Top image: HÆRVÆRK at Copenhagen Fashion Week 2016. Photography Lukas Daugbjerg

It’s hard to imagine that Denmark-born, MA Menswear graduate Niels Guntoft Hansen just so happened to fall into fashion by chance. Considering himself more a musician than fashion designer, the Danish creative never dreamt of a future in the fashion world when growing up. Instead, he says studying menswear merely represented his efforts at acquiring an ‘education’ to prove to his beloved mor (mother) that he was not going to waste his life away.

Despite this rather unintentional leap into fashion, the talented and award-winning designer’s feet haven’t quite touched the ground since graduating from the prestigious Royal College of Art (RCA) in June. Debuting his collection HÆRVÆRK at a “fucked up” skate park in Copenhagen’s Christiania – the former military barracks and now controversial Danish freestate – he illustrated his vision for a cult of goofy and naïve boys wandering the dewy streets of his city.

Holly Eells: You seem to have been pretty busy of late Niels; winning the OTB award at ITS [International Talent Support competition in Trieste, Italy], setting up your own show in Christiania as part of the Copenhagen Fashion Week and you’re soon off to Berlin. How is life since finishing at the RCA?
Niels Guntoft Hansen: Over the last two years, and particularly during my last collection, I have worked very hard to make sure that I had options available to me after I graduated. I won the OTB award at ITS in Italy, which is sponsored by Diesel. That was very beneficial for me, and I had made sure that I dedicated a lot of time and effort to it.

I also applied for the Copenhagen Fashion Week in late April and I was fortunate enough to be chosen for that too. After returning from the ITS competition, I had ten days to get everything together for Copenhagen by myself on an extremely cheap budget. However, I was very lucky to have good friends who offered their creative skills for free, especially with the music and lighting. I also used a free, ‘fucked up’ skate park in Christiania. It was a lot of hard work and stress, but worth it! It felt amazing showcasing my final collection and sharing the story I wanted to tell.

“I had ten days to get everything together for Copenhagen by myself on an extremely cheap budget – I used a free, fucked up skate park in Christiania.”

HE: Your graduation collection was titled HÆRVÆRK – what were the qualities that inspired your collection?
NGH: When I first started at RCA, I was given a project, which wanted us to discover something authentic to you. I was inspired by my past as a young Danish musician who used to skate, and chose to reference back to what it meant to grow up in the city and have a strong connection to life on the street.

However, the collection started initially with just the name HÆRVÆRK, which I then used to develop my ideas from. In Danish, it literally translates as ‘vandalism’ but I actually took the name from an 80s German post punk band. I believe it represents my collection well because my clothes are very tactile, industrial and raw in that sense, which I have then combined with very clean lines. 

“I was inspired by my past as a young Danish musician who used to skate, it’s about what it means to have a strong connection to life on the street.”

HE: The collection is heavily printed and textural. How did you decide on employing these elements?
NGH: I wanted to use a fabric that captured the look of wet asphalt and then manipulate it so that it became very rusty in appearance. That was really the foundation of what I wanted to do and I chose this approach primarily as I was so fascinated with the rusty containers that litter the Danish seafront and frame the imagery from my youth.

HE: You also forged several collaborations for HÆRVÆRK, from illustration to 3-D technological design. What can you tell us about these collaborations?
NGH: Before I started to do the lineup for my final collection, I didn’t actually do much else than work independently. I was mostly figuring out the variety of fabrics available and working out what I really wanted to do.

Further down the line, I collaborated with several other graduates from RCA, including John Bertolaso, a talented illustrator, who helped me to combine flock print with other types of screen printing. John also modelled my collection and became my muse. I also teamed up with Kathy McGee and Cameron Bowen who worked on scanning the body of my jacket under 3D clothes, which made for a unique and surprisingly fast approach to making clothes. I must mention, Daniel Nørregaard, who worked on my graphics, he is a graphics designer based in London.

HE: Tell us about the cartoon element behind your designs?
NGH: I also collaborated with a cartoonist [Tristan Dupuis] from back home, as I wanted to create something innovative and fresh. The vision I had for my label was to create a fictional urban gang who would be the face of my collection – my fashion crew so to speak. I wanted them to be something similar to the Gorillaz; the British virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. I particularly wanted this gang to very ‘cartoony’ and exaggerated, yet pure and honest at the same time.

HE: From your choice of location for your CPF show and the model casting, your work seems incredibly driven by your muse. Who is he?
NGH: This person used to be me when I was twelve-years-old! An innocent young boy, with pure energy and not pretentious at all.

“The world is tired of egos. It really is just about this cult gang that roams the streets, and not about me.”

HE: You have had some really great press since your CPF show and ITS. Do you plan to continue with your own brand or aim at working in a design house?
NGH: Firstly, I am going to intern at Diesel for at least six months before returning to London. I will then apply for Fashion East and NEWGEN to continue to work on my label. However, when I re-focus on my label, I want to stay with the identity of HÆRVÆRK. I feel that the world is tired of egos and I don’t see myself as yet another designer who wants to conquer the world. It really is just about this cult gang that roams the streets, and not about me. I want to be behind the clothes.