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Studio Visit with Henrik Vibskov

10 Feb 2012

Photo Credits : © Paulo Mariotti / Paris todo dia, Vogue Brazil  http://vogue.globo.com/paristododia/

Danish designer Henrik Vibskov just impressed with an overwhelming drum installation at his autumn-winter 2012/13 runway show in Copenhagen; showcasing his conceptual clothing within an interactive sound system and therefore creating a very serene atmosphere.

No need to say that we pretty much expected his studio to look like Ali Baba's cave: on his three floor head quarters in the center of Copenhagen, you'd find archived collections of the past seasons, wrapped up art work from former and upcoming exhibitions, as well as Vibskov's signature set design, such as the wooden movable boat installations of his collection “The Last Pier Pandemonium”.

While helping his team to organize a birthday party at his studio, Henrik Vibskov showed us around, revealing the secrets behind his newest collection “Shrink Wrap Spectacular” and welcoming us with coffee and cigarettes of course.

So where are we right now?

This has been my new studio for a while, since we have been kicked out of the last place because of a fire incident. Everything is quite chaotic at the moment! Normally you would find art pieces in our showroom, here on the main-floor, but most of them are currently exhibited in Sweden at the Röhsska Design Museum (http://www.designmuseum.se/), where I just won a prize a few months ago. Unfortunately, it's just a big mess at the moment! Normally I like to call this place “the quiet department”, but after the show, the studio is pretty much destroyed! Otherwise, on the other end of the studio, you'd find our atelier where we work on fabrics, paper patterns, etc...

The main-floor is basically your usual office, what do we find on the upper floor?

This is the place where we keep our archive; we'd always leave it open as press and stylists happen to request clothes from past seasons all the time. Mostly old stuff, but also new pieces we just brought in, like the hats of my current autumn-winter 2012/13 collection...

“Shrink Wrap Spectacular” of course! Funnily the hats remind me of these sound shells you can hold against your ear in order to hear wave-like sounds...they look pretty sophisticated!

Not only sophisticated but also hard to make! The first prototype took a whole day of work, as we had to be very meticulous when we worked on the thread. Five days before our menswear show in Paris, we were like “fuck, we need to make twenty-two hats, how is this supposed to work out?”. I was desperate about it and first decided to cancel the hats, but my team has been very supportive and worked day and night in order to finish everything.

Do you always have these hard deadlines?

Something very strange happened: we've been handing in projects for the   Design Week in Milan way before the actual deadline, as I misunderstood the exact date!  The days before and during Fashion Week, I've been working on some objects for an upcoming exhibition in Cologne, at Gallery Ruttkowski 68 (http://www.ruttkowski68.com/). Actually, I just finished working on my upcoming book and on my art objects the day of our show in Copenhagen. I've been planning my book for two years now. It's due to be out in April on German publishing house Gestalten. As it including my entire work, whether fashion, installations or life performances, it is quiet a lot of content to handle and therefore difficult to organize. After going through different ideas, I finally decided to group my work under different color periods, as we realized that colors such as red, pink and mint where recurring a lot within my work. Regarding my upcoming exhibition, I am not sure yet how I should call it...maybe “objects with problems” or just “problems”...we'll see...

How did you manage to create this overwhelming drum machinery, considering that you were so short on time?

After all, it was just a personal decision. I'm a drummer myself, so I just felt like constructing this drum installation with my team: a German student of architecture, a Dutch performance artist and a Danish computer specialist. We had to create drums that were big, cheap and that actually worked. I was inspired by the plastic drums created by kids in Brazilian Favelas. I don't know if people got the fact, that the sound of the show was basically triggered by the models stepping on the drum pedals.

Speaking of music, are you still playing drums for Trentemøller?

Yes of course, I'm still playing with Trentemøller, actually I just finished touring. But I can only tour when I've got enough time. This is why we also have another drummer, who is kind of my look-a-like! He would wear the same hat, just as I do...It's pretty weird, because people come to me, saying “I saw your concert last week in L.A, you did a great job!” and I'm like “Oh, well it wasn't me, but I'm glad you liked it!”.

Last time when we met and talked about menswear, you told me that a man just needs coffee and cigarettes to look good...anything you would add now?

(Henrik smiles cheekily) Clean underwear I guess! 

http://henrikvibskov.com/

-Elisabeta Tudor