Iso.Poetism’s Tobias Birk Nielsen Nabs Denmark’s Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize
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MILAN — “One jury member called him ‘Danish fashion’s best-kept secret,’ meaning that he managed to become an international success before he became a name at home in Copenhagen. That’s rare. We’re happy to change all of that today,” said Nina Wedell-Wedellsborg, founder of Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize in revealing this year’s winner.
Iso.Poetism by Tobias Birk Nielsen nabbed the prestigious award, designed as Denmark’s answer to the LVMH Prize to support the most promising up-and-coming talent in Scandinavia in its local and international growth.
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“Iso.Poetism shouldn’t be a secret to anyone. Tobias has come a long way already, and the jury is proud to take this strong vision even further,” said Wedell-Wedellsborg at the ceremony held at Designmuseum Denmark in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
As winner of the accolade, which was formerly known as the Magasin du Nord Fashion Prize and counts the support of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark as well, the designer follows in the footsteps of Anne Sofie Madsen, Cecilie Bahnsen, Mark Kenly Domino Tan and, most recently, A. Roege Hove.
“It’s such a crazy mixture of being extremely tired, extremely happy and relieved. And in general, I’m just amazingly thankful for the people that are supporting me and for this award, which is something quite extraordinary,” Birk Nielsen told WWD right after the announcement.
The designer won a new top prize of 500,000 Danish krona (around $70,000), which makes this the biggest talent prize in the region.
Also new, this year organizers launched a strategic partnership with Copenhagen Fashion Week via the recently established talent support scheme CPHFW NewTalent, signaling both parties’ dedication to nurturing Danish design talent. As result of this collaboration, Iso.Poetism is automatically enrolled for CPHFW’s talent incubator program and therefore will be on the official show schedule for three consecutive seasons. The brand will also be offered the opening show slot for the upcoming edition in February.
Birk Nielsen, who will additionally benefit from a year-long mentorship program, beat the other three finalists. These included Nicklas Skovgaard, Sophia Khaled and Birrot’s founders Kyeongmin Kim and Seyoung Hong. Each of them was rewarded with 10,000 Danish krona (around $1,500) for their effort and participation.
All boasting different approaches to fashion, the finalists were revealed during Copenhagen Fashion Week in August and selected by a panel of industry experts, who assessed entries based on criteria such as design talent, originality, craftsmanship, sustainable credentials, business viability and digital flair.
Right after the announcement, each finalist started working on their business plan, collection and presentation together with a mentor. Skovgaard was paired with Nicolaj Reffstrup, cofounder and chief executive officer of Ganni; Birrot’s designers with Marimekko’s creative director Rebekka Bay, while Khaled worked with Sophie Bille-Brahe and Anne-Sofie Møller, creative director and CEO of Sophie Bille Brahe Jewelry, respectively.
As for Birk Nielsen, he was mentored by Silas Adler, creative director and founder of the Danish brand Soulland.
“He’s just a really nice guy, unbelievably calm and genuinely warm-hearted, so it was a nice match,” said Birk Nielsen. “What he’s been really good at was the support in taking things down a bit in the pace because it’s been a really hectic period, as we had several things going on besides the award, too. He’s been a big support to kind of talk us through where to focus and where to channel our energy in the short perspective as well as the long perspective. And of course he has been mentoring the last two winners so he has a track record that is quite impressive,” said the designer.
The four mentors were also part of the jury, which additionally included Wedell-Wedellsborg; CPHFW CEO Cecilie Thorsmark; Eszter Aron, founder and creative director of Aeron, and Christopher-Jacques Morency, chief brand officer at Vanguards and interim brand officer of Nanushka, among others.
“The jury was very impressed by Iso.Poetism’s work, which cleverly makes streetwear a personal and modern affair,” said Wedell-Wedellsborg, adding how Birk Nielsen “has managed to transform a personal story into a sustainable business.”
The brand officially launched in 2016, right after Birk Nielsen graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts & Design. Still deciding whether “to stay in Copenhagen to start life and a family or seeking perhaps assistant jobs in fashion houses around the world,” the designer decided to leverage the momentum he gained with his graduate collection and the attention coming from international stores to take the leap and launch his venture.
“I started the brand and slowly it changed because I had a lot of challenges in my private life. My wife got sick and I got a son and a lot of things happened at once and I knew that I had to find meaning in order to continue working with fashion,” he said. “So my vision with the brand is to talk about those emotions that we encounter as normal human beings going through the life, all the ups and downs. And to be bold to put words on what I think is something people can relate to.…So I try to touch base on some of those emotions that are deeply rooted in all modern human beings and use our garments as a tool to start that dialogue,” said Birk Nielsen.
This mission translates into layered utilitarian designs — with a strong focus on menswear — often mixing functionality and graphic effects with subtle, captivating statements, such as “Altruism,” “You are not alone” and “We didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
The sustainable element is just as bold, as the brand uses recycled fabrics and upcycled materials; produces with a made-to-order approach to avoid deadstock and redundant production procedures; minimizes sizes per style to simplify production procedures and the consumption required, and offers one-drop delivery to wholesale partners to reduce the pollution caused by transportation, among others. This approach pushed the brand also to experiment to find new solutions and develop new techniques for garment dyeing to half pollution caused by conventional dyeing processes.
For Birk Nielsen, the catalyst of each design or project is a conversation on the purpose and meaning of it as well as assessment on resources and possible social impact.
“When we feel that conversation is making sense, then the next thing is to figure out how to convey the project,” said the designer, explaining that the sustainable approach touches all aspects, including communication. For one, in realizing look books and campaigns, the brand commits to repurpose existing elements, such as scaffoldings.
“We work with this dogma of bricolage where we are only allowing ourselves to work with materials that we find in our surroundings,” he said.
In front of the Wessel & Vett Fashion Prize jury, Birk Nielsen presented a collection that was a mix of several pieces throughout the history of the label, “gathered to show different aspects of the brand,” ranging from sustainability to spotlighting its balance between craftsmanship and innovation, or display its commercial nature.
Iso.Poetism is currently sold in more than 35 countries, including at key retailers such as Illum, Rinascente, Harvey Nichols and HBX Hypebeast, among others. It has presented collections in showrooms during the Paris Men’s Fashion Week, as well as staged shows in such places as Berghain Berlin, Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius and CIFF Copenhagen.
Going forward, the cash prize will help Birk Nielsen improve the setup of the company, expand its team and accelerate on the commercial front. “We have planned out a lot of activities, including some collabs…and now with this award in our bag perhaps we can actually push this a little bit further,” said the designer.
Established in 2012, the award is spearheaded by the Wessel & Vett Foundation, created by the descendants of department store Magasin du Nord’s 19th-century founders Emil Vett and Theodor Wessel. The prize’s change of name this year was intended to mark the award’s 10th anniversary and further celebrate the entrepreneurship and innovation of the retailer. On Jan. 19 a special exhibition in Magasin’s museum will be staged and spotlight previous winners of the prize, said Wedell-Wedellsborg.
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