The boardsports loving fashion designer from Vienna talks being epic and loving Bali (two of our favourite subjects of all time)
Interview by Anna Langer
I’m chaotic, always in creative disarray (in a positive way) and always gave a book with in which I draw or sketch.
I always knew that I wanted to work in fashion, but it took a long time until I dared to try. I’ve already been creative as a child and my parents surely supported that. My education went in the same direction too, from furniture and interior design to architecture and finally fashion design, but the direction has always been clear: I wanted to work creatively. And with Epic Wear I can live that 100% and go my own way!
Epic Wear came to me. Somehow. I was in the right place at the right time and just implement the ideas that have been accompanying me for a while. Everything just came along after the “beginning”. One thing led to the next, was carried out and here we are! “We”, that is the team behind epic, consisting of my sister Julia, in charge of communications and marketing, Joshi, responsible for production and sales, while my part is designing and everything related to that.
Style to me means to have an individual singularity, that makes you unique. So style is always coming from the inside and expresses part of the personality. Clothing, for example, is a way to communicate that to the outside. You should always feel good in what you wear and style will come on its own!
At the age of seven, I used skate through our local streets with my brother. That was my first contact with boardsports – and I still have that board today! Over the last couple of years I mainly went along with snowboarding and surfing, and I fully emerged into the whole scene when I worked for a snowboard brand as graphic and product designer. That gave me a chance to get to know this whole world from yet another angle.
Surfing, snowboarding and skating impress and inspire me because of their different requirements. Technique, confidence, overcoming, consequences, and the love for nature all play a big role, but in the end it’s always the pleasure of movement that’s decisive – for me as well! My biggest passion for years was BMX flatland though – love it!
We produce our stuff in Bali because of my boyfriend… He loves surfing and has been tavelling to Bali for years, he’s fluent in Indonesian and loves the Bali lifestyle. He introduced me to the island and the first steps were taken there – but not planned at all! In the beginning it was a jump into the deep in but over time we realised that the possibilities for a small label are really good actually. You can implement your ideas 100% and you’re in the middle of the whole thing – and can get a morning and evening surf in! Bali is epic.
…be epic!
