Body transformations by Sandra Backlund

 Sandra Backlund

- Describe yourself shortly.

- I have always felt a strong connection to arts and crafts and a need to express myself in a creative way, but except from the artistic side of me I also have a strong theoretical and mathematical vein. My whole life I have had a lot of hard times trying to make these two opposites within myself cooperate and I think I often took the easy way out in this matter and choose one of them while denying the other. Through the kind of fashion that I do I finally found a way to combine both my free and my computing side.

- Why do you choose womenswear?

- I always work with the human body as a starting point when creating a garment. I’m really fascinated by all the ways you can highlight, distort and transform the natural silhouette with clothes and accessories, so being a woman myself, it comes quite natural to work with womenswear. 

- What was the first item you created?

- Unfortunately I don’t remember, but I guess that’s because I have always made a lot of things myself...

- Do you wear your clothes? What is your favorite item from all your collections?

- Yes, I try to wear them, especially for official occasions. My favorite at the moment is the metal tank top from my current Spring/Summer collection.

- How/Why did you choose knitwear?

- Actually I don’t feel like I choose knitwear, it just happened that way. For me knitting is synonymous to creative freedom. I like the way you are building your own fabric while working and the way it’s mathematical and yet permits improvisation.

- Where do you seek for inspiration?

- Except from the human body and traditional handicraft techniques, I guess from everything that is going on in my life both private, as a designer and as a founder of my own company.

- What does term “fashion” means for you?

- For me fashion is simply art.

- What are the basic values for you as for designer?

- It is a big responsibility to be working as a designer at this time and very difficult to state the reasons why you should be one of those with the right to produce new things into a world in affluence. I like to believe that it is true that we can not live entirely on recycled things, but also need to be treated with new visions and stories told in the language of our time.

- There are a lot of big names and achievements in your career list. If you can name it what is the most important achievement in your whole career?

- It must be that my company and brand is still alive after seven tough years…

- What would you be doing if you were not designing?

- I would probably run my own vintage store.

- Future plans, dream collaborations and hopes?

- My plan is to continue to work hard, protect my origins and what I am good at, but still find a way to develop my designs and my company. I am a searcher so I will never find myself reaching some kind of finishing line, but I would of course like to be able to live off my work. 

 Pictures - Thomas Klementsson