One day we were approached by Anton Storm, owner of Storm Fashion, one of the first stores we worked with.
Anton introduced us to Olde Spice, a company that deals with second-hand, handpicked premium vintage goods and shoots different kinds of “DNA”-videos.
After a few messages back and forth, Olde Spice came by our office and showed us what they had shot earlier on, and we were instantly hooked.
We were both interested in creating something together, and since the guys from Olde Spice told us they really liked our technical products, we thought they would be the perfect items for a video shoot.
After setting the framework, we gave the guys from Olde Spice free rein to make something special with our products, and the results speak for themselves, as shown in the DNA-video Polarhagen.
Since we gave Olde Spice the creative freedom to make the video, we wanted to know about the thought process behind the creation and design of Polarhagen.
We had the opportunity to ask Ferhat Gurini, the creative director at Olde Spice, about the ideas behind the video to share the creative process with you.
On your own page, you call some of your videos “DNA-video”, what does this imply?
The term really comes from my friend Anton, who was a part of the project in Olde Spice’s early days. As was then and as is now, Olde Spice really only sells other brands, and you know how some brands have a wealth of different identities, depending on when and who wears them. Think Lacoste: The brand is typically worn by older men playing tennis or two yutes riding two people on an electric scooter. The DNA-videos are all about communicating to the consumer how and what identity we attach and associate with the brands and anchoring ourselves. They are low-budget (but high production value) videos shot with friends, or friends of friends, in not-so-common locations. For example, in the first DNA-video we shot, 80% of the scenes were shot in the suburb Greve. I think that gives them an authenticity that money can’t buy.
How do you normally approach brands to work with them, and was the approach different when reaching out to us?
The whole process of coming up with something together was quite organic and informal. Which is good because I am a lot more focused on output than process.
I belled Anton; he showed you a lot, some of our earlier work, and asked if you’d be interested in treatment. You said yes. We linked. And less than a week after, we were on the train from Copenhagen Central Station for a 25-hr train ride to Northern Sweden.
What was the inspiration behind the DNA video What was the inspiration behind the DNA-video Polarhagen?
The Danish Arctic Command has arguably one of the most specialized elite units in the world, called the Sirius Patrol. It consists of seven pairs of two soldiers that patrol the entirety of Northern and Eastern Greenland in one of the world’s most desolate areas for four months without human contact. I’ve always thought the people who signed up for that were just absolutely mental.
But then I gave it another thought and clocked that you know they may be out there on the ice as a symbolic claim to Danish sovereignty, alone in a vast, unforgiving landscape, but at least it’s clear what they’re doing. They’ve got a purpose. And they get a paycheck every month, even if they may not have the internet signal to check it. In the world today, there are so many people out there not quite sure about what to make of themselves or their lives, and so that lone human figure in a vast, polar desert landscape searching for something that is never made clear in the film, isn’t specific to anything north of the Arctic Circle. I feel like it has relatability to a lot of young people today.
Why did you choose Northern Sweden as the location for the video?
It’s one of only seven countries in the world where you can see the Northern Lights. Plus, I’ve been meaning to go there since I first read about it on Wikipedia. Mixing business with pleasure.
How was it working with BLS Hafnia?
It was good. I think it’s always a good indicator when jokes are cracked from the get-go. We listened to them, and they listened to us, and it was always a very two-sided process. They trusted us and our vision, and we made sure to include their priorities for showcasing the Alpine-collection.
What did you especially like about our technical products beforehand?
To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the products in terms of technical properties. So I picked them based on how they would match the environment we were in. The white colorway Alpine-jacket especially caught my eye.
Did you notice anything special or new when you tried the products?
I don’t know if there was anything new about the products, but they definitely proved useful against the elements…
Bes had gifted us with clothes for the expedition, so it was all we wore. We’d downloaded an app that could tell where it was cloud-free and a chance of Northern Lights, so…
