Lagom [Interview]

I had a chat with designers Nette Sandström & Daniel Adams-Ray, creatives behind Swedish label Lagom which i earlier previewed. It was interesting to know more about the young label which was founded in 2007.

What is the brands philosophy?

Creative with a cause. Cultural advancement by challenging the status-quo.

For the spring summer 09 collection the inspiration was an English bicycle race, how much influence does the English lifestyle have on the brand as a whole?

Not very much at all actually! We are pretty confident that the annual Tweed race has got very little to do with life in England today. The word Lagom is hard to translate since it capsules a social behavior often referred to as "typically Swedish". Its origin is often debated, we as young creators like the story with the Vikings.

'When the Vikings took time off from burning and pillaging, they used to gather around the campfire to down a horn of mead. Though their thirst was great after all their exertions, it became a matter of honor for each warrior to ration his intake so that the horn didn’t run dry before everyone had a swig. In other words, one had to think team-wise, or laget om, later shortened to Lagom'.

The SS09 collection was limited to only 3 pieces, what was the main motive behind this?

A lot of smaller brands are forced to close up shop, leaving very little work for those factories actually willing to deal with small production quantities. Sadly enough, our previous producers went bankrupt so we had to re-organize our production completely. Recession means troubles if you run a small company, eventhough our sales are looking better than ever.

How can you describe the typical Lagom Man?

The typical Lagom man is humble and self confident and has in some point of his life listened to Wu-tang.

What are we to expect from the fall/winter 09 collection?

It's titled Equilibrium and is a fusion of Nordic melancholy and American gang culture which inspired the contrasts and the dynamic minimalism of the collection. This collection is a confident manifestation where the gender-neutral and the alterable silhouettes focus on the equality of humans whether they be male or female.

Images from top-bottom: Nette Sandstrom(l), Daniel Adams-Ray(r), Lagom ss09.