N WIND 05 | EN

2015 March

Creative Northern energy

Showcase

An episode from the film, a suspended part of the big story. So interesting that it is impossible to keep a secret. It has to be shared. One would love if the observer would actively contribute to the story.

Mannequin intrigue Such a scene has the potential to evolve, it’s not just a static attribute to the street. It’s here not just because the store has a window that needs to be filled with lifeless dummies and goods.

In this case, it is not part of a splendid story – aesthetic consciousness does not turn off, nothing happens. This is only a window with buy-sell items. And that is not an involving story, it’s only a calculated relationship. Mannequins then are not intriguing, but forcefully selling the goods. They are dead. Clothes are hanging, not fitting perfectly. When evening comes, such dummies undress their tormenting clothes and run as soon as possible to the pool to wash off that day’s static feeling. Please note: after dark, the poorly lit, dusty shop windows are empty. Only piles of clothes – at night the mannequin are absent.

In engaging stories the mannequins in shop windows are full of life, we have seen it ourselves. They are intriguing, always in a different pose. They can talk. The mannequins live there, they do not need to go anywhere at night.

Disc one univ

The magnetism of attractive store window – an involving story.

Each time the shot is different, better, every time you learn more about the film, which is being created. We wish for more such movies, for such shots.

Yours truly, N WIND

N WIND ENCOURAGES TO CHANGE INSIDE AND EXCHANGE BETWEEN

Monthly magazine about culture and creative business in Northern Europe

ISSN 2351-647X 2015, Nr. 5 Published by UAB BLACK SWAN BRANDS Address Šiaulių g. 10 / Žemaitijos g. 13, Vilnius www.nwindmag.eu hello@nwindmag.eu www.facebook.com/nwindmag Cover From Henrik Vibskov spring–summer 2010 collection “The Solar Donkey Experiment” Editor Tautė Bernotaitė, taute@nwindmag.eu Authors Rasa Barčaitė, Deimantė Bulbenkaitė, Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė, Sandra Kliukaitė, Gediminas Kukta, Tomas Milkamanavičius, Pernille Sandberg, Giedrė Stabingytė, Brigita Stroda, Emilie Toomela, Agnė Tuskevičiūtė Advertising, distribution, projects Dovydas Kiauleikis, dovydas@nwindmag.eu Design Laura Tulaitė, Tomas Mozūra, tomas@nwindmag.eu Printed by UAB „Lietuvos ryto“ spaustuvė

Deimantė Bulbenkaitė If we had to choose a term or a concept that has been most overused and overestimated in texts about design, the term “minimalism” would get the throphy for at least the last five years. And if we would add “Scandinavian” to it... Don’t get me wrong – just like the minimalist aesthetics is not only driven by blindly following the tendencies, the Scandinavians are not all minimalist artists working in ascetic locations. The real show-

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covering e’s iverse Flamingos were decorations in the show of Henrik’s autumn-winter collection of 2013. Photo by Alastair Philip Wiper

boutique cafe: collarless white shirt, impeccable black jacket, a black hat on the back of his head, messy hair (intentionally?), a few-days-old beard.

A bunch of self-binders can be seen behind his back through the screen of Skype, with echoes of his colleagues’ voices hitting a white wall.

Henrik looks like a stylish person on the street – Copenhagen is used to people like that. He appears like you could perhaps run into him at art galleries or see him sitting at a computer in a

The conversation with Henrik takes place on Friday night. He goes to Thailand the next day, so the time for this interview has just changed from “let’s arrange it next week” to “how about now?”.

He opens a bottle of beer, makes a joke about sex tourism of Southeastern Asia and turns into the Henry Vibskov that “The Wall Street Journal” or “Style.com” adores.

Protagonist

case of Scandinavian design is currently a bit different – there is no place for emptiness. And in the centre of the showcase – in between the created clothes, art installations, film strips and theatre decorations – stands our protagonist Henrik Vibskov.

He is called one of the creators of the new Scandinavian wave for a reason. The fundamentals in Henrik’s work can be seen as of Danish origin, but the minimalistic ideas of sketches are replaced with the multicultural trends of Copenhagen and the eclecticism of the 21st century. His exhibi-

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Henrik Vibskov in his own cafe. Photo by Alastair Philip Wiper.

Protagonist

tions, art installations and fashion shows become something that spectators refer to as a once in a lifetime experience. The viewer is being provoked, but at the same time invited to join Henrik in his own art universe. Henrik’s fashion show at the Copenhagen Fashion Week in the beginning of February had twelve vocalists singing and 400 fake hands moving amongst the walking models.

The theme of this presentation was “Messy Massage Class”.

The word “minimalism” would sound like an insult even if we would talk about the creative environment around Henrik. Apart from his fashion shows in Paris and Copenhagen, he creates interiors, landscape design, scenography for theatre, directs movies and accompanies Trentemøller (who recently had a concert in Lithuania) by playing the drums.

It seems as if his every project is multi-layered, redefining the rules, traditional categories and fostering the dialogue of interdisciplinary art.

How did Henrik learn to do all that? Well, in his own words, he just says yes to an interesting opportunity and simply starts working on it. For ex-

ample, he got a drumset as a present when he was ten years old.

This is just one of the reasons why the talk with Henrik is not your traditional interview with a famous fashion designer, director or a scenography professional. It’s almost a discussion with an artist who is shaping our perception about the Scandinavian design of today. Even if he himself doesn’t admit it.

Let’s talk about the Scandinavian flu that the design world has in the recent years. It symbolises

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It’s not important for me just to make something that a client would buy

the unreachable perfection, intense asceticism and considered minimalism. But why do people who jealously look upon Scandinavia feel so attracted to this myth?

I don’t have a definite answer. We’ve probably developed something that still reflects the current period. Surely not manufacturers, we’re merely creators from small countries with strong economic and deep social backgrounds, and we are left alone with our own imagination. Saying that Scandinavians are exceptionally creative is not true – maybe we were allowed to grow in a way that let us experiment, which is almost impossible for people from poverty-stricken countries.

What happens when this tendency will start vanishing? Everyone will buy something else and write about other stuff. But the Scandinavian style is not only defined by fashion and films – it’s a reflection of our system for creativity and life itself. Of course, it may be the case of a certain time period, when one topic is more interesting than others...

How does Henrik Vibskov look in the context of Scandinavian style?

I see myself as a person who is a bit off the rails, always welcoming a chance to take the other way.

As you said before, traditional tones here are black, white and grey, and I feel like an atypical

Scandinavian. I like colours, surrealism, conceptuality and everything that has an interesting story. I explore the technical side of things, wishing to learn how they work. I’m a Dane after all, and I probably use a lot of details linked to this culture without even thinking of it.

Being a creator is pretty hard today as there are more conflicts concerning the notions of originality and interpretation. Requirements for artists, especially fashion designers, are rising as well: there is less time, the demand is growing, and the rules of the game are being interfered with by the so-called fast fashion.

Postmodern society understands the effects of living in a gigantic flow of information. Our thoughts become messy after seeing too much

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visual info on the screen, but one can’t be alive and at the same time not influenced by it.

The faster tempo may not be a bad thing – I think it’s great that fashion now has a shorter reaction time to all the changing moods that overtake society. This way fashion reminds me of music, because composing a song or creating a piece of clothing is not like building a house or making furniture. It takes time.

Some designers try to speed things up even more – I’m not sure whether we need that. There are fashion houses out there that urge clients to order the clothes immediately after the models go off-stage. The consumer doesn’t necessarily like it – he needs time to consume as well.

The consumer needs time to consume

things too seriously. It allows him to sustain individuality and earn respect from other designers”.

It appears as if Henrik is not keen on seeing himself as a commercial designer, opposite to young designers nowadays, who present themselves entirely like that. Henrik is more interested in the

ideological fields of the work and the chance to materialise his thoughts. He talks about starting work just after finishing school, so the value of money was clear to him, but his values were a bit different. “It’s not important to me to just make something that a client would buy. But selling this and that is not a tragedy either”.

It’s quite peculiar that when faced with a question about the unfading interest in fashion, Henrik does not talk about the industry’s prospects or dynamics. For him, a piece of clothing is a crucial mean of communication, it also helps to create an identity. “For example, if you enter a club where the music is too loud, you may have trouble talking to someone, but you can still become very curious just by seeing a person”.

The conversation tilts towards the bonds between fashion and business. Original, incomparable and distinctive works of Henrik have found their clients outside of Scandinavia long time ago.

Currently, over 200 shops in 32 countries have clothes with a “Henrik Vibskov” label on them.

Jacob Vald, owner of the “VALD Agency” that represents Henrik, says that our hero’s collections usually shine in fashion capitals – Tokyo, Seul, Hong Kong, Milan, Berlin, New York or Los Angeles. Additionally, the demand for Henrik’s clothes is increasing in cities with big potential for fashion – Austin, Portland, Shanghai.

When taken out of general Scandinavian context, Henrik’s works still keep their strength and originality, although getting to know them might be not that easy. 85 percent of all sales take place in the showrooms of Paris, New York and Copenhagen; each location offers an individually designed, most suitable space for a specific designer. “Every room must get the client closer to the universe of the designer”, Mr. Vald stresses.

“So Henrik’s space looks like an art installation – it mirrors the atmosphere of his presentations, videos from which are shown all around the hall, surrounded by photos of his inspirations”.

Protagonist

Naturally, a question occurs, how could such a multi-layered personality like Hernik be framed inside the boundaries of the fashion world? Annika Vitola, the creator of marketing strategies for fashion houses at “VALD Agency”, explains that working with Henrik is not that complicated: “I feel enormous respect for the man – he’s both an experienced designer and a pleasant human beig to me, who also happens to have the power to connect art with business. The crucial point is that Henrik, despite all the years spent in this industry, keeps his artistic touch and doesn’t take

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Henrik told in an interview once that his decision to study in “Central Saint Martins”, one of the best fashion schools of the world, was highly influenced by an attempt to impress a girl.

What came next is already history. He got into the school, got the girl, but what would have happened if “Central Saint Martins” said no to an application of a young Dane? Henrik thinks that maybe he would not be a fashion designer at the present day, but creative work would definitely be a priority.

Let’s imagine that Henrik is eighteen again. He didn’t finish school yet and his head is still occupied with teenage thoughts. Suddenly, an op-

portunity to know his future comes along and he sees everything that he is today. How happy would he be about it? Would he try to change anything?

I think I would be happy to see it. There was a time when I considered happines to be tens of collections, tons of clients and so forth. I was questioning what I was doing and whether I should keep doing it. So if anyone would have told me about my future when I was eighteen, my journey would have been much easier.

Well what if a similar opportunity turned up now? Would you like to hear everything that’s going to happen?

No, now I would say that it’s way more interesting to discover new things for yourself.

Last question. You had the chance to try out a lot of activities in various sectors. I’m guessing it’s still pretty far from everything you wanted to try. So what’s left?

I would like to plumb into architecture and build a house – something that would last long. Maybe longer that I would last.

Henrik’s fashion show at the Copenhagen Fashion Week had twelve vocalists singing and 400 fake hands moving amongst the walking models.

Photo by Alastair Philip Wiper.

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Lithuanian concept as a S Sandra Kliukaitė There is a rule out there that says everyone should stick to what they do best: designers should create design, architects should create buildings, writers should create letters and marketing specialists should practise marketing. NO. Ignas specializes in the subject of Everything and he does it amazingly well. Author of the most widely-known Lithuanian scooter P I G E O N is a person of art, marketing and sales, all in one body of Ignas Survila. When creative work and entrepreneurship can collaborate inside one head, a design concept gets famous on “Kickstarter” and turns into a product that attracts investment from a Swiss company. Ignas comes on this paper’s stage and talks about his specialization in Everything.

The “pigeon” will not cost more than 120 Euros. Photo by Martyna Jovaišaitė & Edgaras Kordiukovas.

You were recently in Switzerland to meet the future manufacturers of P I G E O N. Who are they and how did it all go?

I met the investors in Geneva, they’re an engineering company called SWISS ETIC SA. We’re about to start a new company “PIGEON Sarl” to begin making these “pigeons” (the word is a slang term pronounced as the French pigeon to indicate people like toffs and dandies). I was only there for three days, but it was the most intense, interesting and rewarding time I ever had.

My whole schedule was carefully sorted out before I arrived: meeting notaries, lawyers, other investors, representatives of VW and IKEA. People work from 8 am to 8 pm there, and their workload is very promising. Michel Barro, the princi-

Creative business cup Rasa Barčaitė

First impression

People working in the creative industries face the challenges of investors’ distrust and the lack of experience in developing and presenting their business plans. As one of the ways of solving this problem, the Danish Center for Cultural and Experience Economy (CKO) organised a tournament in 2010 called “Creative Business Cup” for the representatives of Denmark’s creative industries.

Within a year, the tournament successfully became an international showcase for anyone working in these industries.

Lithuanians joined “Creative Business Cup” last year; the finals in Lithuania are organised by the National Association of Creative and Cultural Industries (NKIKIA). “March Design Studio” won the national contest – they presented a minimalistic reflecting badge, a product which was already popular in Lithuania and beyond. “When we met the international jury at the very beginning of the tournament in Denmark, we changed

our focus a bit. We decided to include the stories of other products as well and to stress their commercialisation”, said Eglė Opeikienė, the head of “March Design Studio”, which got into the competition’s Top 16.

from “March Design Studio” that “Creative Business Cup” should be named “Creative Business Idea Cup”, since the event tends to emphasize the ideas rather than their commercialisation or realisation.

In 2011, a CKO-ordered analysis indicated that creative businesses mostly need assistance in presenting themselves, that’s why “Creative Business Cup” tries to fill this gap. “There are three main obstacles: the lack of knowledge when developing a business plan that has big growth potential, the need of help while looking for investors and simply weak marketing strategies. Targeting these three aspects is the aim of our business tournament”, notes Julie Kjær Ovesen, coordinator of “Creative Business Cup”.

The last year’s Polish winners of first place and their training programme “Professor Why” got 20,000 USD and a ticket to the global enterprise congress in Milan (“Global Entrepreneurship Congress”). Teams that took 2nd and 3rd places received 10,000 USD and 5,000 USD respectively. The prizes of the 2015 competition are not yet announced.

If a particular creative business or its idea is not only innovative, creative, but also has a substantial potential to grow, there is a big chance that it will get lucky in the final of “Creative Business Cup”. “Our jury has a lot of experience in such areas and they can foresee which ideas can be profitable”, Julie says, thus commenting on a remark

Any team that gets into the final of the “Creative Business Cup” is already a winner in the sense that they’re noticed in an international tournament like this one. And it’s not only about the new contacts, it’s more about various practical activities. The programme of the competition in Copenhagen was focused around three main points: global giants (“Microsoft”, “Lego”, IKEA, “Google” and so forth) sharing their experience; meetings with potential investors; discussion of al-

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Swiss product ple at SWISS ETIC, is someone who’s completely obsessed with the eco- and electro-means of transport. He has over 50 different scooters at home, I was honoured to try them all. We also met the engineers of a scooter startup KLEEFER. They poured out their notes about the mistakes of “pigeon’s” engineering, which quite diminished my enthusiasm to have “pigeon” on sale this April. Obviously, we’ll do our absolute best, but there is still a lot of work until getting safety requirements approved and materializing the final project.

The first non-conceptual “pigeon” just made its first few laps on the street. How do you feel?

It was pure ecstasy when I opened the box with a factory-made “pigeon” – my heart almost sprung out of my chest. The prototype was manufactured by “Drosun Metal Products Co., Ltd.”, a factory in Dongguan, China. It was the first time I saw some kind of tangible result other than in blueprints and blurry smartphone photos. Basically, I saw the real face of the “pigeon” then.

The actual product could have been much worse – a few mistakes are still there, but the scooter’s quality is quite high. Of course, this is only the beginning.

Do you already know what will the price of “pigeons” be and how many of them will roll out on the market?

The first batch will consist of 1,500 units. Originally I thought the price will be around 200 Euros and the product will enter the high quality design market. Together with the Swiss we decided

ternative solutions for financial problem solving.

There was also plenty of buzz about the potential possibilities of crowdfunding.

Why did, in their own opinion, “March Design Studio” deserve the place in the Top 16? Eglė believes that most of their competitors only had ideas that they didn’t implement, even without any prototypes. What “March Design Studio” did was present an already completed project that was successful in the international arena. “If we were to talk about the whole tournament, we competed against 4,500 companies in the creative industries, with 54 national winners participating in the Copenhagen event”, Eglė adds.

The 2014 “Creative Business Cup” saw a project from Poland win first place, and a Latvian one take second. The size and economic capacity of a country is not relevant, this competition is about presenting yourself to the world. As the organisers underlined, the key points are to prepare for a spectacular pitch and not forget the basic attributes of creative industries: a decent business plan, funding and marketing.

to still make it a high quality item, but a one that would also be affordable for a bigger market so that anyone could have a “pigeon”. It will not cost more than 120 Euros.

Is it true that you gathered all the funds needed for the initial manufacturing on “Kickstarter”?

This means that plenty of people in the world believed in your idea and supported it.

Right, I assembled the initial sum through “Kickstarter”, but the main goal was not to collect money – it was to find investors and the contact information of manufacturers. It’s also a brilliant platform if you wish to see if your products are attractive for the future clients. You can identify your target audience, find out what country they are from, what’s their age and so forth. It gives you a clearer perspective on how to develop your product and introduce it to specific markets.

Canadian manufacturers were interested in the scooter too. Did you go there?

I received a lot of offers via “Kickstarter” from companies that come from Russia, France, Canada, Croatia... However, the most realistic and convincing was the Swiss offer, so I chose them to collaborate on the project. I hope I made the right decision.

What happened with representatives of “Mini Cooper” in London?

I was sitting in my studio one Sunday and I thought it was a good idea to write to car manufacturers: “...let’s work together on making “pigeon” an accessory that you carry in your trunk.

You can ride it inside the city and get rid of traffic jams once and for all!” Representatives of “Mini Cooper” in the USA replied to my email. I told

them I was going to be in London next week so they organized a meeting with the BMW INNOVATIONS GROUP concern. I presented my idea and visualizations during a “Skype” video call. They loved it, but finally wrote that they’re out. Apparently, they have already been working on an electronic scooter for “Mini Cooper” – it was released in about a week. That just sometimes happens with ideas...

“Pigeon” was your final graduation project. Prior to settling on this topic, did you have any idea how favorable the reactions to it are going to be and that your academic concept may turn into an internationally sold product?

Yes, it was my graduation project which I made under the mentoring of my teacher Šarūnas Šlektavičius. He continues to support me in the process, much like the character Fletcher from the movie “Whiplash”. About the reactions – it’s very hard to foresee these things, even if every designer hopes their creative baby is going to be loved and appreciated. So I hoped for it, but I had no idea it will happen so fast and so fluently.

None the less, I surely couldn’t know it was going to spread around the world and that one day I will be sitting at a table, negotiating with serious businessmen from Switzerland... It was an awesome experience! Every day brings a new challenge, and sometimes there is simply not enough time to take it on. You have to react fast and find solutions to the problems quickly – it’s like playing speed chess of life.

Rules of Lithuanian competition for the 2015 „Creative Business Cup“ Any member of the creative industries that has a business idea can participate in the competition, even though “Creative Business Cup” is aimed at entrepreneurs and startups.

Applications for the tournament should be submitted until the 12th of May via the NKIKIA system at www.kurybinioverslotaure.lt.

A chance to go to the finals in Copenhagen will be given to the victor of national competition and to other Lithuanian participants that will be awarded additional prizes in Health, Food, “Learning through play” and “Living smart” categories. The winners of these categories will be selected by investors and jury members chosen by the organisers of “Creative Business Cup”.

Get all the info at www.creativebusinesscup.com.

Reflective badges created by „March Design Studio“ were amongst the 16 best projects of „Creative Business Cup“. Photo from visvaldas.com

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Industry of per The magic happens not when a brand is talking about itself but when it engages with the spectator through a product ters sell more plain white T-shirts than exclusive pieces. What about the exceptional atmosphere of shops created by brands, or the experiences of consumers spiked up by new technologies?

One of the prominent fashion brands in Scandinavia was born due to the work of the bureau of creative communication and a conceptual magazine “Acne Paper”. So did the brand image turn their 100 pairs of jeans experiment into a successful kick-off in the fashion industry?

“My task is to create a living link between the brand and the product’s identity so that a fashion project would possess power and clarity.”

Victoria Diaz, consultant for fashion brands and product identity, analysing tendencies of the fashion culture, working with brands like “Jazmín Chebar”, “Jessica Trosman”, WGSN, D.EFECT, “Julia Janus” and others.

“The saying goes that fashion has a short memory, you are as good as your last collection. Two failed collections can kill the brand”, Victoria continues. “The most successful collections tend to reflect the identity of a fashion brand. I often am very honest in my work with clients’ collections, asking questions like “is this really you? Who are you working for?” and making sure that the brand keeps evolving with each presentation in a way that the consumer would feel it. Sometimes the product takes control of the brand’s image – sort

Giedrė Stabingytė, branding bureau BLACK SWAN BRANDS Different takes on the essence of fashion brands.

Continued from N WIND vol. 4.

Thousands of symbols and insights of interviewed people during the winter are all waiting until I find the link between the theme of this N WIND issue and the perspectives of fashion brands. It seems as if the pages are nervously watching me as I’m thinking on what Showcase really means to me (James Elkins portrays the watching eyes of things in his book “The Object Stares Back”).

Voilà: Projection

Subject

Idea

The Showcase is a projection to me, whether it’s on the screen of a smartphone, in the red Biblioteksgatan in Stockholm, or in some of many websites where one can wander to imagine trying on new fashion items. The Showcase merges with me – we become one. When I’m inside the projection, what I see is me, looking the way I would like

to look, the way I would project myself to others.

How do the fashion brands do that?

“Success has many faces in fashion, but the magic happens not when a fashion brand is talking about itself but when it engages with the spectator through a product. There has to be a living link between the creator, his idea and the observer: one can’t take up an idea that’s alien to him, the other, so to speak, can’t wear someone else’s shoes”, Victoria Diaz, consultant for fashion Observer

brands and on the identity of products, believes.

She says the product IS the true identity of a fashion brand. Victoria employs a lot of power and a very sharp vocabulary when discussing her work (hence I ask whether she would ever use a scalpel as her main tool; she shakes her head and laughs), so there is willingness in me to debate.

After all, even countries with the most trend-set-

The mostly dry melancholy of Sweden is the idea behind the “Stutterheim” brand.

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rspective (II) of like a being that has already grown into something with more decision-making power. Working with the identity of collections is an intense search for points that a particular brand wants to make with that collection. There has to be a new narrative with enough continuity, because people don’t buy dramatically different clothes every season – they stick to the same style and buy clothes that are alike, but have new stories and a new feel”. Perhaps when purchasing a new piece of clothing we focus on two perspectives – the inner one (how I see and feel myself) and the outer one (how I wish others to perceive me)?

“The social level mostly characterizes not what we are inside but rather what we present outside: our appearance (Showcase!) starts communicating before the actual conversation. This works even with people trying to stress the irrelevance of things”, notes Annika Vitola, the Latvian ex-philosophy student who was enticed by fashion business through her interest in clothing’s symbolic sense for the individual. Annika, together with Henrik Vibskov’s (this issue’s protagonist) former business partner Jacob Valdemar, takes care of the international sales of 14 fashion brands in 35 markets over at the Copenhagen-based “VALD Agency”, which continues it’s work with Henrik, Asger Juel Larsen and a few founders of smaller brands. Annika explores the creative and artistic perspectives of fashion: how the creator’s vision, artistry, and mastery transforms the utilitarian object (a piece of clothing) into a message that matches both the artist and

“We pick designers with a strong message and bold vision, who are keen on working consistently.”

Annika Vitola, head of international fashion sales at “VALD Agency”.

the consumer. It’s not a coincidence that Annika is a part of “VALD Agency” – an agency with a mission not to cultivate already worked out and computed fashion products, but to help designers with a strong message and bold vision to position themselves in the market. The agency’s

showrooms tend to stand out from the egocentric white spaces, which are deeply rooted in this industry. For instance, an exposition in New York can take place at an artist’s studio, with tubes of paint lying around the clothes. Annika is motivated by the challenge to connect the two worlds of

“VALD Agency’s” showroom in Paris is set up at a spacious Parisian apartment.

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to be simply fascinating”. The junction of designer’s vision and the consumer is also one of the essential matters – it determines the pricing, the identity of collections, continuity and sale locations. Once again we’re at the point of creator-idea-consumer. Annika from “VALD Agency” agrees that everyone expects the designers to provide the link between expressive shows and sale collections – these always differ and therefore reflect the designer’s perception of the whole chain of clients – agencies, boutiques and consumers – and their own universes and projections (Showcases).

“Our organisational structure enables us to work on all levels of making collections.”

Violeta Eitutienė, head of “First Priority”, a company that takes care of development of fashion products and organisation of manufacture.

art and business, since the unique and breakingthe-rules works usually surpass the potential of a typical fashion sales technique.

Our talk with Annika reaffirms one of the ideas of the last issue – the market expects a solid concept and highly interesting products from a niche brand. This is something that Rita Paškevičienė, founder of a brand communication agency for fashion, interior and leisure products called “L.B.D. Baltics”, strongly agrees with: “I would certainly recommend all creators to pay more attention to the concept and product itself. I admire brands that believe in their idea and can persuade others to believe in it too, rather than the ones which choose to make something that’s going to be popular in the market or, most often, what is already popular. The fashion industry is going through a kind of overdraft, so if I was a designer, I would ask myself whether I can bring something exceptional to the table. If the answer is no – I would not move further until this answer changes”.

says Violeta Eitutienė, head of “First Priority”, a company that takes care of development of fashion products and organisation of manufacture.

Amongst the company’s clients - “Wood Wood” and “Won Hundred” (both have been working with “First Priority” from their initial collections), the aforesaid “Odeur”, Swedish brands “Hope”, “Stutterheim” and others. “First Priority” is like an outside production subdivision, making sure their big team of constructors and organisers can enable the collection to be made in full. Violeta is certain that possesion of a strong and clear concept is a key point in estimating the potential of a given project: “The main idea of a Swedish brand “Stutterheim” is making dressy raincoats of the archipelago, inspired by the 1970s. We started collaborating on the production of only 50 pieces, and the growth potential of the brand proved

Can Baltic designers be solid players in the international market? The first challenge is to create a relevant and conceptual quality product, and several brands have done it. “Our region lacks experience in developing powerful creative campaigns. We have talents with ideas to back them up, but there is a need for people with proficiency in the international sector of creative businesses who can work with those talents to give them momentum”, Annika shares her thoughts. A conceptual designer ought to have the outlook of international growth, because, according to Rita from “L.B.D. Baltics”, the regional market may often seem quite restricted. Scandinavians have formed a special apprehension of design and aesthetics, and, even if the Baltic countries see it as similar to their own, Scandinavians tend to support local brands. Patent communication through social and content platforms provides new possibilities of development and growth, but nothing writes the story of success like an exclusive offer which finds its target consumer. www.odeur.se www.victoria-diaz.com www.lbdbaltics.com www.firstpriority.lt www.valdagency.com

“We were at least 5 years too early to start working in Lithuania, but I’m looking forward to contribute to improvement of the country’s fashion market communication.”

Rita Paškevičienė, founder of “L.B.D. Baltics”, a communication agency for fashion, interior and leisure products.

TEMA

A weak idea leads to an unconvincing projection.

The attraction is usually created by the alliance of a strong idea and a potent artist – it’s crucial to get things moving forward. The know-how of fashion brands in Scandinavia is many a time based on service outsourcing. Petter Hollström, founder of the Swedish fashion brand “Odeur” and one of the heroes of the last N WIND issue, orchestrates his business alone, using partners of production planning and organisational services, agencies of public relations and fashion sales.

“Young fashion brands should maintain their ease as long as they possibly can and use outside specialists when in need, that way skipping the growing regular investments for a team of their own”,

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He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.

Dr. Johnson

You will have to choose, sooner or later. No, fate won’t be merciful and won’t show you the direction of your way, don’t be naive. Decision is taken by you, not the google „intelligence“. Yes, it’s very difficult. Yes, it bears responsibility and you want to push it away not to think about it. The way you spend a day, the way you will live your whole life. That’s why the decision is much easier to find, it’s close by and you know the right answer.

Doubts rather than woes weaken one’s spirit. You can be a wolf, a sheep or a dog, which protects sheep from wolves. If you are a sheep, then your life is perfect, and you’ll live it in a hedonistic illusion – as 90% of other people. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just your nature. But if you are a wolf or the protecting dog? When you will have to choose your role.

There is no better or worse, it’s just a choice. But it’s your decision, take it as an individual, not as a part of crowd. It will be a totem that will be your shadow, a part of your soul – forever. This cant be cancelled. With your chosen role you won’t live with your eyes shut, but it will allow you to live real life, not in the herd waiting for being killed for the table.

Your enemy, Doberman inside www.doberman-inside.eu

The stories of shop

windows Tomas Milkamanavičius, architect

The design of shop windows is at the core of any brand that has integrity. Boring mannequins or a Christmas tree behind the glass have lost their charm long time ago, therefore a sound shop window is a smart investment. Not only it can give aesthetic pleasure or become a mean of communication of the brand’s identity, but it can also provoke new experiences for the customers – this keeps the companies relevant in the modern culture of business and cities.

Space

So what is a good shop window and how to create one? It’s a way of advertising, but there are two fundamental qualities of it that I would say make the shop window a unique element. Firstly, it’s the physical, volumetric object. Most data gets to us in the form of photos, texts or videos, but they can’t always reveal the subtle nuances of reality. The shop window, on the other hand, IS a real part of reality.

The second advantage of shop windows is the communication between the customer and the

shop – it takes place in real time, the shop window being a kind of visual mediator. If the interaction is effective, you might convince people to visit the shop and impulsively buy something.

Finland-based advertising agency “TBWA\Helsinki” has challenged the classic shop window to become interactive. The “Adidas” shop on the main street of the capital now has some features of a webshop, even though it remains in the city’s traditional area. Moving mannequins, personalised QR and ID codes were synchronized with the traits of virtual trade to transform the window into a 24/7 interactive screen. The unique thing here is the ability to mix live interactions of people in an urban space with a convenient Internet commerce system, all thanks to a symbol of modern culture – the smartphone.

Vendors that underestimate the potential of design and communication tend to stick loads of posters with discounts on shop windows. Unfortunately, various offers blend into an unclear and unrecognisable mess; the visual “pollution” misleads the spectator and doesn’t give a taste of the essence. Hence, minimalism or maximalism

Shopping in Copenhagen Pernille Sandberg

Copenhagen is a small city and the shopping areas are naturally small as well. Only a few streets make me think of exclusivity and elegance and forget about my daily duties – but after spending a lot

of time in the forever-buzzing Berlin I started appreciating how everything feels so small and delicate in Copenhagen. One of those streets is the pedestrian street Østergade. Besides chain stores as Moncler, Zadig & Voltaire and Fogal you find the department store founded in 1891, Illum – the most exclusive department store in Copenhagen with large departments of both Danish and inter-

City guide

I want you to imagine a weekend of enjoyment in the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen. Time flies, you walk and talk, you drink loads of quality coffee from all the tempting coffee bars, drink, dine, dance and explore the Nordic art scene. In between spoiling yourself with these satisfying ac-

tivities a little shopping is essential. I invite you on a personal guided tour to the key-stores in the polished streets of Copenhagen to visit right now.

Unlike most other vintage stores in Copenhagen Time’s Up Vintage does not try to express and convey the present state of mind style-wise. Photo by the author.

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(extremes are always better than mundane mediocrity) and expressivity are praiseworthy in this area.

Extremes are always better than mundane mediocrity

“Club Monaco’s” shop in Stockholm has a showcase that allows the passer-by to experience the peculiarities of fabric production. Spindle threads are installed behind the mannequins to generate an impression of real spinning; they also create a geometrical background for the models. The mannequins are even beheaded to keep the pedestriants staring at the clothes on the torsos.

A simple white setting takes around 70% of the shop window’s space – it’s all clean, it’s clear and there are no meaningless details or screaming discount signs around, only the principal idea.

Lithuanian brands many a time neglect the design of shop windows, contrary to progressive leaders of foreign markets. But some positive examples can be found in Lithuania as well – I recently took part in the making of one myself. In February Klaipėda saw the opening of a shop of sport goods for active leisure - “Trip Shop”, the values of which (active lifestyle, energy, freedom, love of urban culture) were imparted by the installation of “Light threads”. The composition of neon threads swirls around the mannequins in a strict and energetic manner, reflecting the pulse of the city’s active nightlife culture. The light installation becomes a clear and dominant power of the street at night. We wanted to create something interesting and exceptional in the street context, also to communicate the idea of the brand – a graceful and glowing-in-the-dark arrangement declares the relevance of city’s active lifestyle. We hope that this shop window will encourage others to address their self-presentation with more thoroughness.

Find more examples of shop windows on N WIND Facebook profile.

About CRACK STUDIO

A graceful and glowing-in-the-dark arrangement declares the relevance of active lifestyle in the city

national beauty, fashion and accessories brands.

Illum is not as large as other European department stores, but large to Copenhageners. On top of this it has the biggest shop windows in the city and visitor-wise it is the closest Copenhagen will get to Asia. In the basement Illum has a supermarket designed for true epicures – only the best and products will find their way to those shelves.

Nearby Illum one of my favorite concept stores in Copenhagen is located. Copenhagen does not have Paris’ epic concept store Colette, but we have Storm Copenhagen. I like the way the music and the atmosphere instantly changes my mood when I step into the store. The store has a highly creative selection of all the best from high-end fashion and design collaborations to the best coffee table books. Their way of picking and mixing the most outstanding pieces and accessories from international fashion design brands differentiates them from all other concept stores in Copenhagen – in fact Storm Copenhagen is the only store in Copenhagen influenced with such a sharp, sporty and creative vibe. The best thing is that I can find something that fits my budget no matter what time of the month I walk into the store – and special presents for whoever I know.

If I only have time to visit one vintage store, Time’s Up Vintage is undoubtedly the place I go to. Here I sweeten up my senses with beautiful

The sudio works as a creator of architecture & brand design and other visual arts. CRACK STUDIO challenges interiors, installations of events or shop windows, and aims to create a topical, functional and aesthetic design with the help of modern technologies and without a fear of combining art and commerce. The team builds on an interdisciplinary way of thinking and is open to unexpected innitiatives. www.facebook.com/crackstudio

dresses, furs and skirts from the 60ies and 70ies, the epic decades the store is mainly focusing on – the groundbreaking decades that shaped the future in fashion. If I have a special theme party to dress up for I can decorate my ears with some colourful jewellery from their massive collection of both exclusive and more affordable plastic jewellery. Unlike most other vintage stores in Copenhagen Time’s Up Vintage does not try to express and convey the present state of mind style-wise – and in that way they stay modern.

Pernille Sandberg

is a Danish freelance photographer and journalist. Her heart bleeds for aesthetics and the art of making minds spin through looking at photographs, design and art or by reading critical journalism. Driven by her passion of documenting the world around her she shares her time between Berlin and Copenhagen. www.pernillesandberg.com

15

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These are days when the northerners start to feel the delicate change. It is only the beginning, the forces of nature are still fighting – water expands, flows, explodes and shrinks again, the grey is fighting with colour and the winds get confused in their stories. This powerful fighting lasts for days, so the northerners, excited by the notion of spring, employ the power of senses. People are waking their own spring – the masterly orchestrated substances of perfume defuse in the air.

Fueguia 1833 „La Cautiva“, EFP, 100 ml, 230,25 Eur (795 Lt) Caron „Aimez-Moi“, EDP, 100 ml, 110,06 Eur (380 Lt) Thirdman „Eau Profonde“, eau de cologne, 100 ml / 250 ml, 89,78 Eur (310 Lt) / 165,08 Eur (570 Lt) Byredo „Pulp“, EDP, 50 ml / 100 ml, 95,57 Eur (330 Lt) / 140,47 Eur (485 Lt)

„Crème de la Crème“ in Vilnius: „Panorama“, Saltoniškių g. 9 „Akropolis“, Ozo g. 25 Didžioji g. 28 „Crème de la Crème“ in Kaunas: „Akropolis“, Karaliaus Mindaugo pr. 49 „Crème de la Crème“ in Klaipėda: „Akropolis“, Taikos pr. 61

What’s left of extravagant Soviet architecture?

Gediminas Kukta Artist Gintaras Znamierovskis once told a story in an interview about how he and his friends used to slip in to the Museum of Revolution (now the National Art Gallery – G.K.) to get “spiritually upset”.

This was deep into the Soviet years, no signs of the independence movement yet, so it became a way for young nonconformists to test new forms of sadness and irony. Monumental architecture and the artifacts within it symbolized everything they hated – regime, ideology, authorities. The masonry absorbed all the boredom of its time period, and they needed to laugh from it to withstand it. So they did.

Subject

The “singing revolution” got into full swing a few years later, throwing tanks out of the country, leaving everyone struck with independence, abandoning the Soviet buildings to rest in the landscape. Silent, brutal and rough, they remind me of an injured dying beast, saying “I’m still here – do something about it”. Some of them were disposed of, others became large canvases for graffiti, one was even named “The hook” once a similarly looking tool was screwed right into his forehead.

Unlike potatoes in a bag, not all Soviet houses looked alike. There were some buildings that stood out and trully amazed everyone with their architectural elements. Most of those were born back in the 1970s-1980s and they reflected the creativity, imagination and freedom of their creators. A famous French photographer Frédéric Chaubin called these structures extravaganzas. He put 90 photos of them in a photo album

“CCCP” (“Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed”), which was released as an eBook last November.

After looking through the album it became clear to me that Frédéric knows more about the Soviet architecture of Vilnius and Druskininkai than the people that live there and keep rubbing the houses with their gaze every day. Soviet modernism is obviously Frédéric’s strength, thus hoping to learn more about it, I wrote an email to him. He replied.

We started our correspondence with an opinion quite resilient in the society today – that the Soviet buildings are graceless pieces of concrete without any aesthetic value. I pointed out that these kind of words can be often heard from over-generalizing contemporaries, dazzled by the progressive vision of “the glass capital”, which always disturbs me.

Chaubin is certain that it was the lack of funds and similar practical reasons that influenced the erection of such Soviet buildings I’ve mentioned – boring and clumsy. He says that Western Europe went through almost the same thing, and houses from that period are still being demolished now. The photographer believes that most structures of Soviet modernism in the Baltics are monuments which don’t engage in any dialogue, they’re just there to affirm the power. It’s a sort of monumental theology – one has to obey their “religion”.

But let’s try not to be deceived. Global economy, according to Chaubin, boosted the construc-

tion of pompous buildings, just that now it’s all done by expensive brands. While in the shadow of a steel skyscraper, the passers-by are only allowed to “admire the heroic aims” of architects.

The photographer states that Vilnius has a lot of examples of terrible architecture, and most of them are from the Independence period, not the Soviet one. “Such as?”, I ask. “Such as the Novotel hotel”, Chaubin replies. He calls it the monster of Gediminas Avenue, having nothing in common with the Soviet times. “Most buildings of Vilnius from the 1970s and 1980s were very respectful for their location. These houses of late modernism, even the ones in city center, keep their harmony with the environment while honouring the spectacular firmament of Vilnius. Just take a glance at the Contemporary Art Center or that marvelous structure in a complex urban location – the crossing between Vilnius str. and Islandijos str. (Ministry of Health – G.K.), which surely deserves a restoration”.

I asked Frédéric to pick his most impressive and eccentric buildings from the Baltics. He replied with a single title “Linnahall” and attached a drawing so that I could imagine the perimeters and forms more precisely. “Linnahall” is a concert and sport hall of Tallinn built in the year 1980 and designed by Raine Karp, one of the prominent architects of Soviet Union. “This building can’t be categorized, its style stretches way out of modernism”, Frédéric adds.

The project looks like a futuristic space station to me. It’s not a coincidence that the word “cosmic” is in the title of Frédéric’s photo album. Space enchanted everyone. Fantasies about it fed the cul-

18

When asked to name most impressive and eccentric buldings from the Baltics, Frédéric sent a drawing of “Linnahall”.

OPEN HOUSE VILNIUS

Andropov’s villa in Pärnu.

Photo by Frédéric Chaubin.

ture, ideology and architecture of worlds both on this and the other side of the Iron Curtain.

The terminal of Riga’s airport (1974), Riga’s TV tower (1979-1989), sports center in Rapla, Estonia (1971), winter sports center in Otepää, Estonia (1977), physiotherapy center of Druskininkai (1981) – all these projects had “space dust” on them. Titles for miscellaneous urban objects were inspired by the reaches of cosmos, especially in the Karoliniškės district. However, its space-driven names of bus stations are fading out of our memory like Lepeau chagrin.

“It’s quite a shame that a lot of wonderful constructions were destroyed or neglected, for example, a tremendous children’s playground in Karoliniškės – it was a true gem. Moreover, the physiotherapy center of Druskininkai (now Druskininkai recreation and health center – G.K.) is a good example of a fairly poor rennovation – the place has simply lost its soul”.

The artist suggests that we should take a more objective look at most structures. A kind of distance of time must be involved as well. And we most definitely shouldn’t be blinded by political circumstances or ideological superstition.

Frédéric is happy about the world’s newly found interest in Soviet architecture, which, as he wrote in his photo album, has been in a state of purgatory.

We also shouldn’t perceive Soviet or older architecture as self-evident, because it is not just about the buildings, there is a lot more to discover. To see it all we might have to start a conversa-

tion with it. And there are things to help us make it a solid dialogue – various heritage events, guided tours, lectures, festivals (one of them is “Open House” – a festival of open architecture in Vilnius). If we start talking to the buildings, maybe they won’t make us “spriritually upset” anymore, even if we would want that.

Self-portrait of Frédéric Chaubin.

Lithuania will host its first festival of open architecture on the 25th and 26th of April – OPEN HOUSE VILNIUS. A lot of buildings that are inaccessible or hardly ever accessible for the public will invite spectators inside.

The very first OPEN HOUSE took place in London, 1992. Victoria Thorton, organiser and an architecture critic, wanted to pull modern architecture a bit closer to the people. OPEN HOUSE is organised in more than 20 countries of the world today.

New York, Barcelona, Helsinki, Stockholm, Rome, Melbourne – just a few big cities that give this chance of experiencing architecture of diverse time periods.

OPEN HOUSE VILNIUS will let anyone visit over 30 architectural objects built in the beginning of 20th century and also in the 21st. People of Vilnius will be able to get inside the administration building of Lithuanian Prosecutor’s Offices, art incubator “Rupert”, marriage department building, backstage of the Opera and Ballet Theatre, “Swedbank” headquarters, Lithuanian Composer’s Union house, halls of National Art Gallery, corridors of the ex-Institute of Agricultural Economics Research and Calculating, the center of Scientific Communication and Information. Several residential houses will be open as well. The absolutely free guided tours will be lead by architects and volunteers. Concerts, exhibitions, creative workshops and educational events are all part of this festival, organised by the Foundation of Architecture. www.openhousevilnius.lt www.facebook.com/OpenHouseVilnius

19

Reverie soaked in neon Agnė Tuskevičiūtė In foggy London shines an extravagant brand Nympha, founded by four creative Lithuanians (Adelė Liutkutė, Gerda Razmaitės, Erika and Stanevičiūtė Gabijos Duoblytės). It took a long way for the girls to find a successful synthesis of art and commerce with their bold and provocative clothing to feature in the pages of popular fashion magazines and on the horizons of the stylists for the rich and famous. Nympha is abound in bright neon colours and alludes to the uniqueness of a woman, embraces of her body and sexuality. Kitsch is reflected in skirts with Marilyn Monroe smiles and tights decorated with inscriptions of shocking phrases. The brand radiates confidence and scraps fashion standards – women in Britain, America and the Far East are all wearing it. After sending sketches of the second Nympha collection, called „Sin City“, to Lady Gaga, the ultimate queen of extravagance, Gabija, the co-founder of Nympha, agrees to have an afternoon tea with N WIND.

Wind mills

Nymph – born one or become one?

Becoming. Nymph lives inside everyone, but not everyone wants to wake it.

What road one need to take to get to know his friends better?

Full of adventures.

wind the vane 03 27–28

What? “Fashion infection” Where? Contemporary arts centre, Vilnius When? 27–28th March Why? The most fashionable event in Vilnius this spring. Not big enough to be called a fashion week yet, but it’s a unique opportunity to see the latest work of Lithuanian and foreign fashion collections. www.madosinfekcija.lt

03 17–21

What? Riga Fashion Week Where? Various locations in Riga When? 17–21st March Why? Get ready your winter jumper in summer. Riga Fashion Week will present the latest trends in the Baltic region fashion and prêt-à-porter 2015–2016 collections for autumn-winter. www.rfw.lv

03 31–04 02

What? Cinema industry conference “Meeting point – Vilnius” Where? Kempinski Hotel Cathedral Square, Vilnius When? 31st March – 2nd April Why? If you are part of cinema industry and want to showcase yourself – you must participate here.

Vilnius will gather cinema creatives, festival coordinators, sales agents and distributors from all over Europe. Experiences will be shared and future movies from the Baltics will be presented. kinopavasaris.lt/lt/meeting-point-vilnius

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What is happiness being wrapped in?

In the form of dear people.

How does the world looks from the peak of the highest mountain?

From the highest mountain I claimed the world looks green, silent and not in any rush.

What to do when you can’t sleep?

Work more the next day.

What is the melody for fulfilled dreams?

Stevie Wonder “Isn’t She Lovely”.

Gabija Duoblytė. Photo by Andre Titcombe.

Which colour is for hiding?

Grey when hiding in the crowd. Bright (yellow, pink, green) when hiding a bad mood.

Flora or fauna of the city jungle?

My city’s flora – grey blocks of flats mixed with Victorian terrace houses, Turkish veg & fruit stalls, English pubs, Scandinavian design rooms and restaurants located in industrial lofts. My city’s fauna – a melting pot of nationalities and professions.

What language does love speak?

Its own.

Which direction is the traffic going?

Both.

Does Mona Liza smile?

She does.

When do women burst into bloom?

In fashion women wear blooming colours in summer.

What’s impossible to buy for money?

Good taste.

Extravagant Nympha style.

03–04 04

What? Robin Rhode’s exhebition “The Sudden Walk” Where? Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm When? Throughout March Why? Robin Rhode form South Africa uses the walls of buildings around the world to tell the stories about our dreams and ambitions. This is artist’s first exhibition in Northern Europe and it presents his best works. kulturhusetstadsteatern.se

03 12–15

03 25–29

What? Tallin Music Week Where? Various locations in Tallinn When? 25–29th March Why? One of the biggest music event in the Northern Europe this year celebrates Denmark.

There will be 205 acts performing from 26 countries. Amongst them, “Black Water”, Alina Orlova, ba. and “Deep Shoq” will represent Lithuania. tmw.ee What? Design March Where? Reykjavik When? 12–15th March Why? The most northern European capital for four days will be full of fashion and style. The festival will showcase the best of Iceland’s design, architecture, fashion, furniture and food design.

The Reykjavik creative community is not big – this is a great opportunity to meet them all. designmarch.is

21

She touches his face Story of Northern lo Emilie Toomela If distilled, what is the current essence of Northern cinema – has the shadow of Bergman and Dogme 95 movement evaporated? What does Northern cinema project to the international film scene?

A man and a woman in a windswept Nordic landscape. She touches his face with gentleness. Not to ruin the tender moment, he tries to keep completely still. But does he know that it’s a Northern touch and that it’s a Northern film where their figures are being projected on the screen?

Ingmar Bergman and Carl Th. Dreyer flood with their ideas and authentic style not only the European cinema field, but showed globally their innate capacity to inspire. Their films where the first to put the finger on Scandinavian essence, feel or however you wish to call it, they revealed that Northern touch in general doesn’t need to be cold. It is something outstandingly beautiful, almost overwhelming – the tragic beauty Liv Ullmann and their cataclysmic relationship with Bergman finally trapped the searching eyes of every cinephile across the globe to this new school in cinema. The next time the world was rattled by film from the same neighbourhood, was the era of itchy polyester, natural lighting and improvisations by the avant-garde Dogme 95 movement. Although fascinating, the films from this region have never been mainstream blockbusters. Northern European cinema, here meaning Nordic and Baltic paragraphs of the European chapter in film history, has been mostly about dramas and provocative auteur figures. Nowadays, is the Northern film still under the influence of the Bergmanesque and Dogme gaze?

Subject

“I would say that it’s definitely hard for Nordic filmmakers to escape comparisons to Bergman or Dogme – anything vaguely existential or social realist gets stuck with that label. Having said that, Northern cinema has come to be more closely associated with intelligent genre filmmaking. This is particularly evident in the amount English-speaking remakes that this region has inspired. Thrillers like “Insomnia”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, or horror films like “Let the Right On In”, as well as numerous detective shows have all had significant success both as originals and remakes,” says cinephile Marysia Jonsson, who is currently working on her PhD in Baltic history, arguing that the Northern film has stayed true to its roots but also evolved into new directions.

Lithuania is special in the sense that of the three neighbouring countries, it has probably the most active presence of young female filmmakers: Alantė Kavaitė, Kristina Buožytė and Giedre Beinoriūtė. A shot from Kavaitė’s “The Sound of Sangaile”.

According to Sten-Kristian Saluveer, film industry expert and Industry Director of Black Nights Film Festival: “Labelling groups of film directors, regions or cinematic traditions is always problematic and same applies to Northern European cinema.

Over the past decade, the perception of its cinema has been moving away from auteur-driven brand towards a more thematic category. If to talk about the “new” new wave of post 2000’s Northern cinema, then it could be characterised as sociallydriven and reality-grounded, with somewhat dark story lines. With a hint of sarcasm at its core, the new wave is illuminated by a minimalist aesthetic that draws from the modernist design and architecture tradition in the region. Both old-timers, Thomas Vinterberg, Thomas Alfredson and Roy Andersson, alongside with newcomers such as Jonas Alexander Arnby, could be seen as representatives of this new “Nordic cool”.”

“Internationally, Northern European cinema probably has still frequently a reputation for being bleak and depressing. On the other hand, their film industries have increasingly opened up opportunities for female directors to discuss female sexuality and coming of age in original, funny ways. I’m thinking particularly of Norwegian “Turn Me On Dammit”, the works of Swedish director Lisa Langseth, or Lithuanian Alantė Kavaitė’s recent “Summer of Sangaile”,” comments Marysia Jonsson.

Laurence Boyce, British film critic and festival director, adds: “The clearest distinction of Nordic and Baltic films from other European films comes when films are dealing with national issues. For example, an Estonian film dealing with WWII or “The Other Dream Team” about the Lithuanian National Basketball Team.” Similarily, as a photographer said in Bergman’s romantisk komedi “Smiles of a Summer Night”: “It is the subject that is always paramount.” Essence of “Northern European cinema” foremost of all, originates from its regional social history.

To see what is on the other side of the border, I asked Belgian filmmakers Jelle Stroo and Stephanie Delbecque, when they watch a Swedish or a Lithuanian film, does it have a Northern feel? “I’m not sure there is one characteristic that could be named for all of Northern cinema, but I think that if there is one thing that could tie most of them together, then it is the daytime light in Northern Europe – it is so beautiful.” Scandinavian cinema is a rare example in Europe, where not only the filming conditions, but actually the market shares of local films are really a sight for sore eyes.

Compared to other European countries, the local production shares of the film market have been above average through years, proving the sustainability of the region as a whole.

“The greatest strength of the Scandinavia is

22

e. ove of cinema ern European films, either via festivals or due to regional closeness, has certainly impacted our local film industry and viewership in a positive way,” comments Sten-Kristian Saluveer.

Next to the “new” new wave of Scandinavian directors, perhaps it is too early today to speak about a new Baltic film wave, but the first drops have fallen. There is a fair amount of upcoming, fresh filmmakers from all three Baltic countries, amongst whom there will be those who break through the glass ceiling that separates the new and already mature generation. From last season, the young Estonian filmmaker to keep an eye on, is probably Martti Helde, who with his bold debut “In the Crosswind” gained international attention for a fresh take on tableaux vivants. “Estonian cinema is really interesting as next to its own heritage, it shares Nordic films’ characteristics and visual language,” explains Marysia Jonsson.

Sten-Kristian Saluveer: “Many Estonian art house films carry that sensibility of loneliness

cial in the sense that of the three neighbouring countries, it has probably the most active presence of young female filmmakers. With Alantė Kavaitė’s “The Sound of Sangaile” or Kristina Buožytė and Giedrė Beinoriūtė, there is ground for anticipation, when we think about the future contributions of the Lithuanian film scene.

When dark dramas and auteurs have historically been the most characteristic to Northern crop, the contemporary international groundbreakers have often added elements of a romantic comedy. Romance seems to be at the heart of many international success stories of the contemporary Northern European films – such as “Force Majeure”, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” or “Drive”. “Last years have proven the diversity of Northern cinema, and that it’s definitely an important player on the international scene,” says Belgian film director Jelle Stroo.

Sten-Kristian Saluveer: “Internationally, Denmark and Sweden certainly have been leading the way due to their rich portfolio of original content.

Nicholas Refn’s crossover films such as “Drive” and “Only God Forgives” have raised the bar, as well Trier’s “Nymphomaniac” with perfectly executed marketing campaign. Norway’s Rønning and Sandberg have recently executive produced Netflixs’ original Marco Polo series, and Mads Mikkelsen’s stunning Hannibal role has certainly boosted the stakes for Nordic actors in the global film industry.”

The signs of a Northern film range from social realism, natural daytime light, success in the festival circuit, to Nordic cool and romance. the practice of regional co-productions. I think this kind of trans-national filmmaking definitely is the future, and I would be very interested to see more focus on Baltic, and not just exclusively Scandinavian co-productions, particularly as I think there is a shared visual sensibility to explore,” says Marysia Jonsson. In co-producing the Baltic countries, for the time being, are more islands at sea and not so much involved with each others. Yet there are collaborations in film festivals such as Black Nights Film Festival and Sleepwalkers, Animated Dreams in Estonia, 2Annas in Latvia and international film festivals of Vilnius and Kaunas. Film festivals are an important tool for spreading creative ideas across the region. In general, Scandinavian films come with the label of art house or at least serious drama, and the festival ground is exactly the creative market for these kinds of films. “The accessibility of North-

as in Scandinavia. Also it seems that Martti Helde’s “In the Crosswind”, especially its magnificent camerawork, draws a lot from the minimalist tradition.”

Latvian and Lithuanian film scene seem to be quite similar to that of Estonian. With the older age-group film creators still being mainly the ones travelling through famous film festivals, there is still room for more young Baltic filmmakers in the international arena. From the works of Juris Kursietis (“Modris”) and Jānis Nords (“Mommy, I Love You”), the present day looks promising for Latvia. Lithuania is, among other things, spe-

If you ask if filmmakers know that the film they’re making has a northward sense, then the touch they give to their cinematic works is imminent, revealing the regional feel in the context of world cinema. The signs of a Northern film range from social realism, natural daytime light, success in the festival circuit, to Nordic cool and romance. Northern European cinema charts what happens when intelligent filmmakers meet social reality, when industry comes face-to-face with affairs of the heart. And with every next Northern film you see and feel, you place yourself tighter into its embrace.

23

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The silence-wr

Shot from “The look of silence”

Dovilė Grigaliūnaitė

Personality lounge

Joshua Oppenheimer, a now Copenhagen-based American director says he’s eager to get to Lithuania. “Kino pavasaris” film festival will feature the latest work of Joshua: “The look of silence” (2014), a movie that’s travelling around film festivals right now. However, this is not the only purpose of Oppenheimer’s visit to Lithuania – his grandfather’s family lived here before running away from Jewish progroms at the end of 19th century.

It may have conditioned the director’s interest in the subject of political violence. His last two documentaries show different takes on the still relevant consequences of mass murders in Indonesia back in 1965 and 1966. Around a million of regime-disapproving people were killed.

Oscar-nominated “The act of killing” portrays a bizzare killer Anwar Congo and his friends, who recreate the style of Hollywood’s gangster movies in the murders they’ve executed. Grotesque locations witness the criminals in bright costumes viciously acting as themselves and their victims, all of it accompanied by popular music and dancing. Oppenheimer gave the criminals absolute creative freedom to tell their own versions of the stories, to show everyone how they see it and how they want to be depicted on the

standing of the feelings of people around him, while also learning about their experiences. Basically, the search itself is the source of creativity.

Joshua Oppenheimer, director.

Photo by Daniel Bergeron.

big screen.

The movie “The look of silence” features Adi, an optician, visiting the killers of his brother to check their vision and choose the right glasses for them. A story of people who survived the genocide was finally dragged out from the shadows into a brightly-lit showcase of cinematography.

I’m talking to the director while he’s travelling from one city to another by train. We touch the topics of creation, fantasies and the neccessity to wreck the silence, which, interestingly, interupts our conversation each time the train goes into a tunnel.

Joshua, where, do you think, creativity comes from?

It comes from vast curiousity aimed at the world, love and empathy. One has to wish for an under-

Why do you create?

I’m led by the desire to comprehend the world in which we live in, and by the intention of expressing everything that is broken and unbalanced in it. The task of art and artists is to hold a mirror to our faces in order for us to encounter the deeply hidden and most painful aspects within us. Art should show us who we really are as people, and this is where my work originates from. I’m not a storyteller, I’m more like a painter who’s working on a drawing of a landscape; or an explorer, but definitely not a storyteller.

Is that the reason you chose the documentary genre of cinema?

Precisely. In my opinion, this genre is one of the most open kinds of expressing yourself. I don’t really like the term ‘documentary’ as it describes the process of past reality being documented, which I can’t agree with. ‘People playing themselves’ is the only definition of documentary cinema that I approve of. Nonfiction cinematography is a mean of learning about the world and the aspects of it that are important or make people sad.

I’m also very interested in presenting the cam-

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recking cinema I though it might be dangerous to film criminals, but actually the camera made me safe

– they did it without any stimulus. This method was simply a reply to their honesty and an attempt to understand their frankness.

Whom do they want to open to? How do they wish to be seen? Who should see it – me, you, the whole planet, neighbors, grandchildren? The things they did in front of a camera – staging and dramatization of killings – was the realization of their current fantasies. They hold on to the fantasies to justify their own actions. Anwar and his friends came up with the most surreal dramatization, inspired by Hollywood movies he loves so much.

era as a prism – this allows to see a specific person’s fantasies, fictions and lies; it shapes our reality and us as well.

You’ve mentioned fantasies. “The act of killing” shows individuals re-enacting their crimes in the style of gangster films of Hollywood. Why did you give them the freedom to do that and was it your idea to talk about mass murder in a such manner?

Every criminal I met soon offered to visit the location of the murders. It was their idea and it became the starting point of the method. Anwar Congo, the main persona in “The act of killing”, was the forty first criminal I filmed. The scene where Anwar takes me to the roof, shows how he killed hundreds of people there and starts dancing cha-cha-cha – that’s the scene we shot on the day I met him. The criminals were smiling and had a smug look on their face when they were talking about the most horrific things they’ve done to the victims, and they did all that in front of me, their kids and some very young grandchildren. Hence showing enthusiasm in recreating the crimes in front of the camera, they accepted my suggestion to stage it the way they like. It wasn’t a trick I invented to make them open up about cruel events

You’ve worked with trully sensitive material that included the history of a nation and traumatic experiences. Wasn’t it a bit scary to get so close to it? Did you wonder whether you might be misunderstood when putting the film’s message out there?

Sure, it was scary because of all the things you’ve mentioned. However, I felt as if the work I did was important enough to take the risk. This whole experience was like a gradually evolving journey.

It was emotionally hard and scary at first, especially while filming “The act of killing”. I though it might be dangerous to film criminals, but actually the camera made me safe. The shooting of my film “The look of silence” scared me physically, but it healed me emotionally, as it was the end of my journey. Throughout the years of shooting I’ve shown this material to the families of victims, and they all encouraged me to keep going, ensuring me that this is a good way of revealing what really happened to their loved ones and showing what’s wrong with the communities we live in today. I’ve always felt the support of these families, human rights organisations and other Indonesians, so this was a mission appointed for me that they couldn’t fulfill themselves.

Did you know you were going to make another film when you were shooting “The act of killing”?

I realised that I want to make two movies very early on, and not films about the year 1965, but works about the present day. I wanted to create one movie about the processes that occur when the killers win and foist their justifying lies to

the society – a film with a lot of emptiness, moral vacuum, guilt, fantasies and avoidance of reality; a kind of scary nightmare that was “The act of killing”. My next work “The look of silence” is like a very physical, sensual and captivating poem, where the spectator is able to take a peek into the lives of families which have spent fifty years in ghostly silence and fear, sustained by lies and violence. This situation craves for immediate change if the society wants to heal. Both of these films share the same goal, however different they might seem.

Tell me why Adi became the main character of “The look of silence”.

I met Adi and his family just when I started filming people affected by mass killings. His older brother was murdered in the massacre of 1965.

Adi kept watching and analyzing the material that I shot and showed him for seven years. I always saw a mixture of resentment and sadness in his face. And silence. That silence, together with his gaze, perfectly illustrates the manner of public discussions about these horrifying events over the years. This was one continuous and unethical lie. After the making of “The act of killing” was done, Adi shared his idea with me – he wanted to meet the people responsible for his brother’s death. He hoped they would see that he’s an honest and sincere person, maybe he’ll make them feel his pain and understand that what they did all those years ago was terrible. And then they might apologize, he thought. Adi wanted to forgive them and be able to live among them. Therefore, the aim of both Adi and this film is to wreck the silence of many years and to prepare the society for healing processes. I didn’t believe that the criminals would have the courage to apologize, but I had faith in the young generation to stop the silence and engage in the dialogue of reconciliation that will ultimately lead to changes in the country.

Why do most people who worked in the creation of these two movies hide their identity?

It’s simply for safety reasons. These individuals are mostly employees of human rights and environmental organisations, lecturers at universities, cinematographers, who all stopped their careers for a long period of time because of this film. They knew that as long as there’s no significant change in the country’s politics, they won’t be able get credit for any of the work in these movies – it’s just too dangerous. Those people sacrificed their safety and took the needed risks for this film, believing that this is an important project for Indonesia and it can be a part of the change to end the long lasting silence. www.kinopavasaris.lt

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Sharing Baltic S Brigita Stroda

Commentary

What is the recipe for an Expo pavilion? First, write the technical specifications. Next, have a design competition.

For fledgling democracies, public procurement procedures are the only way. Truly. However, unfortunately, as the recent Latvian experience with its own 2015 Expo pavilion has shown, despite an evocative, uplifting, inspired design solution, this is a minefield not for the faint-hearted. (The Latvian government recently decided to cancel its participation, for many reasons, too complex to go into here, of which the expense and alleged mismanagement were clearly only the tip of the proverbial political iceberg).

For a Baltic pavilion, add a history of reluctance to co-operate amongst ourselves, and a difficulty to describe “Balticness” and the task looks even more difficult. I have no doubt at all that an artist or architect could rise to the occasion and offer a whimsical, poetic and spiritual material manifestation of the “Baltic spirit” as, for example, the Kremerata Baltic chamber orchestra has successfully done for almost 20 years, but I just don’t see a commitment, capability or decision making structure that could ensure the process to arrive at such a design or concept, let alone

get agreement from our three governments.

The final ingredient is to make a contribution to / statement about the theme of the particular Expo, which in 2015 is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” from a Baltic point of view.

The best, most recent example of success that comes to mind (also via a design competition), is Thomas Heatherwick’s Seed Cathedral for the UK pavilion at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai. Stunningly creative, extremely popular, completely unique and contributing to and manifesting the “Better City, Better Life” theme.

Sorry guys, it’s just not going to happen.

Furthermore, when Latvian marketer Inese Indāne was asked to embody the Baltic spirit, she chose to talk about our differences as follows:

A story of three seas

They stand on the sea shore. Three.

Just think, the sea at their feet is the same, equally grey-blue, effervescent, calm at times, wild at others.

However, each of them sees and feels it differently.

For the Lithuanian, countless legends inhabit the sea, its where magical events and the heroes of fables and stories live. The pebbles are diamonds

and seaweed the hair of mermaids fair. He gazes at the sea and dreams dreams of forgone times.

For a Latvian, the sea is a moment of meditation, an edge to hang onto when you want to be your own, in yourself, with yourself. There are the thrice-nine colours of the sun to think about, to re-think countless moments a thousand times. He looks at the sea and he is here in the moment, right now.

The Estonian rules his sea. It’s where fish can be caught, over which brother Finns can be visited, swum in, conquered, captured. He looks at the sea and sees the future – where he will travel, what he will do, what he will achieve.

That’s how they stand, with one, and an entirely different sea at their feet. One with the past, another with the present and the third with the future. That’s probably why they have been put together – in order to feel this time completely.

A clear departure from the classic “we have shared values” model. Here it follows that in order to be looking at the sea, we are definitely not looking east. Another complex ingredient in the recipe – something that is useful in describing a spirit may not be useful for communicating with

Stories a market (large but unstable at best, at worst, a conflict zone!) in the opposite direction!

Leaving aside my scepticism of the process, participation at an Expo is undeniably a chance of showcasing to the world. Truly? Is it the best way?

I am yet to be convinced of the return on investment, for very small countries, of such an event in the 21st century, the era of innovation and creativity, especially when the way we share and talk about ideas has changed forever.

Every successful blogger and start-up knows that the key to success is telling a good story. The key to a good story is authenticity. That comes from intimately knowing your stuff. Yes, you have to have a good idea/product, but that too comes from deep knowledge.

The Baltics are most likely to do well with things and notions that are close to the land and nature – forests and plants. On the one hand. On the other, we also know the Soviet legacy very well and many successful businesses have grown from peculiar solutions to issues of that era e.g. transport, micro-technologies, small language solutions and access to particular skills and niches. I know at least one person who will read this and say – oh no, we want to get away from THAT story! – but it’s a genuine story of resilience and it’s a relevant one for

certain products in the right place.

We know the story of Germany and technology, Italy and fashion, but our opportunity is that for a news hungry world, we have new, unknown stories.

Laima Kaugure’s linen studionatural.lv is interesting for Armani because it is authentic. Woollings shoes woolings.com are interesting because they are made from felt, a material well known to this region. Each of our countries have eclectic stories about authentic products.

I submit that efficient and effective platforms for telling stories is the way to go. The Red Jackets (about which N WIND wrote in December 2014 issue) is one such example of great Latvian export stories well told. This was a collaborative movement between a number of partners, but whereas governments are bad at creativity, they can be useful for supporting story-telling platforms on an “arm’s length” basis. The costs required are certainly a far less risky proposition than a pavilion.

Design, by its nature, is also a good way to go for our little competitive personalities. Whilst some export products simply compete on price or other standard elements, there is no way an Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian cup, hat or broom can pos-

sibly be the same. Whilst of course needing to be functional, clothes, objects and furniture can impart emotion and personality better than pharmaceuticals or building materials.

I am writing my comments from the standpoint of having had to regularly compete with Lithuanian and Estonian opera companies and tourism products on Latvia’s behalf, having been a member of a group submission for the design of an Expo pavilion and often ruminating on the notion of a Baltic identity. There is however, one more experience some time ago that I can bring to bear. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, I have the fondest memories of the times that the Baltic communities spent together, supporting each other for a common cause. Perhaps we can do it again, this time professionally. Imagine a Baltic business and design centre in London and New York as a permanent showcase for products and services, and most importantly as a contact point for international journalists, the real subjects of our engaging stories!

And let’s beware of national stereotypes. We know that Estonians are renown for being reserved and vary of small talk – but they are the ones that are most successful at communicating their stories on the international stage. Let’s learn from their example.