INTERVIEW:

 

 

 

 

What's Recens Paper?

 

Elise: Recens Paper started up in October 2013 - with absolutely no clue of what it contained making a magazine. I got the idea of making a magazine by and for young people - after a few months working with the blog network I founded Archetype.nu, which was also based on the same vision; showcasing young talent. How many paper based magazines run by really young people are there in Scandinavia? I am pretty sure there are none.

 

In February 2014, I launched Recens’ issue 1, during the extremely commercial fashion week Oslo Trend. Recens Paper has after that developed into becoming a creative agency showcasing young and unknown talent through publications, events and prints sold in our webshop. Recens Paper has turned into an accompanying non-commercial magazine providing ad-free content, as well as becoming more like a youth movement instead of a youth concept. Now we are focusing on gathering and showcasing young talents from all around the world, focusing on an international audience and aiming to recapture the honest and original attitudes to today’s young people. Back to answering your question, the idea was more based on the need for a young concept that is showing the mature and established industry something more experimental.

The journey has so far been very turbulent - I’ve basically learned through mistakes (a whole lot of them…), yet gaining a whole lot of experience around the field. It was like I was thrown into the water, and I had to crawl the way up myself. The concept has also changed a lot, which I also think is quite natural when I’ve also been going through some changes. I want to keep the project open and flexible. It’s like Recens Paper grew with me - it started out as a pre-pubertal project and is slightly developing into something post-pubertal. Recens Paper in 2015 has so much more behind it, than what it had in 2013.

 

 

You're 15. Is your age ever affecting you in your work? 
 

Elise: I think I become more free to experiment and fail when I’m this young - since people don’t expect me to run a magazine in this age. I get a bigger acceptance for having fun with my creative work, and I’m sure that reflects in my work. On the other hand, it’s hard getting taken seriously as a 15 years old. I have been rejected applying for creative funds tons of times, photographers has refused working with me because of my age, I cannot get into my own parties without bringing a fake ID and I get a lot of criticism from the other established and commercial magazines. Even though I believe all of these actions are made in the fear of the young generation taking over the industry, these are the hardest part of the game. I financed issue 1 with my pocket money saving, instead of spending it in the local candy shop, as most other 15 year olds would do. For issue 2, I spent my time organizing meetings with potential contributors for Recens - rather than doing the chores, so my pocket money didn’t quite add up to do the same as last time.

 

I’m not in my final and most important year of secondary school, but the combination of school and creative work works surprisingly well. After quite a lot of stress-breakdowns lasting for weeks, I feel quite geared up for taking on some more work. I have become a fucking racer on writing lists, for example. I however believe that I’ve learned more the last year than what I would ever learn in school, in every subject. I bring what I learn at work into my work at school. It is about finding a balance and prioritizing. I have for example all of my friends outside school, as I don’t go well together with other fellow 15 years olds. My days consist of school, homework, working at the office, attending events, eating dinner with my family and a big lack of sleep. I’m the most creative at midnight.

 

 

Who would be your ideal work partner?

 

 

Elise: I have so many ideal work partners, it’s insane. I have made a little notebook of 15 upcoming designers I want to do creative direction with, at least 30 artists I want to make exhibitions with and countless numbers of other young writers, stylists and musicians. It’s hard pointing out one. I just want to make work and work partners out of my private relations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As both the editor-in-chief and creative director you are in charge of a lot of things. What title would you use to describe yourself?
 

Elise: I am both the editor and creative director for the print- and online magazine, which means I’m responsible for content production, design (together with an amazing graphic design team), sales managing, distribution, marketing, hiring, etc. I am also curating, publishing and distributing the other publications we do (zines and books, launching this spring/summer) and managing the webshop. i also run the creative agency, which involves a lot of research, communication and design+branding for other clients. A title that fits all of this is a creative director/curator - but I don’t really like defining myself as anything. I am at least titled as that on my visit card...

 

 

You recently threw a party in Copenhagen titled "Dive into recens". Tell me about it.
 

Elise: I did! The 'Dive Into Recens’ event is a part of our vision as a youth movement; to gather youngsters, this time particularly from Copenhagen. We also aimed to showcase local young or unknown fashion designers, film directors, models and photographers. As over 30% of our audience is based in Copenhagen (or Denmark in general), we counted that 250 people dropped by Blaa Galleri and our event during the evening - to dive into the Recens concept through a fashion installation, a photo-exhibition and a film screening. It all went great, even though it was my first time curating an installation like that. It was overwhelming to see that so many people are interested in Recens - and I also think it shows the need it has been for a concept like this in Scandinavia. We are planning to host a lot more events in the upcoming months, and especially kick-ass launch-parties for issue 2 estimated to launch in March! Then of course, there were a big bunch of people standing behind the fashion installation together with me - a big team of young makeup-artists, filmmakers and musicians!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we could just forget all about Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram; what would then be your main sources for inspiration?

 

Elise: I am having synesthesia - a neurological phenomenon that makes me ‘seeing' letters/numbers/words/feelings in different colors and categorizing them. That makes me getting inspired of color combinations and contrasts in my creative direction. Sportswear is inspiring me in the way I personally dress, and other magazines and talented young people (who I am lucky to be working with every day) for the work I do at Recens. I do a lot of research and read extremely many interviews from day to day. To read about such creative and hard working personalities is inspiring. Other mediums such as films, music and books are inspiring too, but probably not as much as attending other’s events or reading other’s magazines.

 

When being constantly ambitious it's easy to forget to breathe. What do you do for relaxation?

 

Elise: I wish I could have said ‘reading a magazine’ here, and I like to think that I can, too. The truth is though - that every time i open a magazine I use it for research and work instead. I am super hyper, and will never be able to not think about anything at all for a couple of hours - but maybe an hour could work. I usually go out for a walk in the forest or take a bath, or something super boring like that. I somehow hate relaxing.

All in all - what is the goal behind all of this hard work?

 

Elise: The thing the projects i do have in common is the vision of showcasing young talents, - there are so many who deserves being discovered. In a few years, I see myself doing more projects I love and running them to new levels, with even more experience on the hand. I guess it is really hard and limiting to predict the future, especially from my age!

Are you allergic to anything?

 

Elise: The commerical fashion industry and sexism.

 

What's seaweed?

 

Elise: Seaweed to me is a big inspiration source, and a platform I really want to collaborate with in the future. Filled up with interesting interviews and atmospheric and youthful pictures - I could almost adopt it... Such a strong creative platform. How come the name though?◆