Fashion
Luella Bartley
Hui-Hui
Peter Jensen
Katie Gallagher

Entertainment
Alan Ball
Summer Bishil
Dr. Dog
Nima Nourizadeh
Chuck Palahniuk
Anthology Recodrings
Marina Zenovich
Zimmerman/Berg

Artists
Desireé Holman
Corndawg
Matt Furie
Molly Landreth
Matthew Lock
Nikolay Saveliev
Christopher Schulz
Darren Sylvester

Fiction
24 Hours on L16
Nobody Eats Oranges...
Some Mornings

Hui-Hui is big in Japan. The German design house has just begun to make a blip on the radar of mainstream American media coverage, but fashion-forward youngsters from Munich to Kyoto can be found sporting their refreshingly playful accoutrements. Combining jarring geometry with vivid organic patterns, Hui-Hui weaves a flawless patchwork of vintage references that fit together to create something excitingly new. With a flair for vibrant colors and rococo touches, the brand has been putting together unpretentiously eye-catching work since its first summer collection in 2005.

        Whether you’re a jet-set freak-folk power player taking a week-long siesta in an isolated Eskimo lodge, or just a peniless romantic dreaming up elaborate performance art in your parents’ back yard, Hui-Hui is the perfect uniform for any laid-back bohemian lifestyle. Since it’s hard to find any concrete information on the mysterious threesome of designers behind Hui-Hui, we’re pleased to present their adorably lyrical e-mail responses (complete with original color scheme!) as a formal introduction to Germany’s most exciting new label.

Who are the designers behind Hui-Hui? Tell me a little about your backgrounds.

Hui-Hui is Anne Schwätzler and sisters Katharina and Johanna Trudzinski. Anne graduated in 2006 at the Fashion Academy F.A.S. in Hamburg, Germany. Katharina graduated in 2004 with a degree in textile design and continued with the graduate program in fine arts at the University for Fine Arts in Hamburg.

How did the three of you decide to start a label together?

Hui-Hui started as a fun project, grown out of our friendship: The passion to create something new.

Describe your collaborative process—do you frequently work together, or do you each work on your own things and then bring them together to create a complete line?

Our main office is located in Hamburg, while Johanna is working at her atelier in Antwerp. Usually we meet to set a theme or atmosphere for the new season. For example: Painter Rosson Crow meets a thousand flowers, framed with triangles. A/W 2007/08 We choose colors and fabrics, decide fabric-treatments, do first sketches, discuss, exchange and argue about the spirit of the new collection. After deciding the direction, we work separately on designs, patterns and prints. Thanks to modern communication (bless the World Wide Web!!), we stay in close contact during the whole development of the collection.

What’s the philosophy behind Hui-Hui?

Hui-Hui is not just fashion. Hui-Hui is like close friends and family. Hui-Hui is flowered today and checkered tomorrow. Hui-Hui is colors and shape, him and her, strong, with a twist of milk. Spring, summer, autumn, winter and never again like winter, autumn, summer, spring. Hui-Hui makes visible what fills the space between us. Her, her and me, us is Hui-Hui.

What are your influences? Is there anything outside of fashion that you continually find yourself drawing from?

We all love to discover cracks on the shiny surface, to adopt the stuffed animal which was left behind. We love the small poetic moments in the everyday life. In this way we also draw inspiration from art and movies.

Is there usually a narrative behind your collections? Or, do you work from more abstract themes?

Our way to work is like a great potluck-party. Us three come together with inspiration from movies/books/ exhibitions/theater/ethnical stuff/things we found/stories we tell and loads of images from our scrapbooks. Then, it’s working hard to create a tasty, well-balanced meal out of the infinite possibilities. It could boil down to one final sentence. Sometimes it’s hard to put in words, so it stays as images on the mood-board.

Describe the Hui-Hui boy or girl: Who is the audience you have in mind when you’re designing?

The Hui-Hui boy is: Smart, sensitive, daring and naturally in love with: A funny, vivid, knows-what-she-wants and (that’s why) beautiful girl wearing Hui-Hui.

How does music play a role in your aesthetic? Are there any musicians whose style has impacted your design choices?

We listen to various artists according to our mood and the weather. It ranges from Simon & Garfunkel to The Beatles, Syd Barrett, Dolly Parton, Jamie Lidell, Justin Timberlake, Isoleé, Magnetic Fields, Hermann Düne, Kate Bush, Werner Vogt, Devendra Banhart… You can try to trace it in the aesthetics of our collections.

Which designers and styles are your favorites, and how have they impacted your work?

We adore big names such as Chanel, Prada, Jil Sander, and Dries van Noten. We love the edgy labels too, such as Bless and Ann-Sofie Back. But what we get most inspired by could be the handicraft-granny-circle, the teenage gang smoking in front of the supermarket, the real-life, you!

Your latest collection uses a variety of earth tones, but they come off as vibrant and iridescent. What’s the importance of color in your designs?

No to no colors!!!

The menswear in your collections is just as fascinating and detailed as the women’s clothing. What made you decide to design for both genders, and how do you maintain such a great balance between the male and female looks?

Designing for women comes more naturally to us—we know what we would wear. Designing for men is more of a challenge. To create an entire Hui-Hui world, we can’t do without the men. We were happy to discover the gap in the market for colorful, unusual menswear.