Category Archives: Designers – Feature

Here we are featuring the awesome… maybe you?

Designer Feature: Michelle Urvall Nyrén

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This feature is of Michelle Urvall Nyrén, another of the designers that participated in this years Fresh Fish. Lets put it short and and let Michelle do the talking.. kinda’.

• Name
• Age: 23
• Hometown: Göteborg (Gothenburg, Sweden) Current location: Dals Långed, Sweeden (the site of her school, HDK Steneby)
• Education: Textile – Clothing – Design at HDK Steneby
• Goal : Fashion as art, wearable fashion and clothing

We asked Michelle some questions and here are her answers.
Q: What is fashion to you?
A: Fashion to me is culture, communication and storytelling.

Q: What inspires and what are your influences?
A: My inspiration differs, but I am always affected by what happens around me. I want to tell stories with my clothes. It is about creating characters and stories; making problems and solving them. I have many influences, Henrik Vibskov, Bernhard Willhelm, Rei Kawakubo for Comme des garçons and Yohji Yamamoto, to name some of them.

Q: When and where does your ideas show up/happen?
A: It does not follow a logical pattern. In cities, among people and buildings, in the forest or at the library. Ideas come from everywhere all the time.

Q: Do you sell your stuff somewhere?
A: Yes, at Tjallamalla in Stockholm.

Q: What is coming in the future? Any new collection?
A: I am currently doing my second year BFA at HDK Steneby, and I am going to do an internship in Paris next term. I have plenty of ideas and sketches for an autumn collection, but I am not sure yet.

Q: Where can we see more of your clothes/designs?
A: Some of them are to view at my schools homepage, It is under construction though.

Q: What is hot right now, and what’s not? 😉
A: I could not tell. Expressions as “hot”, “right” and “cool” are relative, and to me they are not interesting at all. It is about people and their personal expressions. To me, part of the fascination about fashion, is that it looks different on different people. There are no rights and wrongs..

Q: Is fashion necessary? Important? Explain!
A: Yes, it is. Fashion is modern history and popular culture, it is communication. It is an interesting phenomenon, and its importance will not weaken since it is one of our most significant ways of expressing ourselves. To me it is important on a personal level, it is about personal development, self fulfilment and most of all, it is my passion.

You can contact Michelle here:
• E-mail – michelleurvallnyren[a]gmail.com
• Phonenumber – +46(0)737415815
• Website – michelleurvall.blogspot.com

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Photographs by Karin Granstrand, text-editing by Peter Lindberg

Designer Feature: Black Badger Advanced Composites

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Finally it’s time for the feature on James Thompson and his Black Badger operation. We did a shoot to show some of the pieces he has made. Product-shots you can find on his homepage, BlackBadger.se. James put together a little presentation on himself and his work. Happy reading!

//Peter Lindberg – Editor

I am a 32 year old industrial design student orignally from Vancouver, Canada. I am currently studying in the design masters program at HDK (Högskolan För Design och Konstahantverk) design school here in Göteborg.

In addition to my studies, I own and run a small design company called Black Badger Advanced Composites (www.blackbadger.se) where I work as a composite materials specialist. The majority of my recent work has been in jewlery design, specifically using unconventional materials.

Titanium, carbon fiber, and kevlar-style composites are my specialty. Using industrial, even military, materials in modern jewlery design allows me to create highly innovative, unconventional forms, that would not be possible with other materials. Quite frankly, gold and silver has been done to death. However when working with these industrial materials, it is the design that makes them special. Once we abandon our traditional notions of what is beautiful, countless options arise.

I work primarily with fiber-reinforced composites, so that is everything from carbon fiber like you would find in a advanced aircraft, to Lance Armstrong’s bicycle frame. This amazing material has allowed me to create rings that are barely a single gram in weight, yet are amazingly sturdy.

G10 is my other material of choice. That is a composite based on more of a kevlar-style material, like would be found in bulletproof vests and missile components. Since it can be impregnated with color, it is impossible to scratch. The color 100% penetrates the material. This G10 composite is used primarily in aerospace / military applications, meaning that it is meant to withstand far greater abuse than you could imagine!

I use a playful, almosy childlike esthetic in my work. This creates a wonderful dialogue, as the ring looks like something that would be a prize in a gumball machine, yet is on-par with titanium in its strength. It’s amazingly liberating as a designer!

Most of the carbon fiber I feature in my rings is made from salvage from the motorsports and aerospace industry. This is an intentional effort to lower the carbon footprint (pardon the pun) of the production. It also adds to the appeal of the product if the ring you are wearing is made from a piece of a satellite or F1 race car.

I have also designed and produced a series of rings in pink-tinted G10 composite that I sold to raise money for the Rosa Bandet campaign here in Sweden.

James Thompson
Industrial designer and owner
Black Badger Advanced Composites

Photographs by Peter Lindberg, make-up by Martina Gustafsson, models Herman E and Anette


Designer-feature: Rebecca Pirosanto

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Batik Dress

Batik Dress

Treated/ruffed cotton dress

Treated/ruffed cotton dress

Glittery sleeve dress

Glittery sleeve dress

Biography: Rebecca Pirosanto

Born in Sweden by Italian parents (her grandfather was born in Italy) and raised next to the sea in Långedrag in Gothenburg, Sweden. Rebeccas childhood summers were spent in both Italy or in Kungshamn (small rural fishing-town in Bohuslän, Sweden). She was early taught to fight for what she wanted. The interest in clothing and design was born spending time in her grandmothers cloth-shop, botanizing in fabrics, buttons and sewing-patterns. Her grandmother was the one who taught her to sew and showed her the different qualities and taught her to be inspired by the fabrics and materials.

As the years went by her parents more and more noticed her passion for design and fashion. They have always been 100% supporting her efforts and she received much help from them along the way. In 2006 her dad renovated a room in their basement and Rebecca got her first atelier/studio for which she is very grateful.

Rebecca has a hard time telling what her true sources of influences are, mostly because they are so many. Mostly she thinks that the feeling of creating and the possibilities it opens in relationship with the fabrics.

Her next goal is to get accepted into Tillskärarakademien, a school for learning cutting, pattern-making and sewing. Her ultimate goal is to be able to make a living from her designs. We at FashionFriend believes she has the right talents and capabilities to make dream come true!

Rebecca Pirosanto has no homepage at this moment but she is working on getting one and when it gets online FashionFriend will link to it. Her e-mail is rebecca.pirosanto[a]hotmail.com Photographs by Gustaf Nisses, text editing and image post-production by Peter Lindberg of FashionFriend

Blue jacket with red skirt

Blue jacket with red skirt

Wine-red jacket

Wine-red jacket

Jeans with top

Jeans with top

Mustard dress

Mustard dress

Green dress

Green dress