They look a bit like archaeological finds, the little things that Rosa Dahl carefully strings together. They lie on her worktable like ancient treasures; prehistoric artifacts, archaic tools perhaps, trinkets and toys. And indeed, the objects are rooted in the past – not in the temporal origins of human history, however, but in the childhood of the designer.
“My father worked a lot, but every Friday he took an hour to do handicrafts with me in his workshop,” says Dahl during a visit to her studio in Mitte; the small collection of metal and wooden objects that lies in front of her still bears witness to this today. They are the things that she used to make with her father, an artist – dowsing-like pieces of wood, silver figurines, a braid of wool and nuts.
For many years, Dahl kept the objects in a small box, a kind of treasure chest for memories. Now she has dug out the bundle again to turn it into fashion: with her label SF1OG – an abbreviation for side wing on the first floor – she will be presenting adaptations of infantile handicrafts at the upcoming Berlin Fashion Week. “For a new collection, I always need an emotional stimulus, something that touches me,” explains Dahl. “Otherwise I have the feeling that the clothes don’t really come from me.”
Designer Rosa Dahl looks relaxed a week and a half before the show.Jonas Berndt
Again and again it is personal stories that inspire her to create new designs; Stories from the family, stories about herself. The wool braid with the integrated nuts, for example, is now appearing again in her new line: the robust, natural-colored fiber from back then has become a fine black merino wool, with countless metal nuts hanging from it – an accessory that can be looped around the arm or waist, jewelry or belt.
Other details are also borrowed from the hours in the father’s workshop, for example wooden elements in organic shapes. Rosa Dahl made them new together with her family, who lives not far from Hamburg in Lower Saxony – she drew the silhouettes, her father sawed out, the younger brother grabbed sandpaper. “Basically,” Dahl says, looking at the memorabilia, “this process tells a much clearer story about what I learned from my father than the pieces themselves.”
Rosa Dahl’s childhood crafts look almost like archaeological finds.Jonas Berndt
Collect and sort. Look what you have there. Think about what new things can come of it. His daughter now works like the artist father, who collected and processed everything possible in his workshop, from leftover wood and pieces of metal to electrical parts and cables. It is a sustainable concept that stands behind their label SF1OG, the principle of recycling that is also becoming increasingly relevant in fashion. “I want to give unused materials a new life, give them new value through manual work,” says Dahl.
Intern Charlotte Lockton sews in the not unimportant labels.Jonas Berndt
The designer has been working in this way since she founded her brand in 2019 while still studying at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences. You can see that in the small basement studio on Eichendorffstraße: while Rosa Dahl is talking about her fashion, a trainee is cutting out pattern pieces from leftover leather in the back corner; shirts made from hand-woven linen from 1910 can also be found in Dahl’s online shop. They, the shirts, are part of Dahl’s “Multiplied Line”, their ready-to-wear line, which is manufactured in small numbers in a Polish sewing workshop. SF1OG also offers artistically unique pieces under the “101 Line”.
Rosa Dahl and Stylist Leon Romeike, Marketing Manager Jacob Langemeyer, Intern Charlotte Lockton (vlnr)Jonas Berndt
In terms of atmosphere, Dahl’s fashion joins a new group of brands from Germany. Labels such as GmbH and Ottolinger, No/Faith Studios or Moritz Iden, which stylistically refer to the Belgian avant-garde of the nineties and the Japanese of the eighties: they combine the deconstructivism of Margiela or Demeulemeester with a hyper-modern, sporty character; They contrasted Kawakubo’s dark intellect with moments of subculture and streetwear.
This is extremely well received in Berlin: SF1OG is currently considered one of the most exciting brands in the city. This was shown not least by the label’s first fashion show at last season’s Berlin Fashion Week. “We did the show super spontaneously back then, basically we put it together with very few people in a few days,” says Dahl. You could feel it: nothing. In fact, the label was already moving on an international level with its staging and the collection, which retold the story of Dahl’s Polish grandmother’s escape.
Measures are taken on the day of the fashion show casting.Jonas Berndt
This was also made possible by the “Studio2Retail” initiative of the Fashion Council Germany, the German moderator, which does lobby work for the industry. On behalf of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, the association distributes prize money of 10,000 euros each to promising young fashion designers, who can use it to organize a show at the Berlin Fashion Week. This year, the Frankfurt label Susumu Ai and the newly founded label The Twins by Berlin-based Michael Sontag and Tutia Schaad are among the winners – SF1OG also receives money from the funding pot again.
When measuring and cutting out, intern Valentin Prinz is very precise.Jonas Berndt
“I want to show what I’ve been working on for half a year, what my ideas are, what went through my head,” says Rosa Dahl, who seems unusually relaxed just a week and a half before her second show. This may also be due to the fact that the designer has already pulled off a major coup: she was able to secure the Feuerle Collection as the location for her fashion show next Wednesday. The private museum in the former BASA bunker on the Hallesches Ufer is a perfect match for her new collection, says Dahl.
Instant photos provide an overview during the casting.Imago
“Anyone who enters the Feuerle Collection first dives into deep darkness. It is only in the following exhibition room that the darkness is broken through by cones of light,” she describes. During her show, which is accompanied by cellist Esther Thoben, this means: blazing light falling on Dahl’s clothes; Textures and details that can be perceived by audiences with heightened senses. “That fits perfectly, because I always approach my collections from the technical side” – the tailoring, which Rosa Dahl learned from her family at an early age, of course, her mother taught her to sew.
Not only fashion journalists and photographers, but the entire German scene in general will be able to see for themselves how fruitful this was next Wednesday. Rosa Dahl’s family will also be in the audience.