We at EOE have continuously named our glasses after places in northern Sweden with strong bonds to the our roots. In our anniversary year, several of these frames will return in updated shapes and forms. Among them, Abisko – the very first frame that now comes in a green titanium with a tinted lens inspired by Northern Lights. The new edition of Dorotea comes in an acetate with spruce needles from the northern forests. Burträsk, a frame inspired by frames worn by Emilias’s grandpa, will return in a new material, made from waste products from the EOE factory.
Abisko
The National Park has attracted hikers from all over the world for more than a century. Here begins the famous ”Kungsleden” and here is where you have the best chance of seeing the Northern Lights. If the Swedish mountains had its own capital, it would surely be Abisko.
Jukkasjärvi
Its sami-name, Cohkkiras, means meeting place. Funny, given that Jukkasjärvi initially was just the priset and the sexton. But today, this is indeed a place where people do meet from all over the world. At the Ice Hotel.
Dorotea
”The air itself breathes serenity and calmness”, reads one of the lines in the Dorotea song. A spot on description of the village along the highway 45. Dorotea was named after queen Fredrika Dorotea Vilhelmina but we kind of prefer the Dorotea nickname: The south entrance to Lapland.
Burträsk
When you pass an oversized cheese slicer along the E4 in Västerbotten’s coastal land, you know that you’ve ended up right. There is only one place on earth where the Västerbotten cheese can be made. Right here, in Burträsk.
Stenskär
We found paradise a few nautical miles outside the coast of Piteå. A vast sandy beach, a dock in the shape of a lagoon, a rich bird life and fishing to die for. Oh, and a bonus: the Västerbotten coastline tracks more hours of sun in the summer than any other pace in Sweden.
Umeå
The North has so many things to be proud of but the vibrant city life is not normally what comes top of mind. Today however, Umeå has emerged as an entrepreneurial and cultural hotspot. At the same time, the quietness and the closeness to nature so significant to the ”City of Birches” is still intact.
Tärnaby
There are few villages as small as Tärnaby that have managed to become well-known across the globe. Less than five hundred citizens and almost two hundred World Cup skiing victories. How did it happen? Well, as with all beautiful mysteries, this too remains unsolved.
The Artist
She’s an illustrator, an artist and ”everything in between”. For the EOE ten year anniversary, Linda Linko was asked make her on personal interpretation of northern Sweden.
The EOE piece
Being an artist is about making oneself understood or misunderstood through one’s art. To simply let the art do the talking and leave it to the beholder to make his or her’s own interpretation. The Helsinki-based illustrator and artist Linda Linko is by no means an exception to this universal formula of what constitutes a true artist.
– It sounds a bit silly but I’ve always known that I’m an artist. It just took me some time to realize how I should express it. And to be honest, I still prefer to communicate visually more than through words.
What she wants to communicate, be it via a solo exhibition or a commercial collaboration, is basically one and the same thing: This sense of things not having to be so dead serious all the time.
– Life is dead serious of course, but at the same time, it’s absolutely hilarious. We can’t change or influence all that many scenarios in life, but we can change our attitude! I come form a very minimalistic and serious place in the world and find it both very interesting and challenging to be colorful and joyous in my artistic expression.
Both her laid-back outlook on life and her easily identifiable sense for form and colors can be traced back to her greatest passion in life: surfing. Ever since she first stood on a surfboard some twenty-five years ago, she understood that a wave about to break and the shape and colors this movement creates, is one of the most beautiful things we have.
– What I love so deeply about surfing is that it’s so distinctly an individual sport. It’s just you who knows whether it’s been a good or a bad run and that’s where the very liberating philosophy comes from. You just have to let go and let things be whatever they will be.
Whatever will be will be was also pretty much the essence of the request EOE sent to Linda when asking her to make her personal interpretation of the brand and of northern Sweden.
– I was so happy when the request came. Mainly because I was so inspired by their way of using the local area both as a source of inspiration and a source to find raw materials. More companies should adapt this way of working, today more than ever. I let the materials in the frames be my inspiration and have created a piece that feels very true to myself and hopefully also to EOE.