Jan-Olof Ellebrink

Name: Jan-Olof Ellebrink
Age: 56
Profession: Deacon assistent
Family: Married with three children
Interests: Family, be outside in the nature and fishing
Live: Dorotea

Number 5 is deacon Jan-Olof, who we meet at the confirmation camp in Jäckvik, same camp as Jonna's brother attended. We got there at 01.00 in the night and we've never seen so many Foppa-slippers in the same place before, they seemed very popular by the young candidates for confirmation. Sebastian took some beautiful pictures in the night light and then it was time for us to move on up to Inhavet and over to Norway again.

In Inhavet we meet our 6th test-pilot and what seems to be a living legend, almost everyone we meet during our roadtrip knew who this person was...

Jonna Blind

Name: Jonna Blind
Age: 19
Profession: Seasonal worker as a ski lift guard, ski rental, bartender and waitress
Family: Live at home with mom, dad, brother and 2 dogs
Interests: Be outside in the nature, hanging out with old friends and make new ones, be creative, languages, movies and music.
Live: Klimpfjäll

After our visit to Norway it was time to get back to Sweden to meet our 4th test-pilot and only girl, Jonna from Klimpfjäll. There we had a coffee break togheter with her and her parents while her brother was on a comfirmation camp in Jäckvik, we'll come back to that later. We already know that Jonna's jeans have been worn when she was marking reindeer calves and had a visit from a common shrew baby (in swedish Näbbmusunge), so we really look forward to see the first pictures of these.

Old jeans

We're waiting to update the blog with the 4th test-pilot, and in the meantime here is 2 pictures of our photographer Sebastians old Aajja. They're from our first collection in December 2006 and pretty well worned I must say:

Nils-Ove Gustavsson

Name: Nils-Ove Gustafsson
Age: 50
Profession: Craft teacher, janitor and handicraft (duodji) supervisor
Family: Single
Interests: Handicraft, hunting, bicycle and watching sports
Live: Snåsa

After our stop in Jänsmässhomen we went over the border to Norway and Snåsa to meet Nils-Ove. He is really good on duodji (sami handicraft) and showed us his home made bow and some amazing knifes made out of reindeer antlers, you can see them all in a previous post. For the evening Nils-Ove made us some delicious toasts and then we stayed over the night in his house. The next morning he tried to put on his working pants but we got him to change into the Denim Demons instead. So in 2-3 weeks we will see if he has used them everyday as promised!

JanÅke Johnsson

Name: JanÅke Johnsson
Age: 40
Profession: Seasonal work at Jänsmässholmens hotel, hobby archaeologist and reindeer herder
Family: Scott, a 9 year old jämthund
Interests: Hunting, fishing and ancient monuments
Live: Jänsmässholmen

Our second test-pilot is JanÅke who lives only 50 meters from Per-Henrik, so after the coffee break we went to his place and said hello to his dog. He is one of our most enthusiastic participants and the only one that already got some scrapings on his jeans during our two hour stay (thanks to Scott that is!).

We will get back tomorrow with the third test-pilot.

Per-Henrik Bergkvist

Name: Per-Henrik Bergkvist
Age: 31
Profession: Reindeer herder
Family: Partner, 2 year old son and one more child on the way
Interests: Hunting, do handicraft (Duodji) and carpentry
Live: Jänsmässholmen

Now it's time to start introduce the 7 persons that will wear our jeans. The first one out is Per-Henrik who lives in Jänsmässholmen, ca 100km northwest of Östersund. He took some time of from his new house building in Stensjön to get his Denim Demons and make us some coffee and sponge cake. We look forward to see the fading that will come from reindeer marking, house building and hunting!

Back home

Visa större karta

Now we're finally back home, after about a 3300km long roadtrip in Sweden and Norway. We have meet some really nice and fantastic persons that will wear and tear our jeans for 6 months. The nature has been truly amazing and it's gonna be super interesting to follow these 7 persons in their everyday life and see how their denim will fade by time.

We have had some problems with our internet connection during the trip and that's why we haven't posted any pictures lately but we will soon present the people in their brand new jeans.

Confirmation

It's 2 o'clock and we are currently in Jäckvik at a confirmation camp, trying to stay awake with coffee. We have met with Jan-Olof, one of our brave test pilots. We have also met the young team of elders, the ones who take care of the alert and "non tired" children at night, sending them to bed and making sure they keep focused during daytime.

Day three pics

Day three

Late yesterday night we arrived in Snåsa, Norway. Nils-Ove is in our extended family and lives here where he works for the Doudji department as teacher for Sami handicraft. We stayed in N-O's house and had toast together with a nice cold Norwegian beer. This morning we went to the Doudji institute to meet with a lot of people we met a few weeks ago in Tromsö, we had three interviews in 90 minutes but got delayed with three hours... So now we are looking forward to a six hour drive up to Jäkkvik, we'll be there around 2 in the morning, hand over a pair of jeans and take our photos. From there we head to Tysfjord, Norway, another five hours away...

Day two pics

Day two

Got up early today, and met up a local paper for an interview. After that was finished we drove 300 km to Jänsmässholmen where we met up with Per-Henrik and JanÅke, two really nice guys. We sat down in their kitchen and talked about relatives, reindeers and snowmobiles. Got some really nice photos, which we won't share here yet, but still you get some taken with my pocket camera. First day went exemplary, and our men in Jänsmässholmen made us feel really welcome, we didn't want to leave at all, but the thought of 2500 km we have left to beat before friday forced us to move on...

A windswept face.

First day.

We started early, around 7 am, for a 650 kilometer drive up to Östersund. We did an interview with the Sami Parliament, which went good. Tomorrow is a early rise once again since we are meeting with a local paper at 8. Here are a few pics.

Map

Here is the map where we are going this week. Now we have driven 300 km and have around 3047 km to go, watch this space for more pictures during the week.

Sapmi tour 2008

Now we are on our way up north to hand out our jeans to some hardworking people. They will wear and tear their raw jeans for at least 6 months to test the durability and to see how they fade from their work and everyday life. After a good night sleep in Bringåsen outside Östersund tonight we will go on to Jänsmässholmen tomorrow morning for the first hand-out.

On the road...

Now we're on the way on our sapmi tour. Watch this space for pictures and updates during the week.

New blog

I am now blogging more frequently at www.blacklodges.com/fire. But keep looking on this address since exciting things are about to start soon...

Tromsö

It was a while ago, there's no excuses. Sorry.
Just been at a Seminar in Tromsö, Norway. We where invited to give a lecture in Denim Demon and denim in general by the Sami Doudji association. (Doudji is Sami handicraft) Didn't really know what to expect, but we where really happily surprised! Only nice people, interesting subjects and the city of Tromsö is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been to! If not THE most beautiful. The city is located in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow covered mountains and a sun that never goes down. It was as light at 2:30 last night as it was when we arrived 15 hours earlier. And what a nightlife! There are 62 000 people living in Tromsö, and around 30 000 different pubs, restaurants and nightclubs. And one place better than the other. If you are in Tromsö tonight, don't miss Blå Rock and a live performance by the world famous Gestapo Bitches! We are really sad we have to leave and miss this... If you are not into Bitches playing Rock, there's always Bryan Adams. I haven't got the slightest where he is playing though.
If you get a chance, go visit Tromsö!

Love,
Oskar & Anton

prague's air port, it's not very exciting on a sunday morning.