peeling off the layers

Creating, destroying, and then creating anew. This is what you feel when you meet with Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen, the creative director of Han Kjøbenhavn. Han Kjøbenhavn stands out in the fashion world with its designs that are dark, atmospheric, mysterious, yet still bring out the precious emotions within. Initially established as an eyewear brand in 2008, Han Kjøbenhavn is now growing every day, extending its aesthetic from Beyoncé to Julia Fox. The presence of Han Kjøbenhavn is dark, atmospheric, and mysterious yet it stirs emotions that come to life where you somehow find the precious feelings within yourself. We continue to imagine unique narratives among the elements that Jannik designed, transcending the boundaries of fashion, inviting you to embark on a journey where creativity knows no limits.

How would you define creativity?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: It’s a personal thing, I would say for me, to me it’s like emotions shaped into something physical. 

What does clothes mean to you?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: There are two levels, the obvious one; It’s a personal way of expression, yourself, but clothes for me is clothing again, it’s a shape of execution, of execution art, push boundaries and emotions.

“I like to build my own bubble, my own world, and then invite people into what I create.”

-Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen

How do you feel about the term ‘muse’?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: I don’t like it at all. I don’t like it. I don’t use it. I see a lot of people using muse word here and there. I mean, I know that you can interpret it in different ways. But muse for me is picking up something which is not your own thing, right? So, you let yourself be inspired by somebody else or something. I think for me everything has to be personal, it has to come from within me. That’s why, I’m not a fan of that kind of way of thinking.

How do you bring the best of yourself?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: I think it’s something I’m born with it and I’m very rarely satisfied. I’m super miserable. No, I’m not. But I’m always somehow feel that I don’t like to stand still. I like to be on a constant move. I like to be in constant development. I like to be in a constant conflict. So, I think that’s kind of my fuel. That’s something within me. It’s not something that I take on me. It’s just something that lives within me. You either have it or you don’t, right? It’s very hard to get that learned and to get that forced into you. I mean, it’s something some of us don’t have, or some people are born with, and essentially, that becomes the path of the energy.

You turn fantasy into reality in your designs. So, are you closer to reality or to fantasy?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: It’s a blend. I feel that in your design all the time. For me, it’s a blend, it’s a merge, so it’s a balance in between. It’s something that exists by itself. But what is important, though, for me is to create my own world, my own planet, my own space to exist in. Therefore, I don’t necessarily have to think or concern myself too much about what happens. In the industry of what is up and down right now, what tendency what I have to come from within. I like to build my own bubble, my own world, and then invite people into, to what I create.

What are the characteristics of Han Kjøbenhavn for you?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: Emotions, conflict, being very important, texture, layers. These are the key elements in the way I think. 

In a constantly evolving fashion landscape, how does Han Kjøbenhavn stay true to its values and continue to evolve with the changing times?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: I think that’s the only way to. I cannot imitate something I’m not. I cannot force myself to adapt. I have to be the procreation that people follow. So, that’s the only way I know how to do stuff. So, it’s not something that I think too much about. I just create from. Like personal raw emotions and hopefully that’s enough to inspire people and have a tendency to embrace what you’re doing. I don’t know if I mentioned that before in terms of how I design; I think emotions are important. You have to create something that makes people feel right. That’s pretty basic. Make people feel that’s essential in what we’re doing. I don’t want to tell people what I’m trying to say. I think fashion, art, whatever you do, I create something, I show it to you, and then I cannot dictate how you feel. It’s a raw emotion and it doesn’t matter what I try to tell you, because either you connect or you don’t. So, that’s very important for me to have that mentality.

“I cannot imitate something I’m not. I cannot force myself to adapt… It has to come from personal raw emotions.”

-Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen

Can you discuss how the concept of ‘identity’ plays a role in your creative process and influences your collections?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: Everything is liquid for me. A human is a human. I respect the human shape across the borders, and I’ve always thought and designed like that. I think too many designers react to what’s up and what’s modern in time. I’ve always designed the way I have been designing, and I’ve always respected the human being and the body, no matter what shape of thought it comes into. In that sense, my process and my way of thinking has always been the same, to respect each human being equally.

That is the part of how I work, how I think. For me, I don’t pay too much attention to what it right and what is wrong. This is how we do it and this is I have always done it. If you look at my work and I’ve always worked like this. This is also why I think that people who knows and follow fashion or my work has seen that for a long time. That is just an integrated way of how I think. I don’t like to use it a cultural trick or anything. I think it has to be honest and come from within. There are too many brains who reacts in terms of what the industry or what the world tells you to react at that moment, and it just becomes hollow. I know that the audience and the consumer is smart, therefore, you have to be and stay true to who you are. 

Han Kjøbenhavn has been described as ‘arcane.’ Could you elaborate on how historical elements find their way into your designs and storytelling?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: Regarding human beings, creativity, and everything. I like to peel off layers. I like depth. I like a bit of mystery to everything or else there’s nothing in it. I like to take people on an emotional journey. So, it makes sense in terms of how I design and inside of the elements. I don’t have any forced elements into the way I design. Everything is an organic evolution of the way I think and the way I feel. Then, I pick and choose from my brain in terms of how I integrate that into my expression.

What are you manifesting at the moment?

Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen: I don’t do that. What I do right now is what I’ve always done. There are two things that signifies what I do is; one of them is that I’m always hungry for more. I’m always restless in my brain and my soul, so I have a huge hunger to keep creating, keep like pushing for new paths. Another thing that is a constantly the way I design, if you look at my work, you have to look at like a book with 50 chapters. We’re in chapters 5 to 6. Essentially, I’m telling a long story, and the shows and what I create are just part of that story. When we look back at my work from twenty years from now, you will be able to see the continuation, and the relationship between each show. But I will still push it, so I always tell the story from a different angle.

A thing that even you can be conceptual in what you create. You can have a specific DNA, but your DNA can never hinder your growth. A DNA for many brains, many designers become a problem because you’re so defined that a specific aesthetic. For me, DNA is liquid, and it has not a physical shape. It is inside of the brain and the emotions. The physical shape has to evolve and change. That’s how I create and design.