NORWEGIAN DESIGNER READY FOR TOKYO

How did you start your career in fashion? I would say it first started when I got the invitation to showcase at Vancouver Fashion Week in 2014. To travel over to Canada with little to no experience and witness the madness surrounding fashion, ..it got me drawn in like a moth to the light. The respons was quite positive and after that I've been creating pieces and had shows in various countries. I actually started the brand in 2012, but due to the art studies I focused more on the art at the time.

When did you understand that you wanted to be a designer? Elementary school, but I was not fixed on that idea to begin with. I even wanted to be a lawyer at one time. I was very back and forth with the whole designer idea in early adulthood. Mostly because of my need to express myself through art, and at first I didn't see how I could combine the two. Eventually I found a commonground for my expression. Now my pieces consist mainly of art pieces, like wearable art.

You have done dresses of teabags before - how did you come up with this? The idea came to me from my interest in chemicals, and how toxic chemicals from wastewater in the textile industry pose as a hazard to auqatic life, nature, animals and even humans. These are toxic chemicals used today, even though many of them have been banned. That is because they're not banned in every country, so you can manipulate the system easily. Banned chemicals have also been found in textiles, when tested cause of this. And the fact that you can buy certain certficates doesn't make it easier for us to aviod these chemicals. That started the collection ''Drink it'' made out of teabags, denim remnants and other textiles. The title was sort of symbolic with it's double meaning.

Have you always been into sustainable fashion design? When I first started I thought I had to produce like every other label, with focus on the commersial market. I even sold one collection to a shop in London. After some time the pieces I designed became more and more artistic in its expression, and environmental statements.

What is your best advice for new designers? Keep your goals out of arms reach, so you push yourself a little bit harder to get to where you want to be. When you reach your goal, move on to the next and so forth. Most importantly, fuck up. Do mistakes. It will benefit you in time. This is what TED Talks taught me

What are the three most important things you've learnt in your career? Believe in what you express. Don't make rushed agreements. Work hard.

Where did you get you inpiration? Music, science, movies and series..may have been a tad influenced by Annihalition and The Walking Dead of all series. (Yes, seen every season, what an achievement Haha!)

Rebeca Høien has studied art at DTK, and she is a part of the creative team of eco.logic/Envelope1976. She is also working her fifth year in the fashion industry, at Kaare Lund Agency. She started her own fashion/art brand, Rebeca Rebeca, in 2014, and it developed more into an art statement with focus on the environment, by using materials such as teabags and computer hardware. Her work has been published in several countries around the world.

The writer knows the designer