Meet the designers building a brand, in a bog, through a break-up

If Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun and Sophia Martinussen of the Copenhagen-based label Solitude Studios weren’t designers, they both agree they’d study biology. In many ways, the brand itself has existed as one big, collaborative scientific experiment. It was started by Jonas and his friend in late 2019, then the pair reached out to Sophia over Instagram four months after the initial launch to incorporate Sophia’s crochet works in the designs.

Eventually, the other co-founder left the brand and Jonas and Sophia have worked as co-owners and creative directors for the past two years. During this time, Solitude Studios has expanded far beyond the popular swamp-like seaweed bags that the brand initially became known for. Debuting their latest AW24 collection Hibernating Hopes off-schedule before Copenhagen Fashion Week, they’re now being credited with starting their very own core-affixed trend: bogcore.

While “swampcore” and even “goblincore” trends have been circulating across the internet over the past couple of years, to Jonas and Sophia, incorporating nature within their designs is far more than an aesthetic. Some of the pieces in Hibernating Hopes were even dyed in a peat bog near their studio.

“I would skip school a lot and just walk around in the swamp area where I grew up, where the adults would tell us that the water was red because all the elves were washing their clothes there,” says Sophia. “I started wondering what if I put fabric down there? What would happen?” After conducting multiple tests – which included burying fabric samples in the bog and leaving them there for weeks or months during different seasons, they discovered a process that left each garment uniquely dyed. 

The idea behind Hibernating Hopes came to the duo both through the bog, and from a trip to an exhibition on the Danish Iron Age at the Moesgaard Museum. “People would throw whatever was most sacred to them into the bog and then hope for something in return,” says Jonas. “We soon realised that this way of sacrificing to the bog is almost karmic. You give something and then you trust that nature will give it back to you, it’s not about you controlling what comes your way.”

When speaking with both Jonas and Sophia, it’s clear this refreshingly flexible approach to the unpredictability of existence bleeds into all areas of their lives. Their relationship with each other has also been malleable: going from collaborators to being in a relationship for three years, then breaking up and focusing on co-parenting their “baby” – the brand. 

We spoke to the Solitude Studios co-owners about Hibernating Hopes, sacrificing to the bog, and building a brand through a breakup.

Hey both! Tell me about the story behind your latest collection, Hibernating Hopes.

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: It started from a couple of different points at the same time. We had this thing of dying fabric in the bog that we’ve been going for almost two years, and then we wanted to do a collection that had the space to speak for itself more. 

Sophia Martinussen: Yeah, in the process of making these fabrics, we were digging them up and putting them in water and we felt strangely connected to it in an almost ritualistic way. It felt very sacred. We wanted to immerse ourselves into that and find out what is it with this bog that feels like it has some kind of truth under the murky water that we didn’t find anywhere else. 

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: The connection was quite strong and then we visited the museum in the late summer of last year and drew this parallel. A wishing well came to mind as a continuation of where we put our most valued possessions. It’s not really a thing we use anymore – both this thing of a wishing well and also this trust in nature. So we asked what happens when you actually trust and go with whatever nature is telling you, and put your faith into something bigger than yourself and your own intuition. 

Before this, you took some time off from hosting fashion shows and releasing new collections. Tell me about that. 

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: Our first runway show was very well recieved, luckily, but we took some turns that put us in a situation where we didn’t have time to do new designs because we were caught up in sales and we didn’t have the infrastructure for it. We were thrown into this whirlwind of wanting to also make our stuff more available and wanting us to get it out there more.

“‘Bog core’ is perfect for this [AW24] collection because it was a combination of the iron age and the present day. The big city meets bog” – Solitude Studios

Do you feel more prepared now? 

Sophia Martinussen: Definitely. We learn as we go. Neither of us has any education really so it’s a lot of trial and error. Just like with the fabrics, we’ve had to figure out how to build a business as we go. But we’ve found a balance where we can do both and are more prepared this time. 

What do you think of this collection being called bog-core?

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: We think it’s fun. It’s sometimes necessary for people to make it a bit more palatable and put us in this box to be able to analyse it and understand it. We also think it’s fun that these buzzwords emerge from this work because it’s not like our work is very buzzy. We don’t think about these things when creating it. But “bog core” is perfect for this collection because it was a combination of the iron age and the present day. The big city meets bog. 

What did you end up learning from your bog experimentations?

Sophia Martinussen: We were always very curious about creating from our surroundings and the bog seemed like the perfect place to do it. You could come out there after a couple of months, and there’ll just be nothing. It depends on the season and the fiber. Protein fibres like wool or silk can be there for a long time, but cotton gets eaten so fast. It was also just leaving it up to chance and not knowing what we were going to be pulling up. Every time is different, you don’t know if there’s going to be a huge hole in the middle because some animal ate it. Then, we could design around it and that shapes how the jacket is going to be shaped.

That really takes “slow fashion” to a whole new level. What about the seaweed bag. Where did that idea come from?

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: The seaweed bag was one of our first Solitude Studio pieces ever from our very first collection. It started with this technique with seaweed before it was a bag. The technique was to upcycle textile waste to make this ball of grass. We wanted it to be like wearing a lawn. Then it started to resemble seaweed and a big inspiration for it was Copenhagen itself. We have these huge lakes and once a year there’s huge piles of seaweed next to the streets. We just instantly loved it.

How has it been going from dating to breaking up, all while continuing to build Solitude Studios?

Sophia Martinussen: When I first started working at Solitude, I was mainly working with the other guy, but one day I was in the studio and Jonas was there as well. We had this nice connection and started sharing our ideas and going to museums. It kind of ended up that we dated. We started slow because we were like ‘this is not a good idea’ if we want to keep working together. We always spoke about how there’s probably some point that we’re not going to be dating anymore. And how would it be then? But we also had this trust in the universe. That’s something we both share. 

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: We were together almost three years and, if I were to sum it up in one word, I would call it intense. We started living together really fast and then we’d spend every moment of our day together. It wasn’t very sustainable for a romantic relationship. So we talked about the fact that we’d choose work over our relationship every step of the way. 

Sophia Martinussen: It became so much more fun to be working together than dating. We’d have the most fun together here in the studio. We had a friend who once said to us, ‘the way you meet someone is also the reason you’ll end up breaking up.’ And I think that resonated so much with us. We met through wanting to work together but that’s also the reason we had to end it. Because we want to work together. 

“[Our break-up] was a beautiful realisation that we are life partners in a different way and we’re still bound for something else. We still want to share our life and, when breaking up, it felt reassuring that we had this baby together” – Solitude Studios

And how is your relationship now?

Sophia Martinussen: It was a beautiful realisation that we are life partners in a different way and we’re still bound for something else. We still want to share our life and, when breaking up, it felt reassuring that we had this baby together. Ever since it’s been much better and our work has been better. The whole thing is more enjoyable. 

What are your plans for the future?

Jonas Sayed Gammal Bruun: We definitely want to keep doing shows. We realised this time around that shows are when we have the most fun with our job. And moving to Paris is definitely in the cards but it will probably be a few collections before we make it there. 

Sophia Martinussen: We had so much fun making this collection, going deep into the storytelling, and even choosing something that is less aesthetically pleasing but fits better in the story. We met up two days after the show because we couldn’t wait to get back into making clothing. We just want to keep learning and being curious about the world and our craft. That’s our goal.