SANDRA BACKLUND

by Mo Veld (mrs.moveld@gmail.com)

She graduated from Beckman’s School of Design in Stockholm only 3,5 years ago and already she won several prestigious fashion prizes, most notably the career boosting Grand Prix at the Festival de mode à Hyères which she won in 2007. Previous to this she collaborated with Louis Vuitton on their fall-winter 2007 collection and her impressive handicraft collections are shown all over the world. Being Sandra Backlund however, is far from glamorous. Locked in her studio all by herself, Sandra Backlund knits 20 hours a day, and there’s not a single piece available to us in stores, however bad she’d want this. Once in a while she will put down her knit work for an interview: “It gets pretty lonely, but there’s no other way.”

MV: I hear you’re awfully busy with your new collection?

SB: I have a show here in Stockholm in less then 2 weeks (January 28, 2008) and I have to finish my collection. I’m working day and night, heading towards total exhaustion.

MV: I can imagine. Your work is so elaborate.

SB: I have done everything myself up to now. My mother is helping me a bit these days. I simply don’t have enough time. If you’re going to do a show you need at least 10 outfits. I have to realise this in two months time. It’s crazy.

MV: Which makes me wonder; what kind of personality does it take, to go as deep into innovation of a handicraft like knitting as you do?

SB: Oh (-deep sigh-) a lot of patience first of all, I mean you can never plan anything, never rely on time, everything is coincidence and accidents and it’s a lot of hard work. It’s a real trial for your mental health and your physical health as well. I put a lot of sacrifice into this.

MV: But isn’t knitting supposed to be meditative as well?

SB: Yeah and that is probably why I can do this still. It is relaxing in one way but when you’re under pressure it can be really stressful. There’s only 24 hours in a day and the knitting is so slow. You see the garment in your head but you have to wait and see if it is at all possible. Sometimes I get impatient.

MV: What is different about knitting as opposed to working with patterns and fabric?

SB: Mostly the possibility to improvise. I built the fabric and the garment while working on it, I can change my mind all the time. And of course knitwear is stretching so you can shape it in a different way than with fabric. It’s a bit like sculpting with clay. The material is alive. I invent the pieces while doing them.

MV: But when you set up the first row you do know what you want to knit, right?

SB: It depends, I often use the same bricks in my designs, and I can do two or three pieces that are built with similar bricks. If I have no idea for a new piece I’ll just start with the same elements and create something with what I learned from the previous garments. This is how I build the collection. Sometimes I am really focussed on one or two elements to build my collection on and sometimes I bring in more elements. Depends on how I feel and what I want to show. It’s improvisation. I’ve also learned to have patience and see if I can bring something out of every mistake I made as well. So I try not to plan too much, I want to be open and see what happens when I am working. And of course it also depends on the yarn I use, how big the needles, things like that.

MV: When did the knitting start?

SB: My parents told me my grandmother taught me how to knit when I was a kid. Maybe we did it a bit in school. But I guess I really got started when I was in college, I did some sweaters. Somehow I developed this technique for myself. When I started at Beckman’s School of Design I didn’t know I wanted to do knitwear or be into this handicraft thing. I knew I had a talent for it and that I have the patience and interest. But not to leave all the fashion and trends to only concentrate on that. It developed like that in school. I realised it was my strong side.

MV: Your work is what they call Slow Fashion. It’s all hand made which takes a lot of time, and time is money. What does a Sandra Backlund cost?

SB: If I would sell them they would be really expensive. But it is nice for me to offer to someone to order a piece from me every now and then, and I will sell it for relatively cheap. I still want to be in fashion, I don’t want them to be like art pieces. I want them to be wearable. Although I have a problem wearing them myself. But for those who can ... but it’s a lot of material, the yarns – I use really nice qualities – are very expensive and the hours are uncountable, sometimes like 300 hours will go in one piece. It is impossible to price it accordingly.

MV: Aren’t there any possibilities, production wise, to bring the price down?

SB: I haven’t really gotten into the whole production thing yet. I should investigate what is possible. I could see them being produced in a limited edition. I am kind of in between. In one way I would like them to be one of a kind pieces but I also want them to be available to people. For the right reason, not just to consume and throw away, but like an investment, a collector’s piece. Of course I am influenced by trends but I like to think of my pieces to kind of live through trends as well. Especially because it is knitwear which is a huge trend this fall and winter so I really look forward to next winter and see if people will still be into my pieces then, or they will say “Oh that is so last season!”

MV: “Oh yawn, there’s another Sandra Backlund, that crazy knitting woman from Sweden”

SB: (giggles) I guess everyone would assume I’d be doing something else by then because knitting would be so over. But I am kind of the opposite; I would do even more knitting if that were the case.

MV: Well I think you can go on knitting for quite some time to come, they’re unique pieces and there are plenty of people in this world who can get away with your designs.

SB: I thing that these really heavy knits could also be used instead of fur or puffa jackets in cold countries instead of just for show and exhibitions.

MV: What is your philosophy on value, on luxury in fashion?

SB: It depends how you see luxury. For me luxury is if something is made especially for you and it is made by someone, not just a machine that does it for anyone. And good quality fabrics and of course nowadays you want it to be friendly to the environment. It’s not about a logo or what it costs. But about how it is made, that it is unique, special. I see fashion as an art form. I could have chosen any direction for myself, design, photography, but for me fashion is a way to combine art and crafts and techniques. And fashion is such a big thing, everyone is involved with it one way or another. It’s pretty unavoidable which makes it very interesting to me.

MV: So what are your future plans, for your label?

SB: I still have to figure out a lot, I am just beginning. I hope to learn more by working with it, also for myself, what I want to do. I mean it’s ok to live without money for a while, in school, and now I have my company for 3,5 years but it’s not possible to do this just for fun or creativity forever. I also have to live and pay stuff for my company. It is a big dilemma and I want to find a good solution for me. Of course there is different ways to do it, but it is difficult. There’s a lot happening for me, a lot of attention for my clothes but that forces me and inspires me to work even harder on the clothes. Thinking about the future and business has been a second for me but now I need to concentrate on it a bit. It’s not possible right now to buy my pieces in a store and I cannot offer them to buyers. They want it so bad and they can’t have it. It’s rather interesting.

MV: These Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf were also unavailable to their fans for many years. Only museums could buy their work. But then when the time was right, they launched their prêt-à-porter collection. Finally we could buy Viktor & Rolf. It was an instant hit.

SB: Yes, I noticed it works like that. People are so used that they can get what they want if they have the money. But for me it is not a matter of business, it’s simply impossible, because I do everything myself. It’s difficult. Knitting is like handwriting. It is impossible to knit for ten hours and knit like someone else. It’s like re-writing a book in someone else’s handwriting. It’s impossible.

MV: Maybe you could at one point develop a second line that is easier to reproduce and a bit more wearable?

SB: Yeah, you know, but this is the strangest thing. Every time I think to myself, now I am going to do a wearable piece, one that I could imagine myself, or anyone, wearing, and then I end up doing the craziest piece! I cannot force it. I learned to just follow my work; I cannot plan what happens. Things happen for a reason. Either you work like that or you work really planned and focussed. It will take me a lot of effort to figure this out. I get a lot of offers from people who want to come and work for me, internships etceteras. But I wouldn’t know what to do with them now. I am working twenty hours a day so it’s impossible for my health to do this any longer. I have a press office, which is great, they send my work all over the planet and make sure it comes back. The outfits for Blend are still in Italy at the moment, I hope you will receive them in time. Anyhow.. I am also still in the position to try different collaborations which is nice. I do all kinds of projects and exhibitions. Trying to figure out what I want to do later. I am in between fashion and craft and fashion and art. It’s interesting for a while to be a little bit of everything. But I cannot imagine myself leaving fashion. And fashion is changing. I think people are more open to slow fashion and a bit more experimental things again. I try not to think too much about the fashion industry. When I started Beckman’s I already knew; I don’t want to work in a company, I want to do my own thing & I stayed true to my original idea. But I have been struggling. I’ve been working really hard. I want to be careful when I choose. I really need some time off! I have done quite a few collections now and I learned a lot. And in my mind I am always a few collections ahead, inspired by all the mistakes I made. It’s like a competition with yourself. I work alone, I can afford to be really intimate with myself and cry in my pieces (laughter). My work is really personal for me, I don’t think anyone can imagine how personal they are but I really lock myself up with them I work with them. I had a show in Italy last week and people came up to me and said: “Oh it’s so beautiful, so emotional, I cried!” It’s not the aesthetic that appeals to them but somehow it shows that I am putting so much of my soul in them. Every hour I worked with them, every time I didn’t give up on them. It’s really hard working with handicraft like this. You need a lot of patience. It is not happening by it self. You have to work really hard for it. And I am happy it shows and that people pick up on it. It’s difficult to explain.

MV: Things went really fast for you since you graduated in 2004. You won several awards and Louis Vuitton approached you. Tell us, how was that?

SB: I was really surprised by that. I saw it as a challenge because I had never even done an internship before so I didn’t know what it’s like to work in another company. At that point I had done a couple of collections by myself and I was really looking forward to collaborate with someone. I guess I felt a bit lonely you know? They invited me to have a meeting, so I went and met them and it felt good. We could do something together and it was a really great experience for me to see how it works in those big companies and also to see how I work in collaboration, to see if I can do my thing and adapt to the idea of the collection. I did four special knitwear designs for them and I guess two of them were produced for their flagship stores, as a limited edition.

MV: So if we want to buy a Sandra Backlund we simply go to Louis Vuitton?

SB: Yes but it’s not that the label says Sandra Backlund for Louis Vuitton.

MV: And then you won the Grand Prix in Hyères in 2007, with the Ink Blot collection?

SB: Yes, the fall-winter 2007 collection. The spring-summer 2008 collection will be on my website any day now.

MV: And now you have the whole world on the phone all day?

SB: (Laughing) Yeah, a bit like that. I get the weirdest calls and e-mails to “Sandra Backlund and her team”, and I’m like, “What team?” (laughing) It’s exiting but also a bit stressful.

MV: I guess you have to say “no” the whole time?

SB: Yes, unfortunately I have to turn down a lot of really nice offers, often because of the same reason; I have no production. I made a promise to myself to concentrate on my own brand and collections.

MV: does the art world approach you as well?

SB: Yes, some offers, but mostly fashion–meets-art exhibitions. My pieces are too much in between to be considered art, they’re too handicraft. I don’t have any pieces in museums.

MV: Where do you get your inspiration from if you’re knitting twenty hours a day?

SB: Mostly from inside, things I am going through personally and being involved with this business. The human body is always a starting point for me. I always take off from the natural silhouette and I am fascinated by how you can distort this with clothes. This has always been done in fashion so it is nothing new but it is still very interesting. I cannot really explain. My work inspires me, accidents that happen while I am working. Sometimes there are pieces in the collection that I don’t even like aesthetically but I can’t help it, they have to be in the collection. There is something about my collections that is beyond beautiful things. Of course in everyday life I see things that appeal to me but it’s more like I have it in my head and I bring it on when I need it.

MV: I’m looking at the pictures on your website in the mean time. Those women look quite futuristic and somewhat troubled. Like they are fighting the world around them?

SB: I don’t know why that is. I guess I design for strong women. Of course it has to do with an aesthetic taste, but those pieces can only be worn by strong women. It’s difficult to wear my designs, I’ve tried it myself. You have to become someone else. They’re not comfortable. You have to be strong, also physically, because the pieces are really heavy, the wool is heavy and the origami pieces of course are also not comfortable to wear. Then there’s the photographer, I tried different photographers and it is interesting to collaborate and see how other people see your clothes. So it’s not only my vision.

MV: I think it’s an interesting contrast. Crafts have a soft side, they’re hand made and emotional, and then they are shown on these robotic women who have a difficult relationship with the world.

SB: So many people told me “why do your girls look so angry, never smile?” I guess it’s serious business for me, and I like the contrast as well.

MV: Do you consider yourself part of a contemporary cultural movement? What is your artistic reference?

SB: I must confess that I am not so updated on what’s going on unfortunately. I was really into art and culture when I was in University studying History of Art, History of Ideas – this was before I got into fashion. But when I started designing I lost that part of me because I need to express myself without getting interrupted by what is going on around me. I moved away from that pretty much but of course I see magazines and things like that. But no favourite artists, designers architects.

MV: What music do you listen to while you are knitting?

SB: Actually, I almost never listen to music. When I am knitting I need to be quiet, I need to count, to concentrate.

MV: Of course, stupid question, you’re a knitting hermit!

SB: (Laughing) Yeah and it’s horrible and I do think I need a time off from that to feed myself a bit.

MV: I get this image of you of the classic struggling artists...

SB: Yep, that’s me! Indoors the whole time, crying over my work, I’m really emotional. Which is also why I lock myself up in the studio. I can also be really happy, it’s just all so emotional. There is a lot of panic and worries and personal things, and since I am so dedicated to my work it becomes like the only way I know how to live. I guess it is a way to find the right way for me to work and express myself. I have to go through this to figure it out. I guess I am not the only one.

MV: Well, I really admire it. It shows in your work. The result is really spectacular.

SB: I try to believe that everything gives something. If I get irritated because I get interrupted a lot by people who come up to me all the time, then I guess I was not supposed to have so much time for that particular piece, you know? I guess that’s what I learned, not think too much, I have no time for that. I knit and I knit and when I have all the pieces I spend hours and hours in front if the mirror putting them together, pinning them together, un-pinning them and so on, on myself, on a tailor dummy... I forget to eat I forget everything. I work a bit like an artist but I don’t want to name myself like an artist. My education was in fashion design and that is what I want it to be. For me fashion is the right thing, it’s where everything comes together.