Lundagård got to interview designer Alexander Stutterheim, after his lecture at Studentafton. We talked about self-images, Jay-Z and the drinking habits of the Swedes.
Let’s start with the classical Kupé-question: how does an average day in Alexander Stutterheim’s life look like?
“Well, that can differ radically depending on whether it’s the week in which I have my son or not. If I have him, it’s of course his needs that come first. One has to bring him to and from school, drive him to training, food has to be prepared, cleaning, washing clothes. In those weeks it’s a lot of that and during the nights I stay at home and I work. But during the weeks that I don’t take care of him, it’s a bloody rollercoaster. Right now we are in the middle of a product development phase, and it’s a lot of strange mails that have to be answered the entire time. Actually I feel that I need a filter so that I can sift through all the mails and proposals that are coming in. The other day there was for example someone who wanted to make a caramel sauce with me. One could wonder where they saw the connection between Stutterheim and caramel sauce.”
How was it to cooperate with Jay-Z?
“That wasn’t so freaking strange. He is after all a normal human being, but he has extremely clear esthetical ideas and then he is also very insightful and empathic and he has come up with quite some ideas himself. So we have had a fine-tuned cooperation.”
Really honestly, do you think it can get any better than this?
“Yes, with Studentafton. We will maybe make a Stutterheim-Studentafton-coat. But yes, how the hell should I top a cooperation with Jay-Z? I understand what you mean, but I don’t see it completely in that way. I see it like a fun project among others – the one I’m working on right now with Volvo is for example really great, I think – and I have quite some other projects going on. But to top this with an even bigger celebrity, that would possibly be his wife (Beyoncé, ed.) Otherwise there’s like nothing bigger. Or well, maybe there is. Dylan, possibly.”
You have described yourself as ‘a sour devil that is never satisfied’.
“Yes, that is maybe a bit exaggerated, but indeed, I never get really satisfied. It’s like hell to be like that – I am not satisfied with how my house looks, I am not satisfied with how my car functions, I am not always satisfied with my son’s behavior in different contexts, etcetera. I easily see (notice) mistakes and that is quite hard. I keep myself very tight sometimes. I am self-critical like hell.”
Considering Swedish melancholy, do you think that the Swedes are depressed types?
“Yes, I actually think that we are, but we drink it away. We guzzle like hell. I drink almost nothing, but I think it could be that we mute a certain melancholy and anxiety by drinking. Or yes, it’s actually very clear that we are doing that. Moreover, if you have a bit of a grey soul then the winter season hardly helps, it’s dark bigger parts of the year.”
During the lecture you said that you have signed a book contract. What will your book be about?
“It will be about what it means to be a man in 2014. About what it’s like to go through a divorce, what it’s like to be a single father and at the same time build up a business like I have done. It will be quite autobiographical. I think that there are very many women that have written on how it is to become a mother and to deal with divorces and the like, but I think that masculinity is a bit adrift. It’s the women’s time now and with a reason I think – I am a feminist after all – but at the same time many men have lost their ways, not the least among my friends. I think that it’s the girls who dominate within partnerships and in my shop I became pissed the other day when a couple came in, as the guy wanted to buy a raincoat while the girl controlled him and told which color he should have and all. At last I said to him. ”But what do you think yourself actually? You’re an adult, you must be able to dress yourself.” Sometimes I get a bit pissed.”
Do you feel that your self-image has been influenced by your successes in the recent years?
“One’s own self-image and the image that others have of one you, that’s interesting in all contexts, I think. One can perceive oneself in one way and then someone else has a totally different image of you. But in this case it is very clear that I until now, quite recently, haven’t felt like I am a designer. Like, it was just an idea among many other ideas that I had. If I had been able to a make paintings, I definitely would have given that a try, had I been able to build a house I might have done that. It was just a coincidence actually. I haven’t gone around my entire life thinking that I would be a fashion designer, or that I would make a rain coat, I really didn’t think that.”
Do you see yourself in the first place as a designer today?
“Yes, especially when I am abroad. In Stockholm the people rather know me as a copywriter, as the advertiser who made a raincoat, and that’s after all not really how people look at me when I am like in Berlin or London. Sometimes it can almost be funny. When I was at a so-called product knowledge seminar, some representative for a fashion label came and talked about the collection and then I had to go there and talk with people at the department that sells my stuff. So I went around and greeted all the staff that had arrived there an hour before and they only said: “It´s an honor to meet you, Sir!” Then a few times I turned around and asked: ”What, is it me you are talking about?”, and then they could answer: ”Yes, Mr. Stutterheim, It’s a privilege that you´re here!” That made me feel like Karl Lagerfeldt, and then I became so embarrassed that I started to laugh – I am after all raised with Jante (Jante), one should not believe that one is something – and then suddenly someone who says: ”You´re a legend, sir! You have made the Levis 501, but for raincoats!”. They couldn’t understand that, so they became almost insulted. They thought that I should be proud of what I have made, that I shouldn’t go around and laugh at it.”
Text: Marcus Bornlid
Photo: Jens Hunt
Translation: Paula Dubbink
