INTERVIEW: The Local Firm
October 14, 2011
With their austere design The Local Firm brings Eastern Europe back to
life. But unlike the fallen empire, The Swedish jeans masters are on a
straight path to worldwide takeover. With perfect shades of gray, color blocking and distinct shapes, The
Local Firm has quickly become a fashion favorite among both men and
women. Founded by Axel Nyhage and Richard Hutchinson in 2007, what
started as a jeans collection has grown to include sharp leather
jackets, signature sunglasses, shoes and accessories.
– We want people to instantly recognize our design, said Axel Nyhage
when The Swede Beat met him at the New York showroom earlier this
year.
With his signature haircut, a simple black sweater and matching jeans,
he himself is the perfect spokesperson for the brand
Your design is extremely coherent. What are your inspirations?
– When we started we wanted to find an expression that was very
distinct – strong and simple but still convincing. We started to look
for things we liked, and found a red thread back to the German Bauhaus
movement and Eastern Europe. We looked at a lot of architecture and
graphic design from that era. That’s also where the name comes from.
We wanted a name that wasn’t limited to a certain time or a certain
person; we wanted it to feel like an anonymous force. We want to
create a feeling of walking past an anonymous steel door on your way
to work, and having no idea of what happens behind it. That
inspiration is fundamental to all our collections, but for each season
we try to twist it, find a new angle without loosing our strict line.
Why jeans?
– We just love jeans. When we started, there was a lot of Swarovski
crystals and decorations happening. We just said: stop, why do we love
jeans? Well, because we love JEANS. So we went back to this little guy
with his Levi’s poster next to his Madonna poster on the bedroom wall.
Since then we’ve added items to the collections. Our goal every season
is to create the perfect wardrobe. That means everything from fine
jersey to a bomber jacket to a suit… This is something that has been
very appreciated. We use a lot of blocking and different fabrics,
creating a look that is distinct but wearable.
To us your aesthetic is very “Stockholm”…
– We try to find our home market in Sweden, New York, Japan… I don’t
think we can really talk about trends any more. Cowboy, mod –
everything exists simultaneously. Just look at Sweden, what’s hot in
Gothenburg isn’t trendy in Stockholm or Malmö. If you take that to the
world, it becomes unending!
You opened your first store in Stockholm last year, what are your
plans for the future?
– World take-over! Haha, well, we’re looking to open a second store,
but we have no date yet. We keep our eyes on all bigger cities where
the brand is represented, or where we want to build a market.
Scandinavia and Germany are in focus next.
You can find The Local Firm in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The
Netherlands, UK, Germany, Italy, France, United States, Russia and
Australia.
By Katarina Matsson
Published by: The Swede Beat
