancefloor at the opening night for Disco 2000 (a weekly party at The Limelight) by the party’s promoter Michael Alig.

On that fortuitous night in 1993, Alig hired her on the spot to become a club regular and help spice up the party and a nightlife icon was born. In 1998, Ms Lepore ran into photographer David LaChapelle at Bowery Bar, and after spending the whole night talking he invited her to model for him the following day.

The photographer-muse relationship blossomed as her devotion to perpetual self-reinvention through plastic surgery intensified.

Following a series of dramatic transformations, Lepore has dehumanized her physical form through exaggerated changes to create a glamorous fantasy pin-up character.

“Amanda has no interest in being a girl,” Lachapelle once remarked, “she wants to be a drawing of a girl, a cartoon-like Jessica Rabbit. When I told her that silicone is dangerous, she said, ‘I don’t care, as long as I look beautiful in the coffin’. There’s something kind of profound in that, that she’s creating this moment of beauty for herself and is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.” In many ways, this makes her a living, breathing statement – boldly holding a mirror up to America’s shameless materialism and addiction to capitalism.

In 2017 Lepore launched her autobiographical book, ‘Doll Parts’ co-written with Thomas Flannery Jr. and published through Regan Arts.

Amongst her revealing story, the book features various pictures of Amanda taken by various photographers from David LaChapelle to Josef Jasso and Rob Lebow.

The nightlife legend stopped by for an exclusive shoot with KALTBLUT in Berlin.

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Introducing Gaddafi Gals

“We’re control freaks, we work very closely with different visual artists to create our videos.”

Hearing the words Gaddafi Gals might conjure up images of a certain now-dead Libyan Colonel and his sinister take on selecting bodyguards specifically of the opposite sex. Instead, however, we have a music project dedicated to creating evocative low-key beats 46

Interview by Asha Hussain Photos by Alexandra Howard

in the vein of trippy hip-hop and R&B with an effortless vocal delivery. Made up of vocalists Blaqtea (aka Ebow) and Slimgirl Fat, and producer Walter P99 – Gaddafi Gals found their way from the south of Germany to Berlin and Vienna, whilst establishing their space in the underground music landscape. Each of them is a talented artist in their own right, and all three continue to collaborate and craft their respective signature sounds. From the laid-back, dreamlike lethargy of “Fila”, to their own take on the 90s R&B spirit covering Aaliyah’s “We Need a Resolution”, each of their tracks conjures up a distinctively layered soundscape, caressing your sensibilities with the sultry rap and vocals afforded by Blaqtea and Slimgirl Fat. The menacing undertones on “The Death of Papi” with its dark video and “Gaze” providing an alternate take on love and affection, the music videos tend to read more like short films.

Coupled with an on-point fashion aesthetic, their expansive creative talents and visual capabilities speak for themselves.

First up, your band name. Gaddafi Gals says ‘politics’ – intentional or otherwise. Is that something you convey in your music?

Us doing music is political, no question. We are very aware of this, we utilize it, we work on it but at the same time, we wanna make them people dance.

As children of immigrants, this has undoubtedly had a significant impact on your work. Where did you grow up and how has this shaped you?

We grew up in the south of Germany and it’s shaped us in many ways. Of course, it’s hard to look from the outside and know exactly what kind of influence being children of immigrants has had. Good or bad – but in the end, it made us who we are today and we wouldn’t change that!

There are queer aspects to your music video “Gaze”.

Masculinity, femininity, androgyny all meld together in a simplistic, yet seductive video. Then you have the darkness of “The Death of Papi”. Who comes up with the visual concepts?

We’re control freaks, we work very closely with different visual artists to create our videos. Sometimes one of us is leading the process more than the others, that’s why they are so diverse. For the upcoming projects, we wanna develop this aspect even more.

Your ode to Fila and general love beyond streetwear fashion clearly resonates throughout your lyrics and videos. Who or what are your fashion inspirations?

We don’t know if it’s an ode or more of a critique, but maybe that’s what makes the song. Our fashion inspirations rank from early 2000 hip hop mob shit like The Diplomats or Ruff Ryders to Instagram. We also get heavily inspired from a shop called “Socialladen” in

Berlin, where the owners know us by name, and from eBay Kleinanzeigen. Finding something by accident, that’s really the thing.

There’s been a turn from mainstream US hip-hop and R&B in recent years to the likes of Odd Future, artists on Awful Records, Princess Nokia et al and a focus on unwieldy British hip-hop (we’d also like to think Gaddafi Gals reflect this exciting trend). What has been the most innovative music for you in recent memory?

Yeah, we can see that as well. Underground is the new pop, ain’t it? We all loved the Solange album, it was so well made from beginning to end. Walter P99 is fucking heavy with young 16-year-old SoundCloud producers from Sweden, France or Russia. Slimgirl Fat is a huge fan of Devonte Hynes. Everything he touches gains so much soul, “Negro Swan” is amazing!

You each also have your solo/side projects. We would love to know more about those.

We all made music before we formed Gaddafi Gals, so we kept making our solo projects. In some way every one of us works on all of those projects, whether it’s only by sharing thoughts on the recorded music or producing, singing and rapping on them. You could say that on the solo efforts one of us is the executive producer and lead vocalist (with different taste or focus than when we work as Gaddafi Gals), but most of the time the others contribute in some way – when we make a Gadafi Gals song we’re all equal. In 2019 there will be a new Ebow album, a new Slimgirl Fat album and a new Walter P99 Arke$tra album, which, to us, sounds like a takeover!

What would you say are influences outside the music arena?

Books, plants, food, community.

We really love your music taste (the Gaddafi Gals mixtapes are heaps of fun by the way).

What records are you guys listening to at the moment?

Haha, nice! We really should do new mixes! Currently, it’s Spaceghostpurrp – Blackland Radio 66.6., Casey MQ - Nudes, my girlfriend’s Spotify playlist.

Having already released an EP, are you dropping an album any time soon? And if so, what can we expect from what we have heard already? And what can we look forward to from the Gaddafi Gals for 2019?

Our first full-length album “TEMPLE” is already recorded and will be released in Spring. We’re really excited – compared to the first EP it’s really conceptual and thought out, but we still kept the grit and the experimental approach. The video for the double single “Skimask/Mitsubishi” will drop in December 2018. Tonnes of music. We’ve been busy. Stay tuned! @gaddafigals

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PARACHUTE â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Travel in style with pinqponq

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Interview by Marcel Schlutt Photos and Artwork by Yu-liang Liu www.yuliang-liu.com @yuliangliubln Models are Michail Rozimatov @blaxze and Michael Solomon @mrsrsl2 Photography assistants are Alex Aravantinos and Sebastian Pollin

Are you planning a road trip in 2019 and looking for the perfect travel companion? Then look no further than pinqponq. This up-and-coming label creates high-quality backpacks and accessories and since 2014 has been offering intelligent products that combine design, function and sustainability. pinqponq stands for a new generation of lifestyle products and PARACHUTE is the name of their latest model of inspiring bags and backpacks. We had a chat with the creative mind behind the brand, Annemarie Keizers, to explore the question: is the only way to be truly modern also to be sustainable?

What inspired you to start pinqponq?

Back in 2014 backpacks had started to come back in a big way. Fashion, sportswear, outdoor wear and streetwear all started to come together and take inspiration from each other. As the different areas started to collaborate with each other and melt together that really made sense to us and was long overdue â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially if you look at it from the consumer side. Backpacks sit at the centre of all of these areas and bring them together.

Do you have a background in fashion?

I studied Fashion Design at the avantgarde-inspired Hogeschool voor de kunsten Arnhem in The Netherlands and gained work experience at fashion houses such as Vivienne Westwood and Giles Deacon in London. My studies were really progressive and ahead of fashion developments at the time, but I was quickly disillusioned by fashion world itself. There were too many sad people, too much hierarchy, too much time wasting, too few visions.

Design, function and sustainability are the three keywords for your designs. Can you tell us about how you design your products?

There is a difference between our editions and the main collection. The main collection needs to be accessible and should be a reliable and suitable partner (also identity-wise) in one's everyday life. In terms of materials we are really limited due to the sustainable standard, but that's OK. I like boxes.

In terms of shapes, colours and stories, I am mostly inspired by society. In relationship to social developments or cases, I research for non-abstract things that can fulfil the lacks for the consumer. Then a visual world emerges, which is where I draw my inspiration from. We see that modern urban citizens want to take their electronic 49

devices everywhere, need bags for different occasions but do not want 5 bags, take their outdoor backpack for grocery shopping, that work and life blends, that transportation changes. These are some of the things I have in mind when designing the products, but for the look and feel of the bags – especially for the editions where we can be more inspirational and progressive – I delve into more soft topics, longings, aspirations and lacks that our consumers, or we face.

What made you want to create a sustainable company?

It is much more expensive, all the more when you decide to work together with sustainability or green seals. But for us, it is simply the only possible way to work and still be able sleep at night. Everyone should feel the need to take some responsibility where it’s possible. I don't understand the other routes. I mean, we’re not exactly saving the world, but we are trying our best as a company that also has to pay wages. Of course there are so many areas that we need to work on. We are making an industrial product and the reality is that the whole network and system is not entirely sustainable. You have to find a way to make a difference across as many points as you can.

That means that you also need the will to try and a certain level of education on such topics with the people in your workflow, but sadly this is rare. I think, this is also the main reason why only a few brands commit to sustainability, because it is hard to do. Everything takes more time, a lot of stuff is not possible and you really have to dig deep to understand which changes could potentially make the world a little better.

Do you think the only way to be truly modern is to be sustainable?

Yes, but not necessarily to make it your slogan. Sustainability is something that should be inherent in your company, but it doesn’t have to be the main story. If sustainability would be the main story of all fashion brands from now on, that would be really sad. Take a look at the eco fashion sector. Our approach is to have a story and a product that convinces without foregrounding the sustainability aspect.

How much of what you buy for yourself is new?

And how much is used?

I buy a whole lot of vintage and make some stuff by myself, but not only for sustainable reasons. My biggest hobby is eBay I am really into it, I even know the coding language of the search bar [laughs].

I also buy new designer pieces now and then, ones that I fall in love with – not necessarily sustainable, but long lasting pieces – and I buy new underwear and knits. I don't have a car (an easy decision living in the city) and I try to reduce waste.

For sure I’m no angel, but I’m also confused a lot of the time. Not so much with textiles, but a lot with food or reusable cups or electronic devices. There is almost never a good straightforward path you can go, it’s always a choice. I wish governments would find ways to make rules that made it easier and better for all of us and the world.

I sadly don't believe in a revolution by consumers alone.

You use PET bottles to make your products. That’s amazing!

How did you come up with this idea?

It’s not our idea but that's fine. We are only the missionaries. When we started it was clear that we wanted to take responsible decisions in the supply chain. We researched for solutions that were ready to use, because we know how long it takes to develop a whole new section in that industrial business. This would have been a whole other project.

So instead we teamed up with our brilliant fabric supplier in Taiwan.

They are pioneers in sustainable solutions that can be used in an industrial scale and blue-sign members like we are. An important factor for us was that any solution could be scaled up, so we could potentially start something that could really make a change.

But how do used PET bottles become such beautiful bags?

Can you explain the production process to us?

The bottles are from post-consumer waste (after using), they are collected, melted and spinned into yarn again. Quite simple! The process is being checked all the time to make sure that the bottles are really used and the yarn is really from used bottles and not new ones.

But we are working constantly on better solutions. We are in developments to work with solution dyed yarn, a water free dye process, with algae foam, water based coatings (to be PFC and PVC 50

free), recycled nylon, castor oil buckles, the list goes on.

Where are the bags made, and are they paid a fair wage?

Yes, we are also members of the fair wear foundation. These guys have a true mission. Even our German workers are asked if we communicate with them fairly. I love it! But also before we were members of FWF, we searched for reliable partners that treat everyone fairly throughout the whole process. We see the workers in Vietnam as our colleagues and are there quite often, so we feel responsible. At the start there were a lot of subcontractors, where we didn’t know the conditions, because we just couldn’t control it. But now we are asking everyone involved to be audited or they can’t take part in the process.

Let’s talk about the new Parachute bag! I love the shape and the colors are on point. What was your inspiration for that one?

The starting-point was something that everyone who lives in the city can relate to: longing for space, natural experiences and new social interactions. The shape is inspired by our first backpack (the Cubik) and by golfer bags. There is so much that is interesting and layered to them.

Golfing has an elite reputation, but is also socially driven and fulfils a need for nature, space and wellbeing. Golfing bags have funnily

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been the same for decades. They are the most un-fresh, un-chique, untouched designs you can imagine, even though they are so regularly used by the glamorous elite. That's my sense of humour. They lasted so long that the style gets interesting again, but in a sort of anti-way, no elderly elite player would want that.

But if you look at golfing as a sincere reasonable activity without the elite side, it fits. I really liked the doublesided nature in aesthetics that occur with golf-related stuff, so I took it as inspiration. Also road trips, a hippie mentality, a sentimental look and feel — woven labels from outdoor packs during a previous time or naive illustrations from landscapes. We also made woven labels on the parachute, but integrated modern visuals like a cursor. We translated the idea of the naive drawing over the whole backpack using it as a canvas for the landscape. The “Wunderbaum” as a zip pull is also synonymous with road trips, but is sort of ageless, it is now and 20 years ago at the same time.

That also reflects the timelessness of the feelings that were the startingpoints for the design process.

What makes this bag so special?

What is different about this backpack?

It is rare that products that are functional and/or sustainable can also inspire in any way. I see it as my duty to accomplish that. And with this backpack I could do that more than ever before.

You release the backpack for Fashion Week season. How important is the fashion circus for you as a brand?

It is not that important, I think. I mean we are in the fashion system and need to attend fairs and stuff to make our sales. But for the brand it is important to be where the most modern things happen and that is not necessary the Fashion Week.

What’s been the biggest struggle for you thus far as a starting brand?

I think the biggest struggle is to be economically successful and still stay true to your values.

What would you say to someone just starting out in this journey?

I would say do not limit yourself to the fashion world. Everything is fluid nowadays. Do what feels most modern, not what gives you easy success. And take care of yourself, don't get dragged into a competition.

As a designer I would say, know the system, know the rules, know what's going on, but then forget everything and restart – be true and never blindly follow. @pinqponq www.pinqponq.com 52

buerov1.de /// social /// @buero_v1 53

12 Reasons To Pretend It’s Already Spring We’ve been sick of winter since it started. The cold, the snow and the icy wind just don’t cut it compared to the warm sun and fresh air in the spring and summer. If you’re like me, you want to soak in all the sun you can get before the next snowstorm hits, close your eyes and pretend it’s spring already. So here are my favorite looks from ModaLisboa S/S19 to pretend when you just can’t take the cold anymore. ModaLisboa is a multidisciplinary project, whose mission is the promotion and the development of Portuguese Fashion national and internationally. And our favorite fashion fest in Europe.

AWAYTOMARS DRAWN BY LIGHT Founded in 2015, AWAYTOMARS has been wildly successful in its mission to build an international community of creative talents. AWAYTOMARS puts the power to create in people’s hands; a movement for a new global aesthetic, where there is no I, only We. The online platform is available for a constant exchange of ideas and the possibilities for contributions to the creative industry are endless. The new Spring/Summer collection is cocreated by 809 designers. Light, the natural agent that stimulates sight and enables all things to become visible.

The colours chosen for the collection are heavily inspired by the early developments of synthetic aniline dyes, such as the deep purple colourant Mauveine created by British chemist William Henry Perkin in 1856. We love it. www.awaytomars.com

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ALEXANDRA MOURA HEIRLOOM S/S19 Portugal-based fashion designer Alexandra Moura wowed the fashion circus with her new S/ S19 collection. With “Heirloom” the heritage of a childhood full of references is reinforced, of a girl from the city that spends her holidays on her grandmother’s house in the countryside. Alexandra Moura’s collection for the upcoming Spring/Summer season reinforces the history of the designer and her childhood, evoking the holidays in Trás-os-Montes, near the frontier— Vila Verde da Raia. Memories of her Grandmother Amélia and Grandfather Delfim’s house; the magical immaculate divisions, that were kept clean and tidy for the visit of a guest; the clothes worn for the village’s celebrations and the procession on a bright Sunday. Here two realities of the designer’s life are joined together, the girl from the city that would feel delighted to go to the village. www.alexandramoura.com

KOLOVRAT PASSPORT Designer Lidija Kolovrat is my favourite designer from ModaLisboa at the moment. She studied cinema and fashion at the Design and Technology College in Zagreb, Croatia. In 1990 she moved to Portugal where she lives and works since then. Established in1990, Kolovrat offers a deconstructed new vision on men and women’s tailoring, while keeping the DNA and finishing of a traditional savoir-faire. “Passport is the shudder of this subconscious, a symbolic door of contagion between what is dreamed and what is real, an unpredictable vision in a society of functional mechanics. Passport is the identity returned to the individual, a face and not the number is the symbol of humanity’s passage that deconstructs again, the breaking of the norm through creativity, a simplistic statement of rupture.” Kolovrat is placed in an old bakery‐flagship store, in the heart of Lisbon. www.lidijakolovrat.com

PATRICK DE PÁDUA SHE In 2014 this young designer won the KALTBLUT Fashion Award during Fashionclash Maastricht. Since then, it is my pleasure to watch him grow as a designer. Patrick de Pádua was born in 1988, in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

In 2000, he moved to Portugal, and graduated in Fashion Design from MODATEX, in Lisbon. In the new Spring/Summer collection the colour palette focuses on the classics of the brand, black and white, bringing to this collection yellow, blue, red, orange and purple to reinforce the concept.

Within strategically deconstructed silhouettes between fair and oversized, as well as overlapping of materials, in an assumed streetwear/sportswear DNA. www.patrickdepadua.com

LUÍS CARVALHO CHERRY "Cheri, Cheri lady. Going through emotion. Love is where you find it. Listen to your heart!" The GQ Men of The Year Award winner is dressing icons like singer Conchita Wurst and influencer Luis Borges. Let’s face it he is everybody’s darling. The main inspiration for his new collection are cherries, that will stand out in specific and abstract forms, in prints and silhouettes, in the construction of several pieces and in small details. Another focal point is the oriental cherry tree from where the silhouettes come from.

The shapes are fluid and structured, bouncing from micro or XL to straight or oversized. The predominant colours are red, sky blue and dry green in materials like taffeta, crepe, and silk satin. Luís Carvalho was born in 1987, in Vizela. In 2002, he started his fashion training, graduating in Fashion and Textile Design at the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. In 2016 he was honored with the GQ Men of The Year Award in the category of Fashion Designer. In 2017 he won the Golden Globe for Best Fashion Designer. www.luiscarvalho.net

RICARDO ANDREZ Ricardo Andrez is also an award–winning fashion designer from Portugal. He was born and brought up in Oporto, Portugal. He studied at the Cooperativa Arvore and the Citex (school of textile and design) in Oporto.

Thinking about fashion means thinking about the body, and he wanted to explore images and products from this perspective. Andrez established his own label in 2006, with men’s fashion forming the focus of his research.

Since then, he has reinterpreted sportswear and streetwear, creating a colourful, healthy and structured universe. He says about his new Spring/Summer collection – "Getting a panic wave, similar to the believes of ‘the end of the world’, the millennium bug presents itself as something harmless, stimulating and apocalyptic." www.ricardoandrez.com 55

Tove Styrke is on a roll

Interview by Nicola Phillips Photos by Sebastian Pielles sebastianpielles.com Hair and make up by Monica Karsai @monicakarsai Styling by Nico Sutor @nicosutorfashion Production by Marcel Schlutt

Top - Ellesse Trousers - Marina Hoermanseder

“You can get there if you’re lucky and work hard enough.”

After a well-deserved ‘Pop Artist of the Year’ win at Sweden’s prestigious national radio P3 Guld Awards this January, the platinum-selling singer-songwriter joined Lorde on her spring U.S. arena tour after

releasing a stunning cover of Lorde’s Melodrama single “Liability”.

After a run of her first-ever Australian shows, Styrke joined Katy Perry as direct support on a European run before setting off to her own worldwide headline tour. Her third album “Sway” received huge praise internationally, with its bouncy anthems, focusing on tales of crushes, fails and picking yourself up again. We first spoke to Tove back in 2015 after the release of her debut album “Kiddo” so thought it was time to get a little update as she prepared for the last few gigs of the year in her Stockholm apartment.

Can you tell us about your journey and how you got started in your career?

When I was a kid I remember I spent hours every day just singing. I wasn’t that person who was naturally gifted, I mean, I’ve always had a good ear, but I wasn’t a naturally gifted singer. And to be able to sing the songs that I wanted I had to spend a lot of time practising. But I loved doing it. I’m thankful to my parents for letting me keep at it because I used to sit in our living room just like banging at the piano [laughs]. I think it’s important that you don’t put a limit on what a child wants to do.

So you were just on tour with Lorde and Katy Perry, that must have been crazy! What was it like sharing the stage with such inspiring artists?

I feel like I’ve been pinching myself every day and trying to understand that I actually get to do this. I’ve had so much fun. I think I counted six or seven tours this year, which is a lot!

That’s pretty insane! How do you even keep the energy to keep going?

Because I think it’s the most fun. It’s my most favourite thing to do in the whole world. I mean, getting to tour with Lorde. That was the first tour in March where I opened for her in the US and that was just wild. I’ve been looking up to her as a songwriter and an artist for many years. I just think she’s so good and so inspiring.

Touring with a person like that you really learn a lot. Just watching how much work they put into everything that they do. It’s the same for Katy. You realise that these huge artists are actually like, normal people who work really hard. And it’s great for newer up and coming artists to look up to see that and it’s actually doable. You can get there if you’re lucky and work hard enough.

What was it like hanging around with such iconic female artists?

Meeting Katy was so weird because you see her face so much growing up and then you see her in real life. She’s so funny and so down to earth. So kind and welcoming.

I can imagine that she’s a lot of fun to hang out with. I got this opportunity to be at this dinner thing with her the whole night. She’s just so much fun. She’s experienced so much and it’s just cool that she’s a person who can still speak to a newer generation.

Do you have a particular favourite moment or experience during your time on tour?

I think maybe my last show with Lorde where I got to perform with her. We did Robyn’s “Hang With Me”. It was such a great a moment. I think that’s one of those that I will keep with me and I will tell my grandchildren about [laughs].

Could you tell us a bit more about how it feels when you’re playing live and performing for your fans?

I love performing live. There are so many elements to it.

One thing is that there’s some sort of wizardry behind it that you have to learn over the years. I’ve performed in big arenas this year and also like tiny, tiny, clubs on my own and there’s this magic you have to do. You have to have that skill where you make that performance feel intimate and personal, but you want to make that room feel bigger than it is like like there’s no end to it.

Do you have a preference between a big audience or a small audience?

I love smaller audiences because you really have to work the space. I think it’s really cool. In general, performing

Sweater - Dennis Loesch

“In general, performing live is the ultimate way for me to experience the music together and share my love for it.”

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Top - Ellesse Trousers - Marina Hoermanseder

Top - Ellesse Trousers - Last Heirs Belt - Marina Hoermanseder Shoes - Dr. Martens live is the ultimate way for me to experience the music together and share my love for it.

what you look like, all of that, I feel that people have so many similar emotional experiences.

What about in the studio when you’re recording, do you have a particular process?

I usually collect ideas over time and then I like doing everything from scratch, kind of building everything simultaneously. Working on the melody, the production, and layering it. I don’t just sit down with a guitar and instantly write a lyric or a melody. It’s really just like piecing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle

It must have been pretty nerve-wracking to introduce your new album “Sway” to such a big audience. Are you happy with the feedback you’ve received so far?

It’s been crazy, I don’t understand. My mind is always blown when I think about how I can sit and make music in my basement in Stockholm and then somehow I’ll perform in somewhere like Australia and people will show up and know every single word!

Could you tell us about your lyrics? What’s the message you want to share with your music?

I think the main reason that I write is that I want to connect to people through stories. I feel like I get validation through that, the way I share it with people and connect with other people.

When I hear people who also feel the same and it brings people together it just makes it worthwhile.

At the core of it, if you strip away all of these circumstances, things like age, where you’re from, 58

For the exclusive KALTBLUT shoot (and in general) your style is a big part of who you are.

Can you tell us more about your connection to fashion?

I feel like fashion is such a great tool to experiment with. One thing that really is key to me and important to me is that I feel like I’m free to be whoever I want to be. I can wake up and be whoever I need to be for that day. I feel

like fashion is the best and most direct tool to challenge both other people’s idea of who you are and also challenge your own.

Do you work with up and coming designers you found online or through friends? Maybe you go to local vintage stores?

I’m constantly on Instagram looking for new ideas and new artists. I have a stylist called Natalie Olenheim that I work with a lot, we’re really close. I’m constantly sending her stuff like cool stuff I find online, DIY things that people make, anything. We’ve commissioned a lot of things from some up and coming artists in Stockholm and had things tailored.

Do you have any musicians or artists that you’ve had your eye on recently?

I feel like this has been a great year for music.

People like Doja Cat and King Princess I’m completely obsessed with. She’s so cool. I think she’s on every playlist of mine, honestly! @tovestyrke

Sweater - Dennis Loesch Skirt - Marina Hoermanseder

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All EYES ON

Malte Bossen Photos by Kiko Dionisio @kikodionisio_photography Make up by Anca Oprin @ancaoprinmakeup Interview and styling by Marcel Schlutt

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Shirt - Fred Perry Trousers - Antony Morato

Agency: Modelwerk

Age:: 23 Malte is one of those models - so natural in front of the camera - born to be a model.Berlin regulars might know him from his involvement at Pornceptual. Beside that Malte is one of the most exciting male models in Berlin. We see a star on the rise! So it was only a matter of time until we invited him into the KALTBLUT family.

How did you first get into modeling?

I started studying product design at the same department as fashion design at the University of the Arts in Berlin 2 years ago. Some of the fashion design students asked me a few times to be their fitting model and also to be their model for the shoot of their collection.

was biting the apple at the same time.

This was the end scene of a video. I just couldn’t stay serious.

And how long have you been modeling?

At first, I was just doing it to help friends, but then an agency (Modelwerk) reached out to me on Instagram. Last spring, I signed the contract with them and have been working since then. What does your career do for you? It might be too early for me to say because I’ve only started working recently. Since I’m also studying at the moment, juggling both activities can be challenging, but this is a career that would definitely fulfill me.

What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?

Stay positive, learn from your mistakes and seize the moment.

What’s your most memorable shoot?

Probably one of most memorable shoots so far was one of my first jobs.

I flew with Urban Classics to Norway to shoot for their winter campaign.

We drove through in the middle of the country, and the landscape was incredibly beautiful. Plus, the whole team was really fun!

What are the pros of being a model?

I would say that it’s definitely a pro that you get around a lot and get to know so many people. It’s great to build up connections.

What’s the biggest misconception about the male modeling industry?

That every model is arrogant.

What item of clothing could you not live without?

I couldn’t live without a black turtleneck.

What do you do to stay in shape?

I go to the gym at least three times a week and love to go running. Besides that, I try to control what I eat in order to have a healthy diet.

What are your other passions outside of modeling?

Other than modeling, I’m currently studying product design. I enjoy being creative and also love to help my boyfriend with his project Pornceptual.

We also travel a lot together, and I’m very grateful for it. For me, clubbing is important as well.

Hoodie - Tommy Hilfiger Shorts - Levi´s Vintage

What are your favorite hang out spots in Berlin?

For clubbing, I would say Pornceptual and Berghain. For food: Klub Kitchen for lunch and La Lucha for dinner.

Any specific plans for the future?

I’m very happy with my life right now. I do all the things that I want to and love to do. I would love to have my own design company and to keep doing something creative.

What’s your dream booking?

Walking for Burberry would be amazing!

What is your advice to aspiring models?

Be kind and helpful. Stay true to yourself and don’t try to become someone else.

What’s the funniest thing a client asked you to do?

I once had to bite on an apple and hold it with my mouth while a girl

Where can we follow you?

I love Instagram. So you can follow most of my life there especially in my stories.

@mlt.bsn

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At Funkhaus Studio 4 Photos by Sebastian Pielles @sebastianpielles www.sebastianpielles.com Model is Luisa Moek from SEEDS Models Berlin Styling by Nico Sutor and Michael Hastreiter Hair and make up by Julia Krohse using Paul Mitchell, MAC, Kryolan and Bioderma www.julia-krohse.com Make up assistant Maha Hölbling Production by Marcel Schlutt

Blazer - Sandro Blouse - M1992 Skirt - Momme Ostendorf Tights - Oroblù and Woolford Shoes - Premiata Earrings - House Of Danaë

Coat - Regina Weber Tights - Max Mara Straps - Jasmin Erb Shoes - Kurt Geiger Slip - Intimissimi

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Suit - Danny Reinke Gloves and cuffs - Regina Weber Shoes - Kurt Geiger

Body - Danny Reinke Skirt - Essentiel Antwerp Tights - Calzedonia Shoes - Kurt Geiger

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Blouse - Lou de Bètoly Tights and socks - Woolford Shoes - Premiata Earrings - Elodie Carstensen

Dress - Danny Reinke Blazer - Joseph Shoes - M1992

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Coat and trousers - Lala Berlin Blouse - Momme Ostendorf Tights - Woolford Shoes - Kurt Geiger Earring - Julia Seemann Bag - Essentiel Antwerp

Studio 4

The legendary Funkhaus has grown into a hotbed of Berlin’s music scene with plans to launch a high-end artist members club with recording studios, rehearsal and performance spaces, artists residencies, a members lounge, a gym and even a rooftop pool by the end of 2019. The new members-only lounge 'Studio 4' will also be presenting one of a kind jazz concerts and is the brainchild of their artist in residence LaLume.

“It started out as an idea to create a jazz club at Funkhaus as I was really missing the jazz scene in Paris,” explains LaLume on Studio 4. “I hosted a small jazz concert there last year and I brought some furnishings from my own apartment to cosy it up and give it a lush vibe. We had a champagne and oyster bar, it was a real treat! Then it grew into the idea of becoming a members lounge where artists, members and their guests could get together in an

intimate space before concerts and between sessions.

Marco Riedel furnished the space with his incredible collection of vintage pieces to resemble a magical, bohemian living room. The Funkhaus is so majestic, I felt that the one thing missing was somewhere cosy to get together with other artists. A kind of home away from home for creatives within such a large complex.

It is also a space to showcase new talent, host intimate concerts and is available to rent for events whilst structurally remaining a recording studio.”

We attended Studio 4’s opening party where we were welcomed with a glass of Veuve Clicquot and were invited to sit in one of the lamp-lit lounges.

As we helped ourselves to sweets served in a crystal bowl on a table decorated with roses, we took in the attention to detail. The exquisite decor was something you could only imagine existing in the

lush private quarters of an A-lister. LaLume nestled herself comfortably, yet strategically, on a Persian rug between candles, cushions, rose petals, and various musical equipment including an old telephone that had been customised to become a mic. As she performed her otherworldly music bathed in a dusky pink light, we took in the homely yet dreamlike surroundings that could only be described as delightfully Lynchian.

Website: www.funkhaus-berlin.net Inquiries: studio4@funkhaus-berlin.net Follow: @funkhaus.studio4 @lalume.music 69

AN OPEN LETTER â&#x20AC;&#x201C; to Berlin from Berlin Foreword & photos by Colette Pomerleau

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I first met Sarah P. at a pizza party three years ago, in the depth of another inevitably dark Berlin winter. Her bright blue eyes were difficult not to fixate on, and for whatever reason, we became friends after speaking just for a few minutes. Since that introduction, there has always been a motivating atmosphere of support from the artist who, herself has her hands in music, visual arts, and activism specifically for artists’ rights.

Sarah has enclosed a letter addressed to future residents of Berlin, in hopes that the glow you experience might last a little longer.

Dear artist/fellow creator, As I’m typing these words people march down the wooden stairs of my building. 1,2,3…here comes the banging door. Welcome to Berlin - a beautiful, dark, very noisy, sometimes ignorant paradise for people like you and me. Park your suitcases to your shared apartment and let me help you navigate through life in this majestically absurd city.

First things first, Berlin’s warm welcome will last for a couple of months. Everything will seem like it’s amazingly falling into place. New city, new faces, exciting work opportunities, lots of networking…

This is a good time to take advantage of the kind strangers and ask them to help you with the bureaucratic madness. You’re still new in the city and trust me, even bureaucracy will seem like a fun, adulting game. Your Berlin glow will last for a maximum of six months. During that time, you’ll connect and collaborate with a lot of people who may or may not waste your time. Don’t worry - the feeling is mutual and it’ll be communicated to you in a rather confusing, passive-aggressive way.

The next point is very critical for your sanity, professional development, private life, retirement plans, legacy etc.. Berlin is a trickster - it knows your deepest secrets and your vices. All your experiences will feel new, yet in a loop.

It’s time for you to take off those pink glasses and see Berlin for what it truly is - the self-conscious, artsy sister of robust brothers Hamburg and Munich, the forgotten child of mamma Deutschland.

Congratulations! You’re officially a Berliner. You can pop the Sekt you bought from the Späti next door and make a plan for the next years. Set priorities, milestones, long-term goals. Truth is Berlin is like a station for creatives and either you decide to stay or relocate again in some years from now, you can and should make the best out of your staying here.

Berlin is pretty laid-back. Don’t let the rhythm of the city affect your creativity. Especially if you’re a freelancer, I advise you to drink every drop of the collaboration fountain. Along the way, you’ll find people that you believe in, they believe in you too and you’ll form a community - but until then, it’s all trial-and-error. Remember, Berlin may be a big city, but the ways to the decision/taste-makers are way shorter than they are in any other metropolis. Request meetings with them, attend their events and chances are good that you’ll get their attention - as long as you stay true to yourself and your art.

So, here comes the clue of it all - after all these adventures that come with moving to a new city, you realise that you must trust more in yourself, your talent, your uniqueness. You picked Berlin because a. it was cheaper than other big cities you may have considered, b. you were told that Berlin is an international hub for creatives. And it’s true! Despite the multiplying golden boys/Silicon Valley geniuses coming to Berlin because of expanding/Trump/Brexit/you name it, Berliners are resisting. Berlin favours individuality and will always find ways for you and your art to be heard, treasured and successful for the years to come.

Enjoy your time in Berlin. Connect with people. Embrace the mishaps. Get inspired by the city and its eccentricities. Create memorable art. Berlin will have your back.

Your favourite Berliner, Sarah x

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WE ARE YAR First conceptualised around five years ago, YAR is made up of 3 women with a unique vision. They first set up their studio in the “Quelle” area of Nuremberg and started developing a concept that incorporated alternative materials. After relocating to the creative centre of Heizhaus – a coworking community for cultural and creative projects in the west of the city – they were united by the idea to develop and test innovative strategies. They became driven by their combined mission to find solutions for urban space and problems facing society as a whole. The YAR label was finally founded in 2017.

Interview und styling by Marcel Schlutt Photos and artwork by Yu-liang Liu www.yuliang-liu.com Model is Elizabeth Ehrlich @elizabeth_ehrlich Hair and make up by Anca Oprin www.ancaoprinmakeup Photography assistant is Alex Aravantinos

Take us back to the beginning. What sparked your passion for fashion?

First of all, it’s more about our definition of the term fashion, because we don’t have any affinity with fashion in a superficial sense. That said, we definitely all enjoy clothing, whether it’s to wear, dress or disguise. It’s our second skin, a shell that protects us from wind and weather, a means of non-verbal communication. This is the foundation of our passion, united by a love for highquality and beautiful materials, the joy of design and craftsmanship and the invigorating feeling that a really good piece of clothing can give you.

How did you get started in the fashion industry?

YAR was born out of our shared desire to make a difference. We have always been motivated by sharing visions, knowledge, techniques, machines and space, which is why we have been involved in open workshop concepts and open source contexts for almost 15 years. Each of us has our own experiences and insights and we all felt the need to get out of the hamster wheel of consumer madness, whether be that privately or professionally. The fashion industry was an obvious choice for us because we all had contacts there and were involved with the topic of sustainability, whether as a clothing technician, textile designer or networker. We all recognised

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garment is neglected because it is hardly possible to wear a fast-fashion-piece longer than 3 months before it is washed out and broken. This also removes it from further use or upcycling and inevitably becomes garbage that often cannot even be recycled anymore.

How can we slow fashion down?

First and foremost we need to move away from consumer madness towards a sufficient lifestyle, which means being satisfied with less. In a finite world, resources are simply limited, so let us return to first-class products instead of mass. Another point would be the consistent ignoring of any trends, these should be a phenomenon of yesterday. Let us stop getting dictated as to what fashion can be at ever shorter intervals. Let’s free ourselves from influences and superficial needs – because the truth is, we don’t have to wear a new outfit all the time.

the poor working and production conditions in this sector, especially in the production of fibres, explicitly cotton. During the first few years, we focused mainly on sourcing alternative materials for the collection. These origins have become an important part of our overall concept. By offering educational work, workshops and events on the subject of sustainability in fashion, we are able to live up to our claim of helping to set standards in the textile industry at various levels.

Which 3 keywords best characterize your fashion label?

Resistance. Variety. Exchange.

You claim that YAR is a sustainable slow fashion business that offers an alternative to consumers. Can you elaborate on this mission statement?

We do not design a new collection every half year. Our collection is our assortment, it is only extended or reduced by models. So we can change our face again and again without losing consistency because we believe there should always be the possibility to reorder a piece you love even after many years. We produce everything ourselves and some pieces only to order, so we can guarantee good workmanship, fair working conditions and no overproduction. Even the cuttings are processed into caps, scarves and much more. The monotony in the textile industry that we want to fight against is the distribution of the fibres used: approx. 60% man-made fibres, 38% cotton and the remaining 2% contain all other fibres! With our selection of fabrics, we show how a balanced distribution using ecologically sensible fibres such as hemp, linen, wool, yak or TENCEL™ is possible. When selecting our materials we always pay attention to environmentally friendly cultivation and species-appropriate husbandry, low water consumption, low CO2 emissions, and check for the use of harmful and toxic substances, fair working conditions and transparency throughout the entire supply chain.

Your work steps outside of the fashion circus, how do you hope to contribute to changing the future of the industry?

We want to try out all-encompassing fun and alternative ways to work instead of just standing there with an index finger raised. We want to inform, animate and motivate. That’s why we organise events such as the KleiderRausch or RepairCafes and offer open studio spaces, workshops and seminars as well as patterns and fabrics from our high-quality collection. We want to stimulate critical questioning of consumer behaviour by providing information so that we do not become more and more dependent on this crazy idea of growth. That’s also the reason why we are going completely different ways in marketing and communication. We are of the opinion that there is no competition within Slow Fashion, but that all the small labels carry basically the same vision into the world, therefore we believe in cooperation, networking and exchange. Whether that is joint work or events with NGOs, initiatives and labels, or an economic union in fabric purchasing. We want to be a platform and a role model for everyone who loves fashion and likes to play with it, but we doesn’t want to harm people or the environment with their behaviour.

What do you see as the biggest issues with fast fashion?

From our point of view, the biggest problem is the escalating overproduction.

Marketing is a big, often underestimated player here. With costly campaigns, it creates needs that you didn’t have before. The artificial feeling that a person can only find group affiliation and recognition through their clothing or from a brand can be fatal. Clothing mostly manufactured under the most adverse circumstances with the largest possible profit margin. The quality of the 74

What are your top slow fashion tips for someone who is interested to learn more about the movement?

Put on what you have, take good care of it, repair it if it breaks, borrow something for special occasions, barter, sew something yourself or buy it used.

And if you really need something new or want to have something new, make sure you buy it in good quality and deal with it.

Sustainable fashion is developing slowly, but it is evolving. What would speed up this process, in your opinion?

It would be a good approach, in addition to promoting alternatives, for companies to bear the real costs of pollution, human rights abuses, the health consequences of textile chemicals and, ultimately, the disposal of all the waste themselves. If these costs were included in the product price, an ecologically and fairly produced product would be cheaper than a conventional one. If the EU is able to decide by law on the shape of cucumbers, it should also be possible to determine the conditions under which the clothes that we all wear every day are produced. From our point of view, sustainability should be a self-evident fact.

Tell us about YAR’s manufacturing process and what about that process is important to your label?

Due to the fact that we produce everything ourselves, we are deeply involved in all of our creations, so we can react quickly to feedback from customers and also offer custom-made products or adaptations. Therefore each piece comes with the option to choose your own fabric.

Which material do you prefer to work with?

With hemp in various designs. Hemp feels great, is more durable than cotton, does not absorb odours as quickly and above all: it grows like weeds, needs hardly any water and needs neither fertilizer nor pesticides!

And which material would you like to work with in the future?

We are very interested in fibres made from milk, fruit pulp and other waste products.

Who or what inspires you, as a designer and personally?

Every day we are inspired by pictures, moments, conversations and our surroundings. A great source of inspiration for us is, therefore the Heizhaus, precisely because of the possibilities this environment offers us. For example, there is a large exchange with our direct neighbours, the Subucoola screen printing works.

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Where can we buy your pieces?

You can only find YAR in the concept store FifteenSixteen in Nuremberg, with whom we have been working together in the field of product development for almost 2 years.

Additionally, you can order our stuff online directly from us..

However, we would be pleased about further shops, which have the interest to offer our pieces, because we are of the opinion that you should touch and try on clothes before you buy them.

Where do you see YAR in 10 years? We see ourselves as a constant whose name is associated with quality, style and transparency. In addition, we will be part of a large network of sustainably working companies, associations and initiatives in order to move the whole of society in the direction of the common good of the economy. weareyar.de / @weare.yar

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Welcome to The World of HENKJENZ Interview by Marcel Schlutt Photos by Sem Shayne & Anton Fayle www.semshayne.com Models are Jademire Kartopawiro & Dilara Dundar Styling by Juliëtte Heijnen All fashion by HENKJENZ Special thx to fashionclash.nl

“You don’t have to be skinny or muscular to be beautiful. We live in a time where your body is your temple. You have to love you for you to be the best version of yourself. ” 78

The fourth annual KALTBLUT fashion award winner HENKJENZ is a progressive and youthful fashion brand from Rotterdam, Netherlands focused on instinct and excitement. During Fashionclash Festival 2018, the designers behind the brand, Juliëtte Heijnen and Maurice Muller, unveiled their winning collection: AVOCADO vs. MAYONAISE. We spoke to the duo about topical fashion, challenges faced during production, and how social media is affecting the world around us.

Congratulations! What does winning the KALTBLUT Fashion Award 2018 mean to you?

Winning the award means to us that the journey of the world of HENKJENZ can begin and that we are very grateful that you, KALTBLUT Magazine wants to help promote us.

How important are competitions like this one for your career as a designer?

It’s very important because it can lift up your label and helps to get a bigger reach for people who like to express themselves through fashion.

I’ve followed your work for years. We met in Maastricht during Fashionclash Festival and first got to know each other. How important is a fashion festival like Fashionclash for a young fashion brand?

For us, Fashionclash Festival is the most important because you really can connect with other designers and have the chance to talk to professionals who are already in the field for a long time. This is also one of the first events we went to. Every time we go, we meet new people. It’s an annual reunion for the ones you’ve already met. Compared to other events during fashion week where your show is more private, it’s harder to get the attention of people you want to notice you.

What does it mean to you to be able to present your collection at Fashionclash?

There’s a big international reach, which we didn’t experience on other Dutch fashion platforms.

How would you describe yourself and your work?

We accept the people around us, exactly the way they are, and find it very important that they at ease. The World of HENKJENZ is all about respect, acceptance, instinct and excitement.

When did you realize that fashion was a world that you were attracted to and that could be your future?

Juliette: I was always busy with what to wear as a child.

Viktor & Rolf inspired me at an early age to sketch garments for people, but then I didn’t know what the fashion world was about. Later on, it attracted me to explore how clothing can influence your mood and representation for yourself.

Maurice: For me, it was just a thing to dress cool, I always wanted something else to wear. When I met Juliette, it became clear to me that it could be even crazier and different. I liked it even more from that moment on.

What fascinates you most about the world of fashion?

It fascinates us how every city has its own vibe and style.

What was your winning collection inspired by?

AVOCADO vs. MAYONAISE is inspired by the fact that we don’t have a ‘typical beauty’ type. You don’t have to be skinny or muscular to be beautiful. We live in a time where your body is your temple. You have to love you for you to be the best version of yourself.

We as HENKJENZ work with people who are completely themselves. We are all unique so why try to be someone else?

Your collections always have a topic, a social statement. How important is that for you as a designer?

It’s important for us to connect with the crowd on more than just on the topic of fashion. It’s nice if you like our designs for our designs, but we like to spread a message with HENKJENZ, where one of our keywords is acceptance.

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What kind of material did you used for the collection?

For AVOCADO vs. MAYONAISE, we used a mixture of fabrics including jersey, bamboo, fleece and wool.

What challenges did you face during the design process?

Deadlines are probably our biggest challenge, because the further we are in the process, the more ideas come into mind to add to the collection - which is also the most fun part when it comes together at the end on time.

What would you say that is the biggest influence to your design process?

The world around us because we use such political and social themes.

What is your favourite piece of the collection, and why?

The long “Neon Tech Body Warmer” is our favourite piece because we love the tech flock print fabric. We feel it’s both practical and unique.

How important is social media for a young designer?

It’s such a digital time. We find that quite hard sometimes because our process is analogue. We like to see, feel and smell things. Social media makes the world smaller, making it so you can easily connect to people on the other side of the world.

Who are your 3 favourite influencers and why?

Henrik Vibskov, because patternwise he’s always exciting. He uses such calming colours in his collection and we are in love with the whole world he creates around his brand. Influencers Louis Rubi and Patrick Mason are two we like very much. They have their own vibe and both in a different way.

Louis is always very classy and oversized, which makes it interesting for us with our one size designs and Patrick has his exciting colourful crazy style.

Where do you see the evolution of social media and fashion going over the next 5-10 years?

That is a hard one, hopefully, social media will challenge us to really connect to each other again and not only through apps and electronic devices but really face to face contact. And for fashion, we hope it will make it easier for designers to make the production process more sustainable and that consumers will consider more local designers over fast fashion.

How do you see the future of your fashion brand?

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HENKJENZ is still at the beginning of its growth so the world is wide open for us. We hope to enchant the people in the upcoming season with The World of HENKJENZ and spread the word so that more people will get to know us and want to be a part of our world of acceptance. So our next step is to see you all in Berlin and get some stockists so you can shop offline.

If you could give one piece of advice to someone considering a career in fashion, what would it be?

Never stop dreaming about what you want to accomplish in fashion.

You have to be sure you are not a quitter because it can be hard and take some time before you see the result you want from the fashion world around you.

What are your three must-have items for every fashion lover for the next Spring/Summer season?

We think a unique pair of sneakers, for the sunny weather, an oversized T-shirt that feels comfortable and HENKJENZ shorts for sure! @HENKJENZ

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