OLDER Studio

How did the collaboration between you come about, leading to the founding of OLDER?

We started from default actually. OLDER was originally a ready-to-wear brand in the very beginning in Paris, however we felt the world didn’t need one more fashion brands, and we had a lot of friends working in the hospitality and restaurant world. 

As we saw a huge development in the aesthetic and “designed” experience of restaurants and boutique hotels, great architects and designers were engaging in this field, this combined with great innovation in gastronomy and within the world of natural wine caught our attention. What we were feeling was that something was missing: a contemporary and innovative uniform option matching the excellent standards on all the other artistic branches. That’s why and how we started. Also we had grown very tired, of what to us appeared as a green-washed narrative when it came to sustainable solutions within design – so with our knowledge from the textile industry and connections to Italian manufacturing, we started to change our course towards uniforms. Today we weave all our materials ourselves, do all production in certified European factories, where we know that the ethical and quality standards are right and we pack every garment in compostable bags. So we have created  a sustainable supply chain that lives up to a standard, that makes the stamp “sustainable” more than just an empty statement.

In the design process, I guess the secret to what we do, is really to not consider something being a uniform but a garment you wish to wear yourself. When we design new pieces, we always look at what we would like to wear ourselves, what would work on many body types and perform well depending on the environment they are designed for. It’s in this area the uniform are much more connected to industrial design or an application to the interior or exterior architecture, than to fashion or ready-to-wear. A uniform is as much of an instrument to the user as a serving tray is to a waiter or a knife to a chef. One could say, that uniforms have the ability to expand the interior and exterior space they inhabitates. Throughout the years this approach has given us a lot of architectural interesting projects such as working with Olafur Eliasson and his StudioOtherSpace for their “Fjordenhus” project for instance.

Can you explain how the concept of “furniform” reflects a rebirth in the perception of furniture and uniform design?

Furniform is extracted from the words “furniture” & “uniform”. The idea was born out of a research on uniforms within the world of architecture, we call it “clothed architecture”. As uniforms and architecture carry many similarities, from ancient tribes living in tents of cloth or animal fur, using the same material for their clothing as for their houses. Our ambition was to materialise the idea and basic premise, that uniforms operate as an architectural extension within the building and rooms where they operate in service. All furniform pieces are transformable garments that can convert into furniture pieces such as jackets to chairs, trousers to parasol and aprons into tables. This is an on-going investigation of clothed architecture within the studio.

FURNIFORM is an on-going research project which is currently on exhibition in Hong Kong Design Center, previously at ADI Design Museum in Milan.

What specific materials are used in the production of OLDER pieces, and why were they chosen?

Our ambition was to create an intelligent bio-fabric that would age and wash well whilst being stain resistant and iron-free in order for our clients to have the opportunity to skip expensive dry-cleaning services and wash them selves.

All our fabrics are made in Italy in close collaboration with one of Europe’s leading sustainable, technical fabric manufactures. During the development of the fabric we had several washing machines tests running; 1 with oil, 1 with ink, 1 with wine, 1 with coffee etc. We had to find the equilibrium between a breathable stain resistance and balanced cotton weight.

As we found out how well it works in action, today we have this signature fabric composition patented. The latest period, we have increasingly started to see uniforms as a tool from the same toolbox that you build buildings or houses. In the end we are driven by an urge to innovate. Our modest attempt are to try to pioneer a new set of ideas, approaching uniforms in an architectural and anti-industrial way, so they can be symbols of something greater. Symbols of change and a climate neutral way of designing and thinking.

How a responsible and sustainable production contribute to the rebirth of ethical fashion with OLDER?

We have an extreme attention to detail to longevity, our ethical and sustainable production standards within our supply chain. From an ideological point-of-view - our wish is to promote change in every aspect of the sector. Many of our clients choose us deliberately for that, but naturally also, that our eyes on uniforms are trained within a high-end fashion system. We consider our practice an anti-dote to many of the green-washed narratives there are on the market. Our garments are authentic, manufactured in Europe, woven in Italy and compostable packed. When you receive our uniforms they come in a compostable bag, where it says on the front: WE GIVE A FUCK - compostable bag. It is literal, a bit controversial maybe, however it completely condenses our point. We think and act differently on this market, and will continue to do so.

Our approach would be, if it was within architecture categorised as a modernist approach, we work within the grey zone between various genres, so I would use this term here too; a modernist approach. In the design details, we strip away the un-necassary noise and insist on that the functional details should be the design signatures. We also make use of our tailoring background and turn it on it’s head, we made a uniform collection where all seams where outside and not inside the garment, as a detail. 1 detail, not more.