people at home
season 02
magnus
award-winning food enjoyer magnus is fond of a good font. squeezed in between beirendoncks, we gushed over bowie, bulges and baking.











How are your records organised?
Alphabetically.
Do you have a favourite record, both in terms of sound and the record cover?
I have all the record covers from 4AD, the record label, and some from the design duo 23 Envelope, and the covers made by Peter Saville for New Order. I also have a thing for early 60s covers, the Ronettes etc. I like these covers for the colours and fonts. Like my first edition Ronettes LP, where the name has been misspelt with two Ns. 
You have quite a collection! Is it like a time warp of all your faves?
It’s like a time document, but not intentionally. I’ve always been interested in music and collecting records. I’ve lived here for over 30 years in this apartment. From the beginning there was no intention of collecting clothes, I just saved everything that I have bought throughout the years. It has somehow become a collection and I have a specific designer that I collect: Walter Van Beirendonck. I collect in the sense that I like to wear it and return to it, not for the sake of collecting.

“i collect in the sense that i like to wear it and return to it, not for the sake of collecting.”

As someone with a very personal sense of style, how would you describe it to someone you’d never met?
I cannot say it’s a specific style. It’s important for me to feel good and that it emphasise something about me. If I don’t feel good putting it on, then it’s not for me. This whole thing that you buy things because you think someone else is gonna think it’s good, that feels wrong to me. A lot of people dress up in things just because someone else makes it look good, not knowing if it suits them or not.
And maybe that mentality is a bit Swedish? The need to see someone else wearing it before its considered safe to wear it?
Yes, for some it almost feels like a stamp of approval.
who do you dress for?
Now, I need it to feel like me, not a specific style. I mix everything, I buy secondhand, add a lot of colour. Walter is a lot of colour. It’s not antagonistic, I don’t do it to provoke, but of course it is always nice to be noticed.

What draws you to Walter and his designs?
He does so many things and has been going since the 80s. It’s fun, but it’s still serious. He pushes the limits, but with a sense of humour. There is also something subversive about his clothes, the presence of sex and a fetish feeling, but in good taste.  That seems very much on trend at the moment, done well it can be about boundaries and the exploring identity. It is surprisingly layered, not so much about the literal interpretation, but the context of the designer.



What do you care the most about in your collection?
Even though my clothes are precious to me, it would be something from my childhood home. Photos probably, after all clothes are just clothes.
It sounds to me like you are all about references, which also create your home. Do you feel nostalgic about your things you own?
I think so, I tend to buy things that remind me of past periods. Now we are more aware of references than we were before the internet.

“clothes are just clothes.”
Speaking of the internet, do you use social media?
On Instagram, yes. And Facebook I use for information on clubbing.
A friend of mine has a theory that it is why the bar and club scene is declining, because of social media.
Yes, and it takes away the mystery somehow as you already know people through the apps, which changes the scene. But that goes for all things, now you can see everything as it happens, a fashion show in Japan. Back in the day you had to search for things, if you were lucky there would be a mention on TV about the show or you would have to wait to find it in a magazine.  I wouldn’t say it was better, but it created more curiosity. It is the same for music, I can somehow miss the feeling of the hunt for say a new song, when you had to tour all of the record shops and listen to the new records. Or you even went out to hear new music.  Another thing that it has contributed to is that we no longer listen to entire albums, but single tracks.  It has less worth somehow, you can skip or shuffle it. A record had to be good on both sides, it was really important that the B-side could hold its own.

Are you loyal to a genre? And what do you tend to play when you DJ? 
I listen to a lot of things. If I play out, which is very seldom, I want to play hard techno. I don’t collect as many records nowadays, but at home I listen to the old stuff, like 60s soul, I was very much into Motown, Northern Soul, and of course 90s house music. I am not punk or heavy metal, although my likes are broad. I like what I like,it doesn’t always have to be hard techno, but I’m not a jukebox. Of course I would like a dancefloor and consider the crowd, but I would never play the latest hits just to please someone.

“i want to play hard techno.”
Back to the home, what is the most ‘you’ item in your house?
I very much like my Walter van Beirendonck shirt from 1989.
A lot of your references are camp and tongue-in-cheek, how true is this for you?
Maybe not so much when I was younger in the 70s and 80s. They are references and subcultures that I respect, but it doesn’t have to be my references or things that I engage in. Like the gay erotic novels I collect, with titles like Of Hot Nights and Damp Beds, or Bottoms Up. Believe it or not, these novels are not easy to obtain. My favourite might be Battle of the Bulges!

“i like trash culture.”

Are you into the camp scene at all? There is this notion that camp has gone mainstream, by making trash references main stream culture.
I like trash culture, I’ve been a fan of and still like John Waters and Divine. That’s original camp. I’m a fan of the original thing.
As someone who enjoys references, there seems to be a schism with the new generation in the sense that they can see things that have a clear reference, but can’t say where it was from, would you say that it is important to know?
I think it’s important to know the basics. People nowadays are too eager to do things without knowing how to actually do them. Without that knowledge, like how the fabric falls and how to design without using a computer, it makes you lost and lacking in skill sets.

How did you get into fashion?
I first started out working as a shop assistant on a work placement for two weeks, then it became a weekend thing. After that I was a full-time shop assistant. When I moved to Stockholm I was a window decorator at the Kappahl main store, it was at Sergels Torg. Later in the 90s I was working at Paul & Friends, both as a shop manager and a buyer, which made me come more into fashion. I also had my own label for hats and accessories from the late 80s until the mid-90s, which I sold to stores around town. It was called Los Ninos del Parque after a song I liked. One of the shoots actually featured Mini Andén, who became a popular model afterwards.  That’s also why the 90s were so special to me, having this project besides work, it brought me in contact with a lot of people and creatives in Stockholm. I was an important thing for me, but then it started to fade away, as I was doing everything myself the scaling of the business became hard.  After finishing at Paul & Friends I actually did a café at Nitty Gritty for about five years, before Acne. The café was really fun, but hectic. There was a lot of cooking and I got to try my food thing. After this I realised it was stressful and it sort of took the fun out of it, I was happy letting it go when I started at Acne.

“i had my own label for hats and accessories. it was called los ninos del parque after a song i liked.”
It seems both fashion and music are quite central tenants for you. What is more true to you?
Actually, food! Although I am very interested in cooking, but don’t get to do it that much and I am more into baking these days. I do it quite a lot at work, where we have chefs, but I bake as one of my tasks.
Have you ever considered doing anything more with food?
You never know, the interest is still there and I know that I can do it.  The café became popular because I did things that felt new at the time. In the beginning I served a lot of soups and cakes and coffees. Then it developed and I used a lot of new ingredients such as sweet potatoes and quinoa. I actually got this gold dragon award for it, which was really fun.

“i’ve just done what i feel like and still do.”

Have you ever felt inhibited creatively, has it been an intuitive process or have people facilitated it for you?
I’ve just done what I feel like and still do. The older I get the more reluctant I am about trying and starting something new. When I was younger I didn’t care, I just did things. The times are also different, now you don’t need to physically put something out there in the same way. ✷












COLOPHON

Produced in the Kingdom of Sweden
Typeset in Condensa by Jonathon Yule and Century Schoolbook by Linn Boyd & Morris Fuller Benton
Hermit is Hélène Kugelberg, Elise Haugslett, Colin Bergh

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