Tell us a bit about your background and how you discovered that you wanted to work with graphic design? Was it an easy path to pursue?

I was born and raised in Westchester County in New York and moved to Atlanta to complete my BFA in Communication Design. As a teenager, I had no idea what Graphic Design was but I loved drawing and combining image and text to create posters and little books. Eventually, I discovered that Graphic Design was a thing I could do and from then on I pursued a career in the field.

What were the biggest influences in your life that shaped your artistic vision?

I like to tell people that my creative pantheon includes Stanley Kubrick, Jack Kirby and Bizarro Superman. My design influences range from Bauhaus and the International Typographic Style to David Carson, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, Peter Saville, April Greiman, Vaughn Oliver and Wes Anderson. Hahaha! Too many? That’s not all of them. I also love architecture and photography. My eyeballs are constantly devouring things.

Your winning project, Nihilism for Beginners, is a unique infographic that looks like a book cover. It is meant to describe the basic principles of Nihilism. How did this idea come about?

I love looking at infographics, but I am absolutely terrible at creating them and unfortunately that was the assignment for the class, so I was desperate not to have to build a ‘traditional’ looking infographic. I’d decided that Nihilism was something that might be interesting to try to break down in 30 seconds and I happened upon some Penguin/Pelican cover images as I was researching the moodboards. Recalling Nietzsche’s quote that, “God is dead” the idea struck me that it might be like one of the Penguin mysteries. “God is dead…whodunnit?!”

What were the main challenges in the realization of this project?

Nihilism is a pretty broad concept and some might consider it a bit dark. The primary challenge was to boil all of it down to a 30 sec (or so) animation that put a humorous spin on it.

Tell us a bit about your background and what led you to the world of design?

I was born on a farm in Denmark and have, since my early childhood, combined creative intuitive skills such as drawing, making, and photography with reading philosophical books by Karen BLixen and Kirkegaard at the age of 13-14. I graduated as top student in math and physics from high school and was initially supposed to study microbiology to specialize in the ethics of cloning. But after a half year sabbatical in France learning French, I realized it would be too theoretical, and started looking for something more creative. Since I had always been interested in the craft of garment making, I found that fashion, or rather clothing design, would be a creative craft that would combine both my scientific and creative side. I therefore moved to Paris at the age of 18 to learn French and improve my sketching skills and ended up assisting Gunnar Larsen, a Danish Fashion Photographer who had his own Avant-garde Luxury Fashion magazine. I became his PA and Stylist collaborator, calling Haute Couture houses to borrow dresses for the photo-shoots we did in the streets of Paris. The contrast was amazing coming from a farm in Jutland to the heart of Paris Fashion circles and the couture houses. Gunnar was my first mentor and from him I learned that it is important to find your own style and stick with it and that you can make amazing dreams come true with a small multitasking team and little funding.

How do you think the Danish mentality shaped your life, your work, and your creative process?

Being Danish I have always been surrounded by design and functionality. Even though we lived on a farm, my parents had a Bang and Olufsen stereo and the schools I attended had Arne Jacobsen lamps and chairs in the classrooms. Nature was always present to play in and so was the local library where I nurtured my intellectual side and creative reading, combining science fiction, literature, philosophy, and books on photography, to nurture and inspire my creative thinking mind. In school we also had art and crafts classes where we would learn how to sew and I was awarded a Pfaff “driving license” faster than most of the other kids in class since I had also learned how to sew at home in the 70’s. I even made my own outfit for my High School graduation – so the idea of becoming a clothing designer was kind of a natural evolution.

You lived and worked in Paris extensively and then moved to London. How did these fashion/design capitals influence your work, what is the most valuable lesson you learned in each place?

After collaborating with Gunnar Larsen for 2 years, I was introduced to the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale and was accepted directly in the 2nd year. I studied the craft of Haute Couture with Mr Marco, a ‘modeliste’ or pattern cutter who had worked for Christobal Balenciage and Pierre Balmain. He taught me the artisan craftsmanship of Haute Couture draping and how to construct and tailor garments. I later also joined the Institut Francais de la Mode and took a Masters in Fashion Management, teaching me how to build a brand and market a collection. After several years of working in Paris I was, at the age of 29, Head of Collections for a huge German luxury brand but didn’t like the ‘old world’ brand ethos and copy-cat creative processes. I knew that to sustain longevity in my future career I had to explore my creativity further with an MA at Central Saint Martins, where course Director Louise Wilson helped me grow personally through very tough and critical mentorship. Studying under her was a bit like the Navy Seals, and particularly hard as a mature student since I had to ‘unlearn’ what I already knew. She was very critical and expected the highest creative and professional standards. Becoming a creative kid again at the age of 29 at Central Saint Martins MA and working with Louise helped me deconstruct what I knew to reconstruct a newfound designer identity that subsequently helped launch my brand in London Fashion Week at the age of 30. I then went on to be part of London Fashion week for 6 years winning multiple London design awards like New Generation and Fashion Forward whilst also being the first London based Designer to win the French ANDAM AWARD with financial support form LVMH Group allowing me to showcase my collection at the Muse de la Mode at the Louvre. I think since then the realm of my professional career has always been an oscillation between London and Paris.

It is very important for everybody, especially in creative fields, to find their own voice, their own unique style and philosophy. When did you find yours, and how would you describe it?

Gunnar Larsen told me it was important to be part of the avant-garde, to become one of the forward thinking visionary creators. So I knew I needed to define a new identity when studying under Louise Wilson at Central Saint Martins. I therefore started to research what would be in fashion ‘after deconstruction’ and found my inspiration not only in the Fashion legacy of Rei Kawabuko and Martin Margiela but also in architecture, where I became fascinated with the ideas of hybridization of Dutch architect duo Ben van Berkel and Caroline Boos from UNSTUDIO. The pivotal turning point was when I almost left the course out of desperation and started to work on a YSL smoking jacket I had found in a Paris flea market. This was at first a bit embarrassing, but then I finally started to get positive feedback from tutors since they felt I had re-found the tailoring craftsmanship that made me different from other students. During the beginning of my second year, the crash of 9/11 inspired me to see a vision that this event would mark the end of 20th century modernism as we knew it and mark the beginning of the paradigm shift to the 21st century. I saw this ‘Ground Zero’ as the place where you would start, like kids, to pick up the Lego blocks again to build something new, different from the old. During these experiences and creative processes I defined a personal design philosophy named Hybrid Reconstruction that was about combining fragments of different garments into new creative hybrids. This design philosophy became, and still is, the core ethos of my design practice and has also been able to influence a new generation of young design thinkers through my teaching both in Paris and London.

Your fashion house is known for “honing a new vocabulary of fashion” with a new perception of the 21st century woman. What does that really mean according to you?

When I talk about the 21st century I often describe it as “metamodern”, as defined by Dutch theorist Thimotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den Akker. Where Modernism made us live in the white box disregarding the past, Metamodernism allows us to reconcile a certain nostalgia of the past – something that has always been part of my research, like me loving to find vintage garments in the flea markets – informed by a utopian desire for the future. I try to put that feeling into the garments that are not generic but more subtle hybrids, taking a small element from a 19th century men’s tuxedo shirt and putting it onto a casual sweatshirt hoodie thus making it into a shirt/sweatshirt. I think 21st century youth are very open to new ideas of change and also more interested in garment design than fashion that is more about surface communication. The people I like to dress have many facets, mixed ethnics, cultures and origins; they can be young, old, intellectual, working, or more artsy. They are interconnected, borderless and not defined by gender or cultural belonging and prefer to be regarded as humans mixing various elements, garments and styles in a democratic, metamodern manner.