In my last Substack newsletter, in April 2024, I mentioned that I just had bought a house. Now, 18 months later, I’m back after undergoing a year-long renovation, and spending the majority of of my vacation moving into the house.
That is cue for rebooting the weekly writing practice. There is still regular programming over at the Scandinavian MIND Weekly Dispatch. Consider this the behind the scenes documentary.
Welcome back to Observations. See you next week.
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
Weekly column: New horizons
Observations: J.Crew’s AI scandal, why marketing is dead, and my favourite lighting brand
Photo gallery
New horizons
Every morning for the past few weeks, I’ve been taking my dog on completely new walks, with completely new views. After 25 years of living in the city, my family and I have relocated to Lidingö, just across the Värtan strait. Leaving the bustling energy of the inner city was not a small decision, but having landed on the other side, both my wife and I are surprised by how little we miss it.
Walking along the shores of Lidingö, you get a panoramic view of the harbour area and the Stockholm skyline beyond. Every tower of the city is visible, from Storkyrkan to the Hötorgsskraporna, to Herzog & de Meuron’s Norra Tornen.
This summer my brother visited from Los Angeles and told me about an acquaintance in Malibu who lived with an impressive view over the LA skyline.
“I don’t want to live in the city anymore, but I like to keep an eye on it,” he said.
I can relate.
Those of you who follow me on Instagram know that this has been a year-long process of renovating a 1959 brick house into our dream home, something that has taken all excess energy and time. Even though the carpenters still come by a couple of days a week to finalise details, we are slowly settling into a new rhythm. My plan is to use some of that extra time to reignite my weekly writing practice.
I miss writing. I miss the habit of it, the discovery of your own opinions and observations. While I’ve kept up journaling, the need for a more public expression is palpable. Not just because I think I have something to say, but because so much is happening in my life that benefits from being documented and explained.
On the work side, Scandinavian MIND has had a running start to the autumn season. Just like last year, we hosted our flagship event, the Transformation Conference, in both Copenhagen and Stockholm. These have been documented online, and more coverage will follow on our platform in the weeks to come.
At the conference, we announced two new initiatives. The first is Fashion Industry Insider — an exclusive community for those working inside Nordic fashion brands. It comes with its own newsletter and access to closed-door events and roundtables not available to the general public. The second is Connector Studio — a new consultancy from Scandinavian MIND helping tech companies navigate and grow within the Nordic fashion ecosystem.
Beyond these activities, which mainly support the transformation of the industry, we are also having intense internal discussions about the next steps for the Scandinavian MIND editorial platform. There is a need to take it to the next level, to fulfil our promise of being a platform for ideas and groundbreaking research.
We want to make a splash in the industry again, and to do so, we are planning to reignite our print edition. Early talks with brands and sponsors are underway, and we are exploring stories that capture the moment we are in. AI, of course, but also deeper questions about where creativity and human knowledge are headed. That is something we want to explore further, and we welcome ideas and input from our community – meaning you.
Beyond work, I feel a strong urge to cover other developments in my life. The new house has sparked a decades-old interest in architecture and interior design, an obsession I’ll share more in this newsletter (though there will be overlaps with Scandinavian MIND).
I’ve also spent much of the past year reading and researching the nature of consciousness, which has opened an interest in developments at the intersection of science, technology, philosophy, and religion. These are topics a bit beyond what Scandinavian MIND usually covers, and I hesitate to infuse them in our editorial ecosystem. But they occupy a significant part of my thinking, and I’d like to use this newsletter to explore them. Who knows, some of these themes may even find their way into a future print edition.
Summer is always a source of reflection and idea-making, even though mine was largely spent moving and dealing with construction workers. My mind is buzzing with ideas for new podcast formats, interviews I’d like to do, topics I’d like to cover, and events I’d like to host.
There is always more one wants to do than one is able to, but that is the life of a creative mind. For now, I’m happy to reboot this weekly newsletter as a way of inviting you into my ever-evolving world of intellectual interests and entrepreneurial endeavours.
I’m glad you are along for the ride.
OBSERVATIONS
J.Crew came under fire for using AI in their latest campaign, Blackbird Spyplane had the story. My Instagram has been flooded with menswear influencers that are upset by the move. We're going to see a lot more of this as brands start to explore this new technology. It seems like what J Crew did wrong was to not be upfront about what they were doing, which was apparently to commission an AI creator to do the campaign. Business of Fashion said it well when brands are “damned if they do, damned if they don’t”. H&M came under fire for announcing that they were coing to use AI generated models. We covered this in an exciting session in last week’s Transformation Conference. Bonus link: our AI editorial, produced in collaboration with Genera.
This podcast with one of my favourite Substack writers, Tom Goodwin, was refreshing. He goes hard on the state of advertising, claiming that 90% of online ads are useless. It used to be that 50% of ads worked, but no one knew which 50%. His surprising conclusion: advertising needs more old-school craftsmanship: good design and a sharp tagline that clearly states the benefit of the product. Enlightening listening for anyone working in marketing.
I’m thrilled about the lighting fixtures that just arrived from my friends at Rubn Lighting. I’ve known founder and designer Niclas Hoflin for 17 years. We first met when I profiled him for Residence magazine. We became friends and spent a lot of time together during the first spring I had just met my wife. So of course, when we started building our dream house, we turned to Niclas. Check out my unboxing video here.
Been listening to this summer: Lights On by Annaka Harris. An excellent audio reportage on the current state of scientific research into consciousness, including the theory that consciousness might be a fundamental property of the universe. I can’t stop thinking about it, expect me to return to this topic in future columns.
PHOTO GALLERY
Me and my co-moderator Linda Pimmeshofer at the latest Transformation Conference. More reporting on this soon. Full image gallery here.
The home office is coming along. Follow our house account here.
The view from the dog walk.
CONTACT
Enjoyed this? E-mail me at konrad@scandinavianmind.com and hit me up with your feedback.
See you next week!