In a jam- packed studio in Hackney Wick, overlooking the Olympic stadium, Susanne Ostwald is wiping up a little spillage from less than my tea cup. "For Susie, every thing has its place," her boyfriend and organization partner Ingvar Helgason sniggers. " Acquiring factors to healthy in this studio is like a video game of Tetris." Susanne readily admits her obsession with purchase. "I have a little little bit of an OCD. If I get items fitting in completely in here, then I get ten details !"
If all goes according to approach, Susanne's Tetris obsession will shortly be a room - keeping eccentricity of the past. Together the few comprise Ostwald Helgason, a manufacturer with a loyal adhering to of style editors environment out to gain them pavement publicity. Street design favourites Miroslava Duma and Tatler Russia editor-in- main Anya Ziourova are typically snapped in head-to-toe seems to be bloggers Susie Bubble and Natalie Joos are also supporters. Prospective buyers have adopted suit : their first purchase for New York boutique Fivestory sold out inside of 24 hours, and ASOS, Opening Ceremony, Browns Boutique and Moda Operandi have all set in orders.
Susanne and Ingvar fulfilled in London in 2003, though working for the designer Marjan Pejoski (the resourceful responsible for Bjork's substantially -maligned 'swan dress' of the 2001 Oscars). German-born Susanne was carrying out a layout internship, having a calendar year out from her trend system at Burg Giebichenstein, an artwork faculty in the German town of Halle, though Icelandic Ingvar was the generation manager for Pejoski.
Left to correct : Susanne and Ingvar in their studio Susanne's assortment of taxidermy autumn/ winter samples with hand-embroidered lace blossoms on technical sportswear mesh fabric. Photographs : Ellie Pithers.
They started off going out on Halloween 2003, moved to London and eventually established up their possess business in 2008. Susanne handles the resourceful aspect, though Ingvar offers with creation and enhancing. "I come up with most of the things," Susanne summarises, "and then Ingvar says 'no' to most points." They laugh continuously through the course of the morning, but things can get terrible. "Ingvar the moment experienced a pair of scissors caught in his foot since I was so indignant with him!" Susanne claims. "See that dent in the studio monitor ? I threw a chair at him and he ducked."
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The arguments expose the stress of financing your own small business on a "shoestring price range " in a economic downturn. Ingvar formerly labored in a cafe to keep things going, though for the initial handful of seasons Susanne stitched every product herself.
But factors are on the up. They began displaying in February, opening with an autumn/ winter season 2012 presentation in New York. They decide on to cross the pond to exhibit at Milk Studios because they felt their aesthetic would be far better suited to Us citizens. "Our type of garment has a somewhat sporty, fashionable appear to it, even though we use large conclusion couture elements," Ingvar states. "The Individuals actually understand that - they pioneered the contemporary sportswear sector."
3 appears from the autumn/ winter 2012 assortment - the sea monster jumper is offered at Asos.com. Pictures : Ostwald Helgason.
The bet paid out off. With the help of British stylist Catherine Newell-Hanson, they edited looks to generate a selection that was, in Susanne's phrases, "like a bouquet of blossoms." Exactly where autumn/ winter 12 was dominated by navy and earthy tones, spring/ summer season 2013 is complete of sizzling fuchsia and striking prints, encouraged by an American art collector.
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"Our intern introduced in a stack of previous Vogues," Susanne recalls, "and we located this write-up about Frances Lasker Brody in the August 1967 situation. Brody collected artwork with her partner and they experienced masterpieces by Picasso, Matisse, Giacommetti… They experienced this crazy property built in LA by A. Quincy Jones, and in the magazine she was putting on this diagonally-striped, colourful gown in her attractive residence with the Picassos and the Matisse on the walls. That was just 'it' for us - that was almost everything we needed to do."
This translated into diagonally-striped separates in substantial high quality materials (sourced from the same Hermès-owned factory as Dior) with preppy collared shirts beneath sizzling pink kick-flared cropped trousers paired with checked chiffon shirts childlike animal drawings on sweatshirts and Sixties- style pinafore attire with cumbersome pockets in bubblegum shades.
Looks from the spring/ summer season 2013 selection. Photographs : Ostwald Helgason.
The benefits are " focus -grabbing but uncomplicated," as Susanne places it. "I want the gals we dress to feel secure - and not that they cannot sit down since they will not be ready to breathe." "Separates are important to us," Ingvar agrees, " they're cozy and adaptable - what a glamorous description!"
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What following for Ostwald Helgason? There are strategies to grow the crew and studio room, establish the knitwear assortment and include a Pre- Drop line this 12 months. 1st, however, there's the " production terror" to offer with.
"Resort sold rather well, spring/ summertime sold even better, so we are dealing with quantities that we're not employed to," Ingvar says. Matching up the stripes on the separates will be no problem, although. "I stared at the material for about about three several hours, and quickly experienced a Eureka instant !" Susanne states. "Now I have managed to get the stripes matching I feel it seems to be like a comic guide character."
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