I do have a strange “creative” connection with Sweden.
I never visited Stockholm for purely holiday reasons, but always ended up here for some sort of creative project.
The very first time I came here it was to take part in a conference celebrating he 100th birth anniversary of internationally renowned children's author Astrid Lindgren at the Swedish Institute for Children's Books.
My paper focused on screen and TV adaptations of the Pippi Longstocking books (Pippi has always been a great inspiration for me mainly because she questions adult authority, while I like questioning authority in general…) and in her honour my mum and I prepared the little Pippi doll you see in the first picture in this post that I gave out to the speakers as a memento from Italy.
The Astrid Lindgren event allowed me to meet writers, translators and lecturers from all over the world, from America to Iran, India and Japan.
Everyday after the lectures took place I arranged interviews with young Swedish designers, so, in between an analysis of an Astrid Lindgren book and the other, I also had the time to talk about fashion with some young creative types.
As the year draws to an end I'm back in Stockholm with Astrid Lindgren and Pippi in my heart, but this time with a different creative purpose in mind since I’m a guest at the Creators Inn by Elvine.
You probably have already heard about this project: the Creators Inn consists in a hotel room offered by Swedish clothing brand Elvine where visiting creators can stop for a few days.
Since you’re a guest you don’t have to worry about paying for the room, so you can focus better on your creative activities.
The project was founded in Gothenburg in 2008 by Elvine and design agency Next Century Modern and at present it is also available at the Hotel Scandic in Stockholm, where I am typing this post.
So far there have been fashion designers, DJs, singers, artists and writers passing through this same room and I’m here to develop a little idea (well, more about it when it’s properly developed…) with a Swedish designer I met in between the Lindgren lectures I mentioned above.
From a creative point of view the room at the Scandic is absolutely perfect.
The main door opens onto a lounge that features a sofa, an armchair and a record player (the first thing I basically started playing with as soon as I entered the room and threw my luggage around – I'm a vynil addict, technically, I'm also a fossil for this digital generation, and I started writing because I wanted to become a music journalist…) and quite a few records, from The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Kraftwerk (playing 'The Model' at the moment to set myself in a sort of fashion mood…) to Pizzicato Five, Primal Scream (remix album "Echo Dek" – yes!), twee Belle & Sebastian (no, Scotland and Glasgow in particular never seem to be able to get out of my bloody life…) and compilations such as "The Future Sound of Paris".
The lounge also features a blown up map of Stockholm on which guests pinned little notes recommending restaurants, shops and other cool places to visit.
The window of the lounge overlooks the roof and another wing of the building with further rooms, but I guess the young man undressing in a room directly in front of mine exactly when I arrived was accidental and not courtesy of Creators Inn/Elvine (but thanks all the same, appreciated that!).
I have fallen in love with the bathroom, mainly because it features a gigantic Dala horse in a stylishly dark colour.
I bought a few Dala horses (a toy originally carved from left-over fragments of wood – now it's considered as a national symbol) the first time I was in Stockholm to bring back to my family and friends, but I had never seen such a big one. I swear to you that if I were a child I would take it to bed with me…
The shower screen also includes the story of how Elvine was founded: Elvine Mand worked as a seamstress in Estonia during the Second World War and when the Russians invaded Estonia she flew to Sweden.
Inspired by his grandmother's traditions and the graffiti and street culture that surrounded him in Gothenburg, Elvine's grandchild Daniel opened a street wear shop that, as time passed, developed into a proper and successful brand.
Other interesting features in the room are the wardrobe that includes an Elvine T-shirt and a pair of trousers and quite a few fashion and style magazines and books (I have brought with me a copy of the Fashion in Film Festival catalogue If Looks Could Kill to add to the room library, hope other guests will enjoy it).
It makes me immensely happy to be here, yet, as soon as I stepped into this room, I started thinking about how creative types are often negatively perceived in our times and about the fact that not many chances are usually offered to them.
It wouldn't take much time or money to replicate this project in other countries and inspire more people to move around and build a solid network of international creative types (à la Alexander Trocchi's "Project Sigma" – remember? according to Trocchi creative minds were ahead of anybody else and they would be able to take over…).
Think about it: there isn't anything such as this in London or Milan and these cities fancy themselves as great and stylish places for creative types. I guess for this time I will have to admit it, Swedes have definitely done it better.
Have to go now and say goodnight to my gigantic Dala horse. Well, OK, it's not technically mine, but let me at least dream that, for just a few days, it will be the companion of this new and creative adventure.
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