In our third episode, we enter the studio of Anne Strandfelt and Lizet Hee Olesen, who together founded LA Graphic Design and Important Magazine, two integral parts of the Danish design industry. 

Anne Strandfelt and Lizet Hee Olesen met at the start of the millenia in 2005. They were both working in a design studio and  instantly clicked and started collaborating on a variety of fun projects. “Wacky ideas and big dreams just flourished” they tell us, “and in 2007 we decided to found our own studio LA Graphic Design. Looking back we were quite fearless, and as the financial crisis hit the same year, we established a strong willpower to push through right from the beginning. We never doubted ourselves or each other. Throughout the years, there has been a lot of hard work as we’ve navigated big clients in the arts, culture and fashion world. This led us to the inevitable understanding that in order to keep your creative spirit alive, you must make room for your own personal voice. That’s when we founded Important Magazine. It was born from the urge to explore something new, raw and deeply personal. To revisit our initial fountain of wacky ideas!”

As friends and colleagues, they channel their mutual curiosity and love for experiencing the world through creative projects and multiple expressions. At the same time, they find power in their differences. “We are very different, and we both contain our individual mindsets and onsets in life, but differences can often create an abundant ground for something unique and dynamic. The connection we have established over time is like a continuum that now has a life of its own. Almost like a third entity, who is actually the most interesting and priced employee at L.A.” 

To celebrate the beauty of their intrinsic similarities and differences, we sit down with both Anne and Lizet to hear their individual stories, learning what makes their partnership and friendship so special.

In conversation with Anne Strandfelt


HOW DID YOU END UP BECOMING WHO YOU ARE? 

I grew up in the 80s as the youngest out of three children. I have two older brothers who are 7 and 12 yErs older than me, so they influenced me in a quite mature way, I guess. And, I of course, idolised them. I quickly grew out of childhood anecdotes, pushing my toys and teddy bears aside. Instead wanted to be James Bond and Maverick from Top Gun. I listened to the same music they did, and saw the (horror) movies they saw. As children we weren’t under that much surveillance back then, so I was often left to my own devices. In that sense, I was a very independent child. My parents gave me a lot of freedom to roam about and do my thing. I was always outside in nature roaming about with friends from my street, roller skating, biking around, climbing trees. When inside, I was always drawing. My own vivid imagination fuelled my day and my play. Boredom was and is a foreign concept to me. 

WHAT PIQUED YOUR INTEREST IN ART AND CULTURE?

From very early on I was on a creative path. I guess most children are,  but I remember one of the first things I wanted to be was a Journalist. I loved writing - I was extremely curious and observant. I also travelled a lot with my parents after my brothers moved out. My mother, a trained nurse - who should definitely have been an artist herself - was very interested in arts and culture, so every year we drove all over Europe (end destination France or Northern Italy) to see museums, artist’s and composer’s houses. I did not find it that interesting as a kid (reluctantly being dragged out of the back of the car where I was engrossed in a stack of Donald Duck magazines with my Sony walkman to visit “Matisse’s Chapel” - insert a big sigh!). 

But of course as I grew older I realised what a huge privilege it was and that it influenced me a huge deal on many levels. Subliminal creative grooming! We also travelled a lot to London, which became my favourite city from the very first visit. The beginning of the 90’s was such a booming time on the London fashion, music and arts scene. I bought my first The Face magazine back in 94’ and then I was onto fashion. The energy totally turned my world upside down, all I wanted was to go and live there myself one day. This eventually happened, and I began studying at London College of Fashion in 1996 after high school, living in London for a year at a very suspicious and run-down bedsit in West Kilburn. I remember the cab driver being really worried about me as he dropped me off, but I loved every second of it, it was the most exciting thing ever. I felt so at home in that crazy big city from the get go. I went back in 2000 and lived for 5 yrs to study my BA and MA in Graphic Design at Central Saint Martins. London has a huge place in my heart.

WHAT DOES CREATIVITY MEAN TO YOU?

Creativity has been an essential part of who I am my entire life. I was always encouraged to express myself through creative practices, drawing, painting, writing, sewing, creating performances or plays at home. It is my language, a method through which I learn about myself and the world around me. Through which I interpret and communicate. 

As a child I always externalised my feelings (anger, happiness, frustration, sorrow, confusion) through some sort of creative practice, it gave shape to thoughts, feelings and sensations I otherwise couldn’t always name. It was both happy escapism and necessary self-confrontation. It also found it gave me positive attention, which was probably also a driving force. I loved making my parents laugh with funny drawings and cartoons, it created a bond of intimacy which I was probably also seeking and enjoying through it. I think creativity is essentially that, a method for investigation, a mirror and reaching out. Exploring and diving into our creativity is a wildly dismantling endeavour, if we do it with honesty. It allows us to feel and fumble our way into these sometimes invisible and inexplicable layers of human existence. For me, this curious and wondrous examination is as important as breathing.

LIKE YOUR WORK AT LA GRAPHIC DESIGN, WE STRIVE TO DISMANTLE, PUSH AND MERGE BOUNDARIES AND EXPECTATIONS FOR WOMEN IN FASHION, IN DEDICATION TO THE MODERN WOMAN. WHAT DOES BEING A WOMAN MEAN TO YOU?

I’m very conscious and grateful for the fact that growing up the way I did, where I did and when I did, made me not have to consider my own sex in regards to any of the ambitions I had or have. I am painfully aware that generations before me had to struggle with obscene and limiting societal expectations of what “a woman was supposed to do”, and I have seen the sacrifices first hand. Thinking about it makes me profoundly furious and sad, because women today all over the world are still subject to these “codes of conduct”. Even more mind-boggling is when women today are still busy telling other women (obviously from a fear-based perspective) how to “behave”, “what to wear”, “how to look”, “when to have kids” etc. We should really all be more concerned with fighting for those who feel that, due to whatever reason, be it sex, sexuality, religion, race and so on, they are not allowed the same freedom as anyone else, when it comes to making choices for their own life or body, at any point in their life. We are here to liberate and uplift each other essentially. To quote the British female writer George Eliot (1819-1880) who had to take on a male pseudonym as a writer to get published, “what do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?”

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU'VE LEARNT SO FAR AND WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE? 

Life is one long and puzzling lesson, isn’t it? Just this realisation itself is a big lesson. Learning to be content with whatever happens as it is - this is something I am still practising to accept in my present reality. Instead of “Oh I wish this was different, better, elsewhere…you name it” and taking on the weight of the entire world on your shoulders, it is about accepting reality. Being human is overwhelming for us all, so practising kindness and gentleness with both ourselves and others is absolutely essential. Staying awake, alert, curious, open-minded and living each day one at a time. 

As I grow older the smallest things makes me cry with gratitude, a flower blossoming, a black bird singing its evening song, sitting in the sofa with my husband doing n-o-t-h-i-n-g, watching the wind in my cat's whiskers, small gestures of love from my friends, the golden sunlight on a September afternoon. Maybe these perceived small things around you are actually the biggest and most important things to notice. Life is so precious (I need to grab a tissue again now, haha).

In conversation with Lizet Hee Olesen


HOW DID YOU END UP BECOMING WHO YOU ARE?

I was born in Seoul and adopted to Denmark very young. It has of course formed me and eventually taught me to appreciate that not everything is controllable and given; you have to make your own way in life. Over the years, I have approached myself and this part of my history with various feelings and rejection. Growing up in an environment so far away from your origin has been much more challenging than I thought. Learning more about this fact of my life has eventually given me more ease and a sense of belonging from within, but it was difficult to embrace when I was young. 

Through my formative years I pursued different educational directions. I always had two parallel tracks, one academic, loving to read and obtaining knowledge (I hold a BA in Media Science) and one creative. I have been drawing and painting ever since I can remember, and I originally went to art school before going to university. Eventually it led to a MA in Digital Design & Communication. The essence is always being drawn to expressing and understanding visual culture. I am proud that I managed to integrate and trust my creative sensibility and instinct with a more analytical and reflective perspective, but it was quite confusing at times, because I did not take the beaten track, and you are often taught to do either or. 

Twelve years ago, I gave birth to my daughter. That changed my life completely. The responsibility and need to nurture another being was transformative on a different scale and level. Witnessing the growth of your own offspring is quite surreal and the core of my joy.

WHAT PIQUED YOUR INTEREST IN ART AND CULTURE?

Well, to be honest I think it started way back when I was just a kid and falling in love with visually immersive universes like the world of Hello Kitty and My Little Pony. The whole package, the objects, the packaging, the graphic design, the scents of an artificial strawberry eraser. Everything from Sanrio. Oh my, I was so obsessed. I would draw all the characters and just surrender into a dreamy pastel world. 

Later came fashion and the whole teenage desire for re-inventing yourself through style and music - record sleeve design, reading the Face magazine, watching a ton of movies. Then came the more mature fascination with furniture design & fine art, refined things with a more traditional sense of beauty. I guess I naturally developed a sense to distinguish the good and desirable design from the forgettable and boring. 

My father was encouraging from early on, and taught me to trust my ability. I have later learned that design is creation in a broad sense, and it is inherent in everything we do, everybody designs, the way you bring common things together is design, the meals you prepare, the outfit you wear, the path you choose. Designing in a professional sense is attractive, because you get to share a vision of life and spark interest with your particular aesthetic and functional point of view. Good design can help communicate an important message a thousand times stronger.

HOW DO YOU BRING HOLISTIC LIVING AND CRYSTALS INTO YOUR LIFE AND WORK?

For me, holistic living is quite simply the idea of being present. Letting go of excess thoughts and worries and just be, and appreciate what you have and are. Trust your own ability to seek the good and healing ways in life. This is hard to learn though, and mostly comes down to un-learning a lot of taught cultural influences that are irrelevant. You need help to achieve this state of mind and living. I feel that nature has a profound meaning and it is generosity available and giving.

Stones and minerals have an energy which can be appreciated on many levels. I am no expert in all the properties of crystal healing, but I have experienced that stones contain certain vibrations that can be helpful. I have a healing practice which is founded in the reiki learnings, and this is a transforming insight that I get to share when offering my help to reconnect with your own healing energies, that are always available, but sometimes need a little assistance to access. 

LIKE YOUR WORK AT LA GRAPHIC DESIGN, WE STRIVE TO DISMANTLE, PUSH AND MERGE BOUNDARIES AND EXPECTATIONS FOR WOMEN IN FASHION, IN DEDICATION TO THE MODERN WOMAN. WHAT DOES BEING A WOMAN MEAN TO YOU?

Being a woman in this particular time and place means challenges, hope, power and the prospect to guide from a softer perspective. We are all both strong and vulnerable. The strong part always has a responsibility to speak up and continue to make place for the equality of all gender, class, race and species. The era of the ruling white patriarchal supremacy is hopefully coming to an end, and I strongly believe that a more sensitive state of being all over the world is generating a new common platform for a more wholesome and united agenda. The female perspective and representation is needed to challenge and balance the dominant masculine establishment.

Everything is connected, being a woman is being human, and all humans are dependent on each other. We need to see beyond the structural boundaries and connect with our inner good.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU'VE LEARNT SO FAR AND WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE? 

The biggest lessons in life always seem to be the most simple. Being present without prejudice, be thankful, help where you can, stay humble and enjoy life with no regrets. Spend time with your loved ones. Laugh, dress up, dress down, eat, sleep, surround yourself with loving people. In that way I feel I can meet the world and contribute in a meaningful way. 

Professionally, I hope I can continue this path I am already creating. I want to create and develop even more adventurous projects, and share space and time for fun, join creativity with peace and care. I hope to expand time for my ceramics, it brings me so much joy and I feel I connect to myself when being in touch with clay. And my healing practice will extend, I don’t know exactly how, but I am looking forward to it.