Q: What sparked your interest in pursuing the dynamic between Scandinavian design with your Korean heritage?
A: When I started the brand, I was traveling to Europe for the first time. I visited Sweden, because two of my best Korean friends were staying there. I have been very fascinated with Scandinavian countries since high school, because it was the most remote and different place from Asia. Stockholm, despite being a small country and a small city, I fell in love with their immense unique power and potential. This was the kickstart of the brand’s dynamic energy.
Q: You originally started out as a streetwear brand in 2014, but converted to a luxury brand in 2017. What brought about this transition?
A: I created a brand shortly after graduating from University with the current owner of Andersson Bell.
At that time, which was about eight years ago, I was just a small child. I wanted to make good clothes that I could wear right away. That meant the clothes should be sold at a price that I could afford. However, I changed the direction of the brand little by little, after realizing my real self, what I truly love and in what way I can become happy. I started to make our collections by focusing on what I could sincerely enjoy and pursue.
We know that Andersson Bell is on the right path, and I try to be a better version of myself every day. To be precise, I explore our motivation and our own means to show our strengths.
Q: Your digital presence conveys a very unique, surrealist energy. What is your creative process behind your promotional videos and photographs?
A: As you know, Korea is full of people who are passionate and hate being left behind.
Andersson Bell consists of passionate people, who want to show our brand to the world. Even though we are a small company, we have a marketing team and a content-development team.
I often talk with my close friend Cho Gi-seok, a photographer. I ask him for our brand’s video and we always share and strive for great creativity, even on a small budget. We don’t hesitate for a new challenge.
Andersson Bell is not a brand that can be described in one word. In order to show our identity that is a mixture of our various tastes, that is, the beauty of contrast, we sometimes use surrealism as one method. We always try to show ourselves in different ways.
Q: Who is the Andersson Bell girl?
A: It’s different every time. For example, the motivation of 22FW RTW came from my memory of the time when I was 19 or 20 years old.
I was obsessed with military-inspired clothing back then. I was always the first customer at the Vintage Market, because I arrived ahead of time in the morning and waited until it opened. At that time, I didn't have much money, so I tried on all the clothes and tried to find clothes that fit me. With these experiences, I learned various types of silhouettes of clothing. Furthermore, my own standard for unisex-wear was established. Mix-matching the various clothes was also my pleasure.
My collections are sometimes dedicated to a boy, sometimes a girl, and sometimes for someone that I had never seen before. And the previous collections were inspired mostly by the music I listened to as a child.
Q: Your collaboration repertoire includes projects with Asics and the Sex Pistols. What is your dream collab?
A: I believe it’s a bit early to share our dream-collaboration, but we are surely open to every opportunity, which is the most important thing. We released our collaboration last week, with USA’s time-honored Redwing boots. We also had a collaboration with Asics. Running has been my hobby for 12 years, and I ran a marathon wearing Asic’s shoes. We are now planning on a collaboration with an England-based brand for 23SS. We are already excited to see everyone surprised at the collaboration.
Q: In Andersson Bell’s 8 years, what are you most proud of?
A: I was so proud to see our clothes in Milan and London boutique shops. Also, finding our clothes on global websites that I usually visit was a pleasure. Considering that It has only been three years since we started global-oversea-sales, this is a great achievement. Moreover, I was proud to see BTS on stage wearing our first shoes at their first Grammy Awards.
