Lost in a House of Mirrors, the Copenhagen lifestyle brands meets Mickey Mouse and the icon is stretched, multiplied and distorted throughout a considered capsule collection. Before the collection’s pre-release at Colette next week, we talk cartoons and collaborations with Wood Wood’s Brian SS Jensen and share an exclusive preview of the collection.
Wood Wood and Disney aren’t names we’d expect to see together. How did this collaboration happen?
That is exactly the reaction we hoped for, really. Our unofficial slogan is ‘Not To Be Trusted’. About a year ago we sat down with a Disney representative and talked about doing some kind of project together, from there it developed quite organically. I’m sure there were some discussions internally at Disney, but from our side it was quite an easy process.
What does Disney mean to you, in particular Mickey Mouse?
Well, just the idea that a drawing of a mouse can develop into a global pop-culture phenomenon is quite fascinating. Also, I find it really interesting how Mickey Mouse has all these different connotations depending on who you talk to. This contradictory symbolism is probably what attracts me the most to Mickey. Or it might just be subconscious childhood memories..
What are your fondest memories?
My first exposure to Disney was probably watching the annual Christmas show on Danish national TV, which I think has become a tradition among many families in Scandinavia. However, the main inspiration for the collection came from the early black and white Disney films, which are truly amazing.
What was the starting point for the capsule collection?
For the collection we wanted to create something visually strong and graphically driven, so the styles are quite simple and the colour palette is kept to a minimum.
The collection features distorted ‘house of mirrors’ style images of Mickey Mouse. How did you feel playing with such an icon?
Mickey Mouse is perhaps the most recognisable character in the world, and it was an incredible opportunity to work with a cultural icon of that scale. And also just a lot of fun, really. To experiment with Mickey’s recognisability and to achieve an element of movement, I did all the imagery on a photocopier and I never knew exactly what would come out of the machine. Mickey felt quite alive in the copy room.
From Mickey to… what’s next for Wood Wood? Who’s next on your dream list of collaborations?
First of all focusing on our own line, but we do have a few collaborative projects coming up. Next up is a small thing with Champion USA, which should be out some time in January. There are so many mundane brand collaborations coming out now, but i believe there are still a lot of interesting connections to be made in the future. No list though.
The D&W.W. collection will pre-release exclusively in Colette in Paris on October 20th before launching in selected retailers worldwide including Liberty (UK), mytheresa.com (Germany), SPRMKT (The Netherlands), Goodhood (UK) and all Wood Wood stores November 3rd 2014. The collection will be available for pre-orders October 27th on woodwood.dk
Credits
Text Steve Salter
Images courtesy Wood Wood