Champion Cook?

Hi all! As with every post on here, I will start by saying that work has been busy but enjoyable! My highlight has probably been seeing the success of the latest Norse Projects caps. Mikkel found some interesting fabrics on one of his trips to Japan, took it to the factory in America and made a few very special 5 panel caps. This is what they look like:

Crazy, right? Well, the top ones sold out in a few days - pretty impressive. Then we released the second batch on Wednesday and they sold out in under 6 hours. Insane! So... we're going to make more interesting exclusives like this because we know that they are incredibly popular! I will of course share them on here once they are released!

Last night we went down to Streetmachine for a few beers after work. I bumped into American rapper 'The Game' outside the store. Apparently he played a show in Copenhagen last night and fancied a bit of Pre-Christmas shopping before his flight in the evening. Obviously, a photo would have been dope, but he refused. Never mind.

Here's a blog post I wrote a few weeks ago about a very special brand called Mister Freedom. They make clothing with amazing attention to detail, some of the most well-made stuff I've seen this year.

Mister Freedom Blog Post

Today I went down to the skatepark for the annual Streetmachine x HUF skate comp. Me and Nick picked up 500 bottles off the lovely people at 'Vitamin Well' yesterday and delivered it to the park:

Photos from today:

Onto more important stuff... a collection of photos from the past few weeks. 

Tonight's dinner:

Followed by:

Last week I made Angel Delight for my housemates. They liked it! I haven't seen it in Denmark and they have never had it before. Thanks go to Ellie for sending it to me!

My second favourite dog in Denmark (my favourite is Gustav, the office dog!):

 Nice job:

Polaroid:

All taken on my £25 a month alarm clock (also called a BlackBerry).

Anyway, I'm going to go and wrap some presents. (Please note, at this point I would make a really funny joke about 'wrapping' and 'rapping', maybe with a comical reference to 'The Game', but I wouldn't want to disappoint my Father's gifted sense of humour). Hyggelig.

What did you say?

This week was an interesting one. We released the first drop of new caps, which are absolutely flying. I wrote a very short blog post about them here. Next week we're releasing the next batch... they're pretty loud!

Last night was the worldwide premiere of the new Nike SB Chronicles film. Streetmachine were one of two Danish stores taking part in the event - we all crammed into a room with a projector and some free beer, and waited until the release at 1am. The movie was INSANE! Here's the trailer:

The last part (Grant Taylor) was unreal. Definitely worth a watch if skateboarding is your thing. (Note: Skateboarding isn't really my thing, but the culture here revolves around skate lifestyle so I've pretty much been dragged straight into it!). 

Today was rather out of the ordinary. A few months ago someone phoned me asking whether I could do some voice recordings because I am English. Today, I went to a recording studio near Hellerup (north of Copenhagen) to find out what it was all about.

Turns out that the recording was for the English summer exams in Danish schools... nationwide! So, come May or June 2012, every student in the 9th Grade will hear my voice reading out various speaking / listening / comprehension exercises! I always used to hate it in German listening exams, not being able to understand what they were saying (because languages were never my strong point), so it was pretty funny to be on the "other side" today. I'm sure many Danish kids will walk out of their exam next year hating my voice because of it! Good stuff.

And finally... Christmas is coming. Norse Projects Holiday 2011 collection should be arriving any time this week, so things are going to get busy! Then again, they never really stopped getting busy. Fun fun fun!

Home

I visited home last weekend for a short break. On Friday I saw my Dad and Sister in Woking, then went down to Bournemouth in the evening to see Ellie. I was pleasantly surprised by a party of guests that had all come to see me... so good!

Here are most of us on Friday evening:

Saturday consisted of [me winning] mini golf and on Sunday it was so good to see everyone from church. 

Back in Denmark, the weather is way colder! We're getting closer to the launch of Norse Projects Holiday 2011 collection which is looking lovely, and I am currently working hard on that.

Here's some blogging I've done recently on the Norse Store website.

Who said red is dead?

Grandpa sandals are cool.

And in other exciting news, we received the samples of the new Norse Projects x Ally Capellino bag in the office the other week. It's going to be released sometime in January or February, hopefully in time for fashion week!

p.s. squash racquets are tasty.

Lager Udsalg!

Yes, this weekend was the warehouse sale in our apartment. Lots of cheap goodies for boys and girls...

Friday was by far the busiest day, but there was a constant flow of traffic on Saturday and Sunday. We had a load of stuff from Etnies, Vans, Insight and Elwood, as well as a few other bits and bobs.

Sunday evening we all helped Bjorn pack everything down, and enjoyed a glass of wine once we had finished. Good stuff!

J Day!

Friday saw the official beginning of Christmas in Denmark, with the release of Julebryg (Christmas beer!):

All the pubs and bars celebrate with over the top decorations, including fake snow and the odd reindeer cardboard cut out. Here's one just down the road from the offices I work in:

And here's a very Christmassy Georg Jensen in town:

That photo was taken at 4.45pm today - it's really starting to feel like Winter. Now I just have to wait for the cold weather to begin I guess!

The oncoming festive season means that deadlines are slowly approaching and the Norse Projects AW12 collection is starting to take some real shape. I took a look at everything in the office that had been done so far, and I am very excited to say it's looking great. I'm looking forward to seeing how some of it turns out, as we expect to receive samples before the shows in January. 

Moving on... here's what I am currently tucking into:

Followed by this:

Top notch.

Pecha Kucha

Last night I went to a presentation evening called 'Pecha Kucha #17'. It was held in the university library in the city and had a great turn out. People from different backgrounds and various walks of life were invited to speak for 6 minutes and 40 seconds. The idea was that each speaker had their slideshow projected behind them, and their slideshow featured 20 slides. The slide would automatically change to the next one after 20 seconds, thus the 20x20 presentation philosophy and the 6 minutes 40 seconds total presentation time.

As someone who has done a few presentations at University, I found this format really fun and interesting (even though half of the speakers were Danish!). 

The evening began with a funky folk band playing a few numbers:

And at the interval another guy played some electronic music using objects on an interactive tablet. Super tech:

Free marshmallows!

The main reason I was there was to see my colleague Nick do his presentation. (He is lucky enough to share a desk with me in the office.) Alongside Norse Projects PR, he is the editor and co-founder of Bitchslap magazine. His presentation was about what it takes to create a magazine - the highs and lows, the efforts and rewards, and the use of funny cats on the internet to increase popularity on Facebook. Here he is in action:

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In other news, there have been a few exciting projects cropping up at the office. I can't show photos for obvious reasons, but Norse Projects Holiday 2011 collection will drop in the next few weeks, along with a small capsule collection just before Christmas. We also received samples for Streetmachine x Vans shoe collaboration - seriously cool. They are out next Summer though, so quite a wait still.

This morning I woke up to a very misty Copenhagen:

When I got to work, Emil showed me H+M magazine which included a rather funny surprise:

www.norseprojects.com/blog is what I have been writing for the past few months. Pretty cool that it got mentioned here, alongside the famous 'The Satorialist' blog.

I've just realised this has become a very long blog post - sorry. But I have to leave you with this. The guys at FOTT in Moscow sent us their lookbook today. Definitely the most creative, incredible thing I've seen this season. And best of all, the Norse Projects ELKA jacket is the star of the show! Enjoy!

P.S. I got cloned on the Norse Store front page this week. Shameless plug, I know.

Chills and Changes

Lots has been going on this week. My first bit of news is that I have been given another role too add to my duties - I'm now responsible for customer service enquiries on the Norse Projects website. Nothing major, but still interesting and important, as I'm sure I will need to learn how to do this properly for the future. 

We have had a few meetings at the office this week. Over the next few weeks we need to start planning for Christmas - exciting, but no doubt stressful! I got some good feedback for the Norse Store website too. Sales are good and the site is looking great (probably because I'm on the front page every week? Somehow I think not.)

Anyway, this caught my attention as I was walking home from the office on Monday:

An interesting rolling video about climate change and being environmentally friendly. The cool thing is, it's projected onto the town hall. Pretty clever if you ask me. 

Today I was out at the warehouse sorting out stock and helping to organise a new area for webshop packing and returns etc. While I was there I picked up a few goodies to make sure my fingers and toes don't fall off this winter.

Props to Bjorn for hooking me up with the boots a few weeks ago - they have already proved they are going to be a necessity. 

I will leave you with a picture of what I'm currently tucking into: