Itzan Escamilla - Interview

.aesthetic talk
ITZAN ESCAMILLA
*Breaking the Script

written + interview Juan Martí

It’s a pleasant and very surprising feeling when you discover that an actor is nothing like the characters they portray. That’s what happens with the young Spanish actor Itzan Escamilla.

The Madrid native is fun, cheeky, curious, and a huge film buff, with a particular love for horror movies. Like the characters who survive at the end of a horror film, Itzan has managed to escape typecasting and become something much bigger than his role in Élite. His passion for film isn’t limited to his acting career; he’s also a big consumer of filmographies, always ready to watch the next great movie, whether it’s a horror classic like The Exorcist or something more contemporary like Hereditary. His life took a drastic turn when he starred in Netflix’s teenage hit Élite, which turned him into a mass idol, almost like the protagonist of a horror movie who suddenly becomes the 'chosen one' of a new generation.

Now, after leaving his time at Las Encinas behind, Itzan is looking to take on new challenges, like returning to theater, this time with the genius Ana Rujas. It’s like a 'new beginning' in his career, like when the monster of the story finally faces its greatest challenge. While we await the premiere of that new play, we can enjoy his most international project on Apple TV, the thriller series Midnight Family, which stars him alongside one of Hollywood’s rising stars, Diego Calva. One thing we can be sure of: Itzan Escamilla’s adventure has just begun, and the suspense over what comes next in his career remains like a mystery movie that never loses its tension.

full look MAISON MARGIELA
pants KENZO

coat + pants KENZO
shoes CAMPERLAB

Juan Martí
Itzan, I’m so glad to talk to you! How are you?

Itzan Escamilla
I'm good, thank you! I’m preparing for the play I’ll premiere next year.

You star in La Otra Bestia, an adaptation of the book by actress and director Ana Rujas, right?

Yes, that's right. It will premiere at Matadero Madrid.

But you didn’t know her personally before, did you?

No, I knew her by sight. We’d greeted each other a few times and followed each other on Instagram and social media, but that was about it. Then, she wrote to me, saying she was preparing this play and that she’d love for me to participate. She sent me the script, I read it, and I really liked the character. We started exchanging messages, and at first, it was a bit complicated because I wasn’t sure I could do the project. It clashed with another commitment. However, there was an internal situation, and they decided to create a shared character because the actor originally cast for my role also had another commitment. Since neither of us could be available full-time at Matadero, they decided to have two actors play the same character. This arrangement ended up working out for both of us.

Who is the other actor you share the role with?

Teo Planell, a really cool guy. This isn’t your first time in a theater project; a few years ago, you participated in the Spanish adaptation of Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire.

Yes, that was a long time ago. It was my first play and the only one I’ve done so far. It’s true that I trained at Cristina Rota’s school, and the training there was very theater-focused. Not exclusively, but the theater component in Cristina Rota’s training is very important. However, I’ve only done theater once in my life, and honestly, I was very nervous: excited, scared, nervous.

Can you tell me something about your character in La Otra Bestia?

It’s hard to describe because the whole play moves in a kind of code that’s somewhat detached from more earthly reality; I think it’s somewhere between a half-dreamy and half-poetic level. It has something very special that describing it would fall short, so it’s better to go see it. To give you an idea, it’s inspired by a movie used as a reference to develop the script and adapt the poetry book La Otra Bestia. They were inspired by Possession, a 1970s film by Andrzej Żuławski, which has a rather extreme tone.

Are you more of an Isabelle Adjani fan or Isabelle Huppert?

Huppert. I love The Pianist.

A classic. How do you remember your days in Rabbit Hole?

I really enjoyed it. David Serrano, the director, is someone I always say I’ve learned the most from because he knew a lot, had a great eye for actors, and was very intelligent. We had a great time, and the cast was amazing.

You played the role of Jason, right? That’s a very powerful role.

It was a very complex experience. It was an intermittent role in the play, which always makes you feel a bit dizzy because when you’re on stage, you warm up, and in some way, you enter the journey. But when you’re constantly going in and out of the stage, you have to stay focused all the time. Besides the dramatic and traumatic elements of the character, which were a challenge in themselves, there was also the difficulty of staying alert all the time, even when you weren’t on stage at certain moments, because you knew that at any moment you’d have to go on with all the energy.

Now that you're returning to the stage, how have you changed?

I imagine that age gives you experience, and you use that experience as an actor, plus it provides you with more background and more work experience. I also think it gives you greater awareness. The years since I was in theater, the projects I’ve been involved in, and life circumstances have made me more aware. It’s not that I didn’t have that awareness before, but I do think that now I have a deeper understanding of how lucky you are when you’re given an opportunity to work as an actor, and I have more respect for it.

It’s not that I didn’t respect it before, but now I see it in a different light. I have more respect when facing a character, when looking at the work, and more responsibility.

“I learned to be part of a whole... finding my place within such a big machine.”

Itzan Escamilla speaks with Juan Martí
for LE MILE .Digital

total look BALENCIAGA

Out of all the roles you’ve played, which one stands out to you?

I don’t know if it’s because of the roles I’ve gotten or because of who I am, but I always view myself with self-criticism. It’s like I never see myself in a positive light; I’m always very hard on myself. So, the role I choose isn’t because I think I’m good at it, but because, objectively, it seems to have the most potential, the one that can be “squeezed” the most, the one that has the most to explore and where you can get the most out of it. And that would be the one in Rabbit Hole.

It’s a fantastic role.

Yes, because I really liked the script. I’m drawn to those kinds of stories. It’s a script that’s very well balanced between comedy and drama, which is something I feel about one of my favorite movies, Manchester by the Sea. It’s one of many movies I love that talk about human clumsiness when something very dramatic happens, and how people react in a clumsy way, which generates humor, but uncomfortable humor. I feel like everything is treated in an opposite way to what you would normally expect, not in a melodramatic way. My character had a bit of that, and for me, as an actor, it was very interesting because it went against what you’d expect from such a big drama. So, from an acting perspective, it offered many opportunities to investigate and try new things.

Do you think young actors in Spain are given those kinds of opportunities?

I think it’s a bit of everything. There’s something undeniable and also natural, given the times, the budgets, and everything else: taking risks and betting on an actor’s profile that might not fit right away is complicated. The times are what they are, and the money at stake is what it is, so often, they choose to bet on what we already know will work. I think, on one hand, there’s a comfort zone when profiles are pigeonholed into specific roles within each project, but I also think there are directors who take a chance on something different. That’s where a more auteur-driven approach comes in, which always brings a breath of fresh air, an attempt to look beyond what we’ve already seen, giving a new face to what’s familiar.

I realize that talking to you, I see that you’re nothing like the characters you’ve portrayed or your personal concerns.

I don’t yet have the ability to choose the roles I take. I hope to have it someday, but right now, I don’t. So, I’m really proud of what I’ve done because, for starters, it’s work, and though this expression is overused, working is very important in a profession where there’s so much unemployment. So, I think there’s a natural arc; everyone has it in their own way, and you can’t generalize. I think mine is mine, and the others’ arcs are theirs. But at least in mine, there’s a natural progression where, first, you have to do what people see you can do, give it your all, do your best to start showing different sides of yourself, so that they begin to see you in other ways and start to shape a more multidimensional profile.

What did you learn during your Élite days?

Yes, I learned a lot. I learned mainly about what a shoot involves because, in the end, it was a role that required me to be on set or outdoors almost every week, Monday to Friday. So, I became very aware of what a shoot is, the complications that arise, the mistakes you can make, what you should and shouldn’t do. And I think, as an experience, what I take away the most is learning to be part of a whole. That is, having a more experienced perspective when understanding what’s going on around me on set, knowing where to go, where not to go, and finding my place within such a big machine.

What were you like as a teenager?

I don’t know, in many ways. I don’t really remember well, to be honest. As I got older, I was the class clown, the one who liked to joke around, I guess. I really liked being the class clown. I was a very curious, restless person. I really liked studying, I was pretty good at it, I didn’t fit the profile of a bad student, I was a good student. And I don’t know, I was someone who always had the need to explore hobbies or interests that I didn’t see around me. I always wanted to be part of something special, something different. I had this constant urge to not settle for what was closest, but to look for something out of the ordinary. So, I kept trying, trying everything. I did a lot of sports, skateboarding, martial arts... whatever it was. I kept trying until acting came into my path, and that’s when everything changed.

Do you remember your graduation trip?

I had a problem throughout my adolescence, which was that when I was 11, I had an epileptic seizure. Because of that, my neurologist strictly prohibited anything related to alcohol. I really liked surfing, and they even had to put a life jacket on me to do it. And that kind of carried over into my entire social life, as if I suddenly started receiving a lot of attention that I hadn’t had before.

My parents weren’t exactly neglectful, but they weren’t overprotective either. So, from that point on, everything changed a bit for me. At first, I lived with a lot of fear, and that feeling aligned with my parents’ caution. I was also a bit embarrassed because everything changed suddenly. But I think, after a while, I started doing whatever I wanted.

What’s the craziest thing you did with your friends?

I probably did more things, but the one that we always remember is when we set off a huge firecracker at the Palacio de Hielo shopping center. We thought it was going to make a little noise, but it went off like a bomb. At that time, there was still a risk of attacks. The alarm went off immediately, the police came, and they asked all my friends for descriptions of me. I ran and hid behind a bench, while police cars started to line up in the area. I don’t know if it was the paranoia of the moment, but they really were chasing me. That’s the story my friends and I still remember vividly.

coat JUNYA WATANABLE
socks + shoes MM6

“When you find a passion and decide to go for it, knowing you’re going to have to build your future on your own, it gives you confidence and the drive to commit.”

Itzan Escamilla speaks with Juan Martí
for LE MILE .Digital

How does one go from being a troublemaker to a committed actor?

Well, age and the fact that when you find a passion and you decide to go for it, without financial or family support behind you, and you know you’re going to have to build your future on your own, it gives you confidence and the drive to commit.

Do you think that, even as time passes, the desire to throw a firecracker in the middle of a shopping center goes away?

Yes, I got over it (laughs).

Has your twenties been more chill?

Not really, because I starred in Élite.

When did you realize the impact of Élite?

I was in Bogotá promoting Élite before it had been released, and when I came back, it had already premiered. So, I went out for a drink with a friend, like we are now, and suddenly people started staring at me and asking for photos. I remember the first few times they asked me for pictures, I got all red... I didn’t know how to react. And from that moment on, it didn’t stop.

You’ve explored teen drama, human drama... What would you like to explore now?

I really like comedy, and I’d love to do something with Paco Plaza, for example. Paco Plaza is known for his horror films. I really liked REC.

What’s the scariest movie you’ve seen so far?

Oh, I remember one starring Demi Moore that really scared me, I think it was called Half Light. But there’s one scene that has traumatized me the most of all—one that makes your heart skip a beat and leaves you pale for days. It’s a scene where she’s, I think, in the water near the shore, and suddenly the child appears, coming out of the water. I remember leaning back on the couch, feeling like I was having a micro heart attack at that moment. It traumatized me so much that for days, I couldn’t sleep, with the image of that child’s face coming out of the water stuck in my mind. I don’t know, it’s a horror movie that I remember with a lot of fear. The Exorcist is one I really like, but it also scares me a lot. It’s more the underlying aura of the film that gets to me than what you actually see, like the vomiting and those scenes. Although, I mean, with time, it has a bit of a B-movie feel to it, it becomes more gore, more “body horror,” and all that, which sometimes makes you watch it almost from a comic perspective.

Have you ever had a supernatural experience?

Yes, I was sitting on a bench with a friend of mine because we used to do graffiti. We were out on the streets late at night. We were sitting on a bench, and we hadn’t smoked any weed or anything, we were perfectly lucid. At some point, my friend was really into UFOs and always talked about them. There was kind of a relationship between his obsession with UFOs and me, who always made fun of him about it. I’d tease him a lot about it, I was quite atheistic in that sense. We were sitting on the bench, looking at the sky, philosophizing, talking. And at some point, next to the moon, I saw this orange ball. At first, I thought, “Well, it must be a star or a satellite,” but the ball started descending and getting bigger. I remember I was so impressed I couldn’t even speak, and it was a very brief moment. So I tapped my friend to look, and we both just stared, stunned. Suddenly, the glowing sphere shot up to the sky at full speed, leaving a small trail, and then it disappeared.

After that, my heart was racing. I ran, feeling this strange magnetic pull, and even though I’m not into auras or vibes stuff and all that, at that moment, I felt kind of hypnotized. I thought, “I need to get out of here.” I ran, and from that day on, I started sleeping a lot at my grandparents’ house, where I was raised. In my room at my grandparents’ house, I couldn’t sleep. I had that constant feeling of wondering, “What did I just see?” I started getting into all the alien abduction stories. I became interested in horror movies about it, like The Fourth Kind, the one with Milla Jovovich. And from that day on, every day, at a certain time, I think it was around 2 a.m., I would hear this huge engine sound, like it had a lot of power, right above my room. I’d hear the sound of an engine, and I didn’t dare to look, but when I did, I couldn’t see anything. However, every day at that same time, I’d hear that engine above, on the roof of my grandparents' house.

Do you believe in UFOs? Would you go to Montserrat to see if you saw a UFO?

I was in Tepoztlán, which is in Mexico. It's a magical town very related to UFO sightings and all that.

What was it like shooting Midnight Family in Mexico?

Really good, except that I caught three bacteria that destroyed my life for four months.

Maybe they were alien bacteria.

I thought maybe they had cast an evil eye on me (laughs). But seriously, working in Mexico and doing Midnight Family was cool, it was intense. What was happening outside of the shoot really blended with what was happening inside. So, when everything was going well, everything was awesome, but when it wasn’t, it became more difficult. But well, now, looking back, I have very good memories of it because I met people with a lot of talent in Mexico. I had the opportunity to be with them, work with them, see how they work, and honestly, they do it in a way that's quite similar to mine, or to what I had seen around me. An example: Mexico is a city that works a lot in chaos. There’s very little order, really. It’s very frantic, things are constantly happening, but without a clear order directing them. It’s as if everything is left to free will, and in the end, it will probably work out. So, they trust that it will work out and that the chaos is viable. It’s a city that works a bit like that, and I think that also influences how actors and actresses work, at least the ones I had by my side in this project. I always make sure to specify that it was a concrete experience, from one project, because it was probably more of a particular experience than a general one of how their modus operandi is.

Has this experience helped you to be more spontaneous?

I think you have to keep a spontaneous part, because otherwise, you become a Swiss clock, and I think that’s the antithesis of good work. Because in chaos, you always find brilliance or unforeseen things, and that’s where the gem of an interpretation is, when you’re not controlling everything, when there’s a moment of improvisation. But for me, I think I need to have control first, in order to break it from there. I’m speaking from little experience, but if I had to create a sketch of an acting method, it would be something like control, an analysis of the character and the text and then forgetting all about it. In other words, doing all that work beforehand and then forgetting it, so I’m not rusty or focused on any of it when the action happens, and I’m facing the moment. I would like to find a method similar to that.

team credits

seen RAÚL RUZ
styled JAVO GONZÁLEZ
production (off-set) JUAN MARTÍ
make up + hair AMPARO SÁNCHEZ
art direction URI SERRA
production assistant AVA

Saxon Brice - Interview

.aesthetic talk
SAXON BRICE
*From Renaissance to Reality

written + interview Jonathan Bergström

Saxon Brice is a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist whose work mixes classical painting traditions with contemporary topics, creating a dialogue between the past and present.

Brice’s practice spans oil painting, traditional draftsmanship, and digital media, focusing on portraiture that recalls the grandeur of the High Renaissance and Baroque periods. However, his subjects are not figures from ancient history but people from today, reinterpreted through modern ideas, myths, and the rapid technological changes around us.

In this interview with LE MILE Magazine, Brice discusses how his work has evolved, from combining traditional techniques with digital methods, to the ideas behind his solo show VIBE // SHIFT. He also discusses his continuing exploration of identity, mythology, and the surreal ways art, technology, and human nature intersect.

Saxon Brice
Madonna and Selfie, 2023
charcoal on paper

“The computer is an incredible tool, but the core of art, or at least my practice, will always be the struggle of the human hand manipulating a particular medium.”

Saxon Brice speaks with Jonathan Bergström
for LE MILE .Digital

Saxon Brice
MOYRA, 2024
Charcoal, sanguine and sepia conté, and gouache on paper
25.5 x 19.5 in

Saxon Brice
JESSI, 2024
Oil on canvas
40 x 30 in

Jonathan Bergström
You’ve worked with classical painting techniques and also embraced digital processes in your practice. How do these two approaches influence and complement each other in your creative process?

Saxon Brice
The computer is an incredible tool, but the core of art, or at least my practice, will always be the struggle of the human hand manipulating a particular medium. Like mp3 vs. vinyl, there’s a warmth and idiosyncrasy to the traditional exercise of art that you just can’t quite capture in digital. I tend to think that the two methods are working towards the same end goal from opposite directions. With traditional mediums and classical techniques you’re using this very real, cumbersome and sensuous material to finesse an alchemical illusion, whereas with digital you’re working backwards from something purely illusory trying to make it real. I’ve been experimenting with digital printing on top of traditional work to play with these questions, but I also love the flexibility of digital for compositional mockups and planning out pieces—change a color temperature or value on the fly, drop in a collaged element, move proportions around, etc.

You recently had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles titled VIBE // SHIFT. Can you tell us more about the exhibition and its central theme?

I’ve spent years since undergrad in relative obscurity, building my creative voice and technical skillset in the dark, so this show was kind of like a coming out party for me as a serious painter. Some broader ideas will be coming next, though the show was also a bridge for those. My friend Sean Monahan just released a follow-up to his 2021 viral essay “Anatomy of a Vibe Shift.” The new piece, “Vibe Shift America (boom boom beat doom)” is a searing account of the recent American presidential election. Whatever your feelings on the new political reality, it has become undeniable that we are shifting from one paradigm into something very different.

Growing up in the 90s, I feel like we’ve been living in Fukuyama’s “End of History” delusion my whole life, one that has taken on a very efficient and pragmatic but spiritually and poetically flat metaphysics. The works in VIBE//SHIFT were meant to be a gentle introduction to my feelings and beliefs about beauty and transcendence. My subjects are almost Jungian archetypes of our age: beautiful, self-consciously performative, and maybe a bit lost, but I want us to treat them seriously, so I felt I had to paint them seriously. I wanted to justify that struggle for something as fragile and precious as beauty, in a modern context that was sincere, rather than ironic or glib.


The paintings in VIBE // SHIFT are said to address ”an age where trends move the world faster than painting can catch up.” How do you view the role of slow, traditional techniques in today’s fast-moving, digital world?

Man, it’s tough. There’s a current trend of “fast art” in the gallery world—the necessity of turnover and feeding the beast has lent itself to a very particular type of painting. In the classical era, and even up until the mid-20th century artists might take years on a single masterpiece. Searching for the perfect gestural mark to describe the spirit of a thing, or the perfect color or texture to balance all the disparate elements of a painting into one perfect sensory experience. Now the demands of the market and its timelines put pressure on artists to constantly “execute” without much room for the trial and error inherent to a deep search and discovery. I think if we want those types of paintings to continue to be made, then we have to convince the market it’s in our collective interest as a civilization to make time for, frankly, monetizing these slower, deeper processes. I was painting a couple of the works for like a year and a half until I got them close enough to “right” that I felt they could be shown.

In addition to the paintings, VIBE // SHIFT also included live duels and performances. How do these interactive elements connect with the themes in your paintings?

The general idea was to create this liminal bridge between our physical space and the pseudo-feudal world of the paintings. The performances and medieval/gothic set-dec reflect my background in acting, fashion and art direction. Honestly, it was so refreshing for everyone to go along with something a bit silly and have a lot of fun. I love the art world, but we all know it can be a bit stuffy. I think the “Vibe Shift” is also in relation to encouraging physical community and unique experiences—IRL relationships, as it were—especially after Covid. I have to really hand it to In The Meantime, the event space and creative community I partnered with, for working with me to make it such a cool and unique experience.

The tension between “classical beauty” and “contemporary beauty” ideals seems central to your work. Do you see this tension as a form of critique or more of a celebration of the complexities of our current cultural moment?

I have to say, probably critical over celebratory. I think the tension between the two implicitly suggests that we don’t take beauty very seriously anymore, even if we’re more and more obsessed by a facsimile of it. I think to take beauty “seriously” you have to have quiet moments with it, you have to have deep and abiding reverence for it, not just the desire to possess it.

In terms of process, how much of your work is based on live sittings versus photo references or classical paintings?

While I was living and studying in Italy, we basically only did “sight-size” drawing and painting from life. The intensity of that practice, made my skillset grow like 10 years in one. However, back in LA, the subjects I was interested in weren’t professional models, and I couldn’t ask them to sit for 30-50 hrs anyway, so I adapted my process: still beginning with a live sitting and a conversation, but then multiple photoshoots as well photoshop mock ups as I add more invented or old masters-inspired elements.

The challenge then becomes to seamlessly integrate all these elements, to keep them feeling really alive, and not just “photo real.” They’re really not photo real at all, they’re some kind of hybrid between Classical Realism, Idealism, and my own kind of psychological portraiture. I hope it imbues them with a kind of spirit that is difficult to achieve when simply copying a photo.

Your portraits seem to immortalize contemporary subjects in a classical manner. What do you think this approach reveals about how we view modern identity and cultural change in relation to the past?

A lot has been said, and made, on the subject of “identity” in the last several years. Some good, some pretty dull. I think contemporary morays around identity tend to think of it as something obvious, immutable, largely external. The past, for all its faults, looked at identity as a bit more internal and full of contradictions.
That’s my favorite thing about people, discovering some aspect of them you least expect, exploding all of your preconceived notions about that human being or human beings in general. I tried to piece together this series of LA scenesters, hustlers and libertines from all over the modern “identity” spectrum. They all surprise you with their vulnerability, insight, generosity, or just good comedy about the world. I really respect that, and I wanted to elevate it to the kind of timeless humanism you see decorating the halls of great museums.

Saxon Brice
MAGDALENA (diptych)
Oil on wood panel, irrigation tubing, and maquette wire
62.25 x 51.5 in

“In the classical era, artists might take years on a single masterpiece. Now, the demands of the market put pressure on artists to constantly 'execute' without much room for trial and error.”

Saxon Brice speaks with Jonathan Bergström
for LE MILE .Digital

Having assisted artists like Doug Aitken and Jesper Just, how have these experiences influenced your personal artistic practice?

They both taught me so much about how to work with narratives thematically rather than literally as one would in TV or film. I think my time with them also relates directly to your question about the performative elements of my last show. Ever since early high school, I had all these interests—I kept bouncing around from music, to cooking, to martial arts, theatrical storytelling, and visual art. I think cutting my teeth with Doug and Jesper, as well as artists like Duke Riley, gave me this fantastic experience and showed me how all these interests could be pulled together into a larger, more operatic frame. Painting is just the beginning for me, especially after how well people responded to these larger elements in VIBE//SHIFT. I plan on slowly adding more objects and sound to my practice, possibly video, while continuing to play with performance and art direction.

When creating artworks for artists like Florence + The Machine, how does your creative process differ from the approach you take with gallery work?

With any commission work, you’re essentially realizing someone else’s vision. Florence + The Machine was actually submission-based, so I submitted, then I was accepted—done. But with a lot of the other commission work I’ve done over the years, a Katy Perry music video, album covers, or the paintings for movies and TV that I’ve done, I’m always painting as another artist. Sometimes I literally am producing the work of a fictional artist, and so there’s almost this roleplay or even character creation. I end up doing a lot of research, and, like an actor would, getting into the headspace of this character, their environment, their era, etc. There’s still me, of course. I have to believe they hired me because there was something in my work that they responded to, but it’s a very curated version of me.

You’re currently working on a new series titled Neo Spirito, that reinterprets the traditional Catholic art canon. What inspired you to explore this concept?

I’m not particularly religious, though as I get older, I find myself more and more open to these mysteries that I grew up being so cynical and dismissive of. I definitely didn’t grow up Catholic—my paternal grandfather was a very secular Jew, and I was baptized in a lovely but very “Jesus light” Episcopal church in LA.

However, I think this instinct goes back a long way. I recently discovered an old drawing I made in 10th grade of the creation of Adam, except in this version Adam’s outstretched gesture is mutating into a cybernetic arm, as if infected by the figure of God at his fingertip—an AI with its attendant angels. It made me laugh, I kind of surprised myself looking back at it. Whether you’re religious or not, I think these symbols are the oldest and deepest common language we have to describe what it means to be human.

They are the base of our metaphysics, at least in the western world, and for better or worse have been abandoned in droves over the last century. What better imagery, then, to juxtapose against the hyper-novel onslaught of humanity-disrupting technological evolution we’re currently facing?

In this series you’re drawing inspiration from figures like the Nephilim and conspiracy theories involving animal-human hybrids. How do these themes tie into your broader exploration of mythology and history in your work?

Myth is an intuitive, non-rational way of describing and understanding our world. There’s an interesting discussion taking place currently about the difference between factual and metaphorical truth—things that may not be literally true but true enough to our experience of the world, and therefore useful in surviving it.

In our highly rational age, I think many conspiracy theories sort of play that role. Some of course are useless and ridiculous, and those myths won’t survive long. But some, even if the details are wrong, are true enough that they hold memetic value to our understanding of an increasingly complicated and confounding world. Biblical creatures like the Nephilim may not actually be hiding at the core of the earth, but we have been developing genetic chimeras, like goats bred with spider DNA. Sounds pretty mythic to me.

Looking ahead, do you see the themes you’re exploring in these series continuing to evolve? What are the next steps in your artistic journey?

I see myself working through deeper and deeper ideas relating to Neo Spirito for a while and incorporating myths and philosophy from the classical period as well as the near east. I read about a new future-shock dystopian curiosity at least every month—from artificial womb labs the size of football stadiums, to gene splicing, to the creation of artificial stars. I’ve had these concepts building up in my head since around 2018, so I’ll definitely have a lot to chew on for the foreseeable near-term. After that, I don’t know, maybe I’ll start doing watercolors of peoples’ dogs…if we still have dogs.

Saxon Brice
BINARY STAR
Charcoal and cured digital print on paper
84 x 78 in

“Myth is an intuitive, non-rational way of describing and understanding our world—true enough to our experience to be useful in surviving it.”

Saxon Brice speaks with Jonathan Bergström
for LE MILE .Digital

Chelsea Werner - Interview

.aesthetic talk
CHELSEA WERNER
*In The First Place

forward Hannah Rose Prendergast
interview Alban E. Smajli

Chelsea Werner has a flair for gymnastics. By that, I mean she’s known to nail her routine in front of an audience, so much so that they call her “Showtime.”

Growing up in the Bay Area as part of an athletic family, Chelsea tried a few sports, but gymnastics was the one that stuck. Progress came gradually at first, though she ultimately thrived in the competitive environment, thanks to a coach who treated her like any other gymnast.

In 2012, Chelsea won her first gold medal at the USA Special Olympics and claimed the title for four consecutive years. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the decorated athlete took a shine to modelling. With her bright blue eyes, beaming smile, and fearless attitude, it’s clear the camera loves Chelsea Werner as much as we do.

LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37
Fall/Winter 2024-25

Chelsea Werner photographed by Manon Clavelier

top KENZA LATRIDES
collar AMBUSH
shorts ÖCTAGON
bag COPERNI
shoes + earrings FASHION ARCHIVE

“Every gymnastics skill I learn takes me much longer to achieve than other gymnasts. I require much more repetition to master any new skill. Some of my skills have taken five years to achieve.”

Chelsea and Lisa Werner speak with Alban E. Smajli
first published: LE MILE Magazine - AGE OF CHANGE, Issue Nr. 37

sunglasses AMBUSH
boots FASHION ARCHIVE

top ÖCTAGON
shirt AMBUSH
coat HELMUT LANG

Alban E. Smajli
Chelsea, you have broken so many barriers in gymnastics and beyond. What initially inspired you to take up gymnastics, and did you ever imagine you'd achieve such heights?

Chelsea & Lisa Werner
I started Special Olympics gymnastics when I was 8. I loved being part of a team and having teammates. I especially loved the competitions and having the crowd cheering for me. I was just having fun and had no idea I would ever become a World Champion gymnast.

Winning the World Championships in gymnastics three times is an incredible feat. Congratulations on all the success! Can you walk us through what it felt like to stand on that podium for the first time?

For most of my gymnastics career, I have competed in USA Gymnastics. I train and compete with gymnasts who have no disabilities. For many years, I always took last place. I rarely ever got an award. It was usually only once a year that I got to compete in Special Olympics.
When I won my first World Championship in London, I felt like I was in a dream. I was very emotional when they raised the United States flag and played my national anthem.

Your journey is not just about winning medals but also about challenging perceptions. What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced as an athlete with Trisomy 21, and how did you overcome it?

Individuals born with Down Syndrome have low muscle tone. We can improve it, but it takes a lot of work. Every gymnastics skill I learn takes me much longer to achieve than other gymnasts. I require much more repetition to master any new skill. Some of my skills have taken five years to achieve.

Gymnastics demands immense physical and mental strength. Can you share a particularly tough moment in your career and how you pushed through it?

My biggest challenge happened last year. I had my first mental block. This is not uncommon in gymnastics. Many gymnasts quit gymnastics when this happens. After tumbling for over 15 years, I couldn’t tumble at all.

It took many months to get over it. I had to go back and relearn how to do even the simplest tumbling. My coach was very patient and persistent with me. I got my tumbling back just in time for my third World Championship in South Africa.

You’ve become a role model for many. Your achievements have paved the way for future generations. What advice would you give to young athletes with disabilities who are just starting out?

I would say to be proud of every little accomplishment. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Focus on your own goals and find a coach who believes in your goals along with you.

The upcoming theme for LE MILE is "AGE OF CHANGE." How do you see your role in advocating for more inclusivity and recognition for athletes with disabilities?

Thanks to social media, athletes with disabilities are finally getting recognized. I get recognized all over the world as a result of social media. I am one example of what an individual with a disability can achieve as an athlete. Hopefully, I am opening some doors for up-and-coming athletes with disabilities. We all need and deserve the same opportunities to reach our full potential.

Aside from gymnastics, you’ve also pursued modeling and advocacy. How do these different aspects of your career complement each other?

I have been performing in front of cameras and crowds for a long time. I am very comfortable in front of a camera. The modeling world is becoming more diverse, but models with disabilities are still underrepresented. I am trying to change this and advocating for more representation.

If you could change one thing about the gymnastics world to make it more inclusive, what would it be?

I would love to see more individuals with disabilities included in gymnastics. When I compete in USA Gymnastics, I am always the only one with a disability. I am seeing and hearing that a wave of up-and-coming gymnasts with Down Syndrome is on their way! Many of the parents say that it is a result of seeing my achievements. That makes me so happy!

Looking ahead, what are your dreams and goals for the next phase of your career, both in and out of gymnastics?

I usually don’t think too far in advance. I live more in the present. For now, I still love gymnastics and modeling. In the future, I would love to help teach young girls gymnastics!

dress KENZA LATRIDES
others FASHION ARCHIVE

all FASHION ARCHIVE

“The modeling world is becoming more diverse, but models with disabilities are still underrepresented. I am trying to change this and advocating for more representation.”

Chelsea and Lisa Werner speak with Alban E. Smajli
first published: LE MILE Magazine - AGE OF CHANGE, Issue Nr. 37

all FASHION ARCHIVE

credits

talent CHELSEA WERNER
seen MANON CLAVELIER
styled CLAUDE PAYEN DE LAPIERRE
produced MELANY COHEN
make up CHARLOTTE NGUYEN
hair MIWA MOROKI
nails MAËLWENN LOBBÉ

fashion assistant KATERYNA DUDCHENKO
light technician CAMERON KOSKAS
digital operator VASSILI BOCLÉ

fashion director GINEVRA VALENTE
artistic director ALBAN E. SMAJLI

Special thanks
Lisa Werner, Jéremy Charolais, Nathalie Dersoir, Bienvenu, and all the Stade Charléty staff

also read
.aesthetic talk LOLITA ENO *Soy un Escorpión

Lolita Eno - Interview

.aesthetic talk
LOLITA ENO
*Soy un Escorpión

written + interview Grace Powell

“Let's talk DEEP,” Natalia Guzman, AKA Lolita Eno, DMs me late Saturday evening. The multi-hyphenate artist, celebrated for blending themes like animal vs. human, nature vs. digital, and philosophy vs. biology, serves as the digital experience's Mother Nature.

Amidst a world where her personal love life shifts between infatuation and heartbreak, Lolita Eno shares her insights on navigating this post-intense situationship era and how her profound understanding of sexual power shapes her artistic expression. Her work has captivated global audiences through exhibitions in Shibuya, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, and Turkey, complemented by numerous solo shows in her home-city of Madrid.

Notably attracting the attention of cultural icons like Kanye West and fashion luminary Alexander Wang, she was also recognized by the European Institute of Design as a promising innovator in 2019 and honoured as a finalist for best digital art at the BMW Spain awards. Do we get deep? You be the judge of that!

(c) Lolita Eno

Talent BENDI GONZALEZ
Stylist STEPHANIA YEPES
Production PABLO MAS
Assistant STEVEN PANE
for RUI

(c) Lolita Eno

Talent TOCCORORO
Stylist STEPHANIA YEPES
Production PABLO MAS
Assistant STEVEN PANE
for RUI

“Love compels me to delve into my deepest emotions, confronting both vulnerability and strength. It’s natural, and nature is impassable.”

Lolita Eno speaks with Grace Powell
for LE MILE Magazine / AGE OF CHANGE Issue 37

(c) Lolita Eno

Talent MURIEL SEGUIER
Stylist Stephania Yepes
Production PABLO MAS
Hair GORKA LAKAN
Assistant BORJA LLOBREGAT

(c) Lolita Eno
for Alexander Wang

Grace Powell
For this interview, we’re delving into the themes of love and intimacy. How do these personal topics influence the art you are currently creating and sharing with the world?

Lolita Eno
Love, in its profound complexity, has become a central theme in my work. It compels me to delve into my deepest emotions, confronting both vulnerability and strength. Through this process, I discover more about myself and the world around me. Love, to me, is natural and nature is impassable.

Why is it important for you to speak on this now?

Recently, I experienced a powerful connection with someone that has now ended. I don't know what will happen in the future with us, the future does not exist right now. Of course, this person has inspired me and my work. My broken heart hurts, but not everything that hurts needs to have a bad ending. Feeling this is tough, but I'm learning, and I've already noticed changes in myself, which I find exciting. This emotional journey has fueled a creative process that reflects my personal growth and introspection.

Love (and heartbreak) are in many ways then charges for you, creatively?

Anything that changes me charges what I create. Creating art is my lifeline, and I'm currently processing what I'm going through —I hope somewhere interesting — All these tears will (re)shape me…I'm losing too much water.

…and vice versa, art too fuels these powerful feelings?

Without art I would slowly die of a sad heart. The love for creating keeps me alive. During a difficult time when I was on a path of self-destruction, creating and falling in love saved me. With whom I stayed for six years. If you are reading this, thank you.

What is the craziest thing you ever did for love?

Is there something crazier than love itself? “Non Voglio Mai Vedere II Sole Tramontare” by Oliver Leith, 12 Ensemble, Eloisa-Fleur Thom and Max Ruisi is how I felt when I was with him, when I was last in love.

Within love is intimacy and sex, how do these play a role within your artistry? 


Intimacy, in all its forms, continues to inspire my work, leaving behind a regenerated spirit that shapes my artistic expression.

Described as both “sexual” and "trippy”, you once said, “I love my vagina and my sexual energy. I believe in it”. What makes the vagina so powerful?


In this quote, I'm talking about the reproductive organ as a metaphor for creation ( and sometimes, this is not a metaphor at all!) For a long time I used to hate my vagina for the collateral implications it has. I discovered my vagina at a really young age, I think I was like 8 or so when I started realising that I had a power between my legs, a power that could be taken out of me.

(c) Lolita Eno
Talent TOCCORORO
Bag EVADE HOUSE

(c) Lolita Eno

Talent EVANGELINA JULIA
Production PABLO MAS
Hair GORKA LAKAN
Assistant BORJA LLOBREGAT

“I love my vagina and my sexual energy. It’s a metaphor for creation—and sometimes, not a metaphor at all.”

Lolita Eno speaks with Grace Powell
for LE MILE Magazine / AGE OF CHANGE Issue 37

How has your relationship to the vagina developed? It is not an area you shy away from in your art. 


Ever since I became aware of my vagina, it has been a constant mindfuck. At times, I have felt imprisoned by my own body, and have associated ‘freedom’ and ‘power’ with cocks. Even though I've always seen myself as a beautiful woman, and understood the power that holds, I have also felt weak and easy to take advantage of. In some ways I purposely refused to be protected, connecting masculine desire with the vulnerability of my body, putting myself in a position to be taken advantage of instead of staying in my own power mode. I have an intense sexual energy despite not being overtly sexual. I don't dress in a 'sexy' manner, haven't had many sexual partners, and rarely date—I'm not easily intrigued. I use this sexual energy in my photos, sometimes explicitly and sometimes not that explicitly …but it's always there, I just can't be any other way. Soy un escorpión.

The theme of the magazine is AGE OF CHANGE, which feels super relevant right now for you and your work! Do you enjoy change? 


Change brings forth a mix of emotions—fear, excitement, danger, and new horizons. It's unstable and lacks security, yet it's fun and appealing. I don't live a traditional life. All can be summed up in : ?????? ! !! ?.

I'm completely changing my life right now, moving to another continent and constantly bouncing between New York, Paris, and LA. It's addictive once you start; having family in these cities makes me feel incredibly lucky. I still have good friends in Madrid, but this lifestyle can be lonely. You have to be selective about who you spend time with, and sadly, you sometimes lose people you care about. Despite the drawbacks, I'd still choose this life.

Do you believe in destiny?


Yes, but not in a mystical sense. I believe our past experiences and qualities shape who we are today. It's like a series of events that fit together when you reflect on them. Surrendering control and allowing destiny to lead can make you feel like a philosopher, contemplating deeply on everything.

“Change is unstable and lacks security, but it’s fun, dangerous, and addictive. Once you start, you can’t stop.”

Lolita Eno speaks with Grace Powell
for LE MILE Magazine / AGE OF CHANGE Issue 37

credit for header image
(c) Lolita Eno

Talents MURIEL SEQUIER, EVANGELINA JULIA, MARTA OCHOA, NINA WASINSKI, CARMEN CANDELA, OTA ANDUIZA, NINA WADANAX, EMME MADDI, and MARINA JONE PODEROSO / Stylist STEPHANIA YEPES / Production PABLO MAS / Hair GORKA LAKAN / Assistant BORJA LLOBREGAT

Carlo Lucidi - Interview

.aesthetic talk
Carlo Lucidi
*Artistic Narratives

written + interview Amanda Mortenson

Carlo Lucidi, renowned curator and artist, continues to bridge contemporary creativity with timeless narratives.

His latest project, Dipingo fiori per non farli morire (I paint flowers so they will not die), celebrates the 70th anniversary of Frida Kahlo’s passing through an extraordinary exhibition of contemporary jewelry.

Opened on November 30, 2024, at Sala Santa Rita in Rome, the showcase features over 300 pieces by 80 international artists. These works, crafted from diverse materials such as gold, ceramics, and recycled metals, reflect themes of resilience, identity, and feminine creativity—key elements of Kahlo’s enduring legacy.

crown
Hanna Katarina Alexandra

necklace
Mercedes Castro Corbat

Amanda Mortenson
Carlo, with “I Paint Flowers So They Will Not Die,” you've curated an all-female lineup of artists in tribute to Frida Kahlo. What drew you to explore femininity and resilience through the medium of contemporary jewelry?

Carlo Lucidi
That's an important question, and I like starting to talk about my project from this perspective. First, a premise about contemporary jewelry: it’s a highly current form of communication and expression, with dynamics all its own, both connected to and distinct from fashion and art. The fact that it’s such a unique phenomenon makes it less subject to market forces and trends, granting it an inherent freedom and openness to engage with the challenges present in both the art world and the world at large.

That said, my desire to promote it and convey its artistic and poetic essence has often come up against the difficulty of making it accessible, of sparking curiosity in potential collectors, art lovers, and the simply intrigued.

Frida Kahlo is an iconic artist, and this year, with the seventy-year anniversary of her passing, I felt a strong urge to delve into the process of narrating her story. Her reflections on impermanence, suffering, and community have always struck and fascinated me deeply. Given her inspirational role in today’s world, it felt necessary to honor her legacy by dedicating this exhibition to female voices. That’s why the open call was exclusively for women and non-binary artists. Of course, this was not without controversy, but life is made of difficult choices. In being misunderstood for these decisions, I felt, in some way, once again in tune with Frida Kahlo.

The pieces on display feel like vessels for stories beyond adornment—a raw, intimate language of survival and beauty. How do you think jewelry can capture these layers in ways traditional art forms might not?

The lack of a strong and structured market behind it is the real struggle of contemporary jewelry. It’s often seen by the visual arts world as a simple, inadequate attempt, by the fine jewelry market as a 'crude' use of rough techniques, and by the fashion world as a curious but ultimately minor accessory, something small and difficult to define commercially, and impossible to brand for the big names. Yet, this inadequacy is precisely contemporary jewelry’s greatest strength: a field where exploration happens without rules, free from trends, and as the result of genuine, personal research that doesn’t only exist on an expressive level. That’s true of all art forms. In contemporary jewelry, though, the research also considers wearability—whether it’s possible, practical, or even comfortable for everyday use. The act of creating a piece while imagining it as an artwork frames not just the object itself, but also the act of wearing it as part of the design. It invites the audience not just as observers, but as wearers, or at least as people who wonder what wearing it would feel like. Is it possible? Adequate? Comfortable? This specificity, when applied to themes as powerful as survival and beauty, draws the audience into the same questions raised during creation, placing them in a much more active role compared to most other art forms.

“Frida Kahlo is an iconic artist, and this year, with the seventy-year anniversary of her passing, I felt a strong urge to delve into the process of narrating her story.”

Carlo Lucidi speaks with Amanda Mortenson
LE MILE .Digital

Carlo Lucidi
wearing brooch Anu Kirkinen

brooch
Anu Kirkinen

necklace
Slawa Tchorzewska

Frida Kahlo’s presence looms large in this exhibit. If she could walk through your gallery today, what do you hope she’d feel or recognize in these works?

Frida would see so many women asserting themselves in the art world, building communities, and facing the same questions she grappled with in her own work. She would see her face, her themes, her flowers, the monkeys, the birds, but most importantly, she would recognize through the eyes (or perhaps the hands) of the artists present what she achieved in her life: transforming her suffering into true wonder. I’d hope she would recognize herself in the interpretations these artists have made of her, but even if she didn’t, I would love to hear her dialogue with them. The exchange of human experience would be priceless.

The exhibition touches on the transformative power of art. In a world constantly changing, how do you see the role of contemporary jewelry evolving as a medium for cultural and personal expression?

I believe that personal and cultural expression is crucial, ethically and politically, especially when the world around us seems driven by forces of homogenization, simplifying rather than enriching. Contemporary jewelry, because of its heterogeneity, its transformative nature, and its ability to embody the artist’s expression on the wearer’s body, is a powerful way to resist without weapons. To show one’s individuality is always to enrich the other with questions and the possibility of exchange. In a world as fast-paced as ours, where first impressions seem to matter more than ever, the ability to make a statement through something worn on the body is simply brilliant.

“The act of creating a piece while imagining it as an artwork frames not just the object itself, but also the act of wearing it as part of the design.”

Carlo Lucidi speaks with Amanda Mortenson
LE MILE .Digital

"I Paint Flowers So They Will Not Die"
Location: Sala Santa Rita, Rome
Dates: November 30 – December 4, 2024
More info: culture.roma.it

Over 80 women and non-binary artists from around the world present more than 300 pieces of contemporary jewelry in homage to Frida Kahlo. Organized by the Associazione Metamorfosi and curated by Carlo Lucidi, the exhibition delves into themes of strength, resilience, and feminine identity. Each piece weaves personal expression with Kahlo's reflections on impermanence and renewal. Free admission.

LAVAZZA 2025 *by Omar Victor Diop

LAVAZZA 2025 Calendar
*Celebrating 130 Years of Blending

written Alban E. Smajli

The Lavazza 2025 calendar is a living work. Its pages carry a rhythm, shaped by 130 years of blending.

It moves through color, energy, and form, holding stories that stretch across time. Omar Victor Diop creates four acts, each unfolding with precision and intention. The frames capture motion, moments, and layers that reflect connection.

Blending Cultures begins in winter. Blues fill the space, drawing focus to Whoopi Goldberg. Her presence forms the axis, surrounded by gestures and movements that echo outward. The frame holds lives, histories, and expressions, each one adding weight to the composition. Spring emerges in Blending Times. Jannik Sinner steps forward, his energy defining the tone. Arne Anker stands within the frame, his stance precise, his presence calm. Props and textures align with the figures, extending the narrative into the space they occupy. The image holds movement, grounded in craft and care.

(c) Omar Victor Diop
LAVAZZA Calendar 2025, February

“A day, a week, a month, a year – for me, it’s always Lavazza!”

Whoopi Goldberg

Summer shifts into Blending Roots. Omar Victor Diop steps into the frame, central to the story. The tones deepen into green, reflecting origins and connections. The composition expands, pulling threads of identity and place into focus.

Autumn closes with Blending Minds. Julia Nordhaus enters the frame, her energy focused and deliberate. Ochre tones fill the space, creating a sense of thought and creation. The composition feels open, inviting reflection and engagement. Every detail contributes to the narrative, holding its place within the whole.

The calendar moves through these acts, carrying the philosophy of blending into its imagery. The bar counter repeats across frames, forming a thread of exchange and connection. Props, shadows, and textures create depth, adding layers to the story. The energy of blending continues in every element, carrying the vision forward.

Blending began in 1895. Luigi Lavazza worked among sacks of coffee beans, each carrying whispers of the land it came from. Aromas clashed, mixed, and settled into something unified. The act grew into an idea, shaping how Lavazza created and connected with the world. Every blend carried stories, people, and places.

“The end result is much more than the sum of individual parts: the result is the Lavazza Group, a family of over 5,500 people, celebrating its 130th anniversary—a long, pioneering journey oriented toward responsibility for people and the environment.”

Francesca Lavazza
Member of the Board of the Lavazza Group

The 2025 calendar transforms this philosophy into visual form. Omar Victor Diop’s lens captures blending as an act of energy, movement, and stillness. Each tableau unfolds with precision, drawing the viewer into its layers. Blending Cultures reveals the winter blues. Whoopi Goldberg holds the center. Around her, figures interact, each one carrying its own weight within the scene. The composition speaks to exchange and the coexistence of traditions.

Spring emerges in Blending Times. Tennis-star Jannik Sinner and Arne Anker take the lead. Sinner brings a sense of vitality, while Anker reflects the artistry of craft. The rhythm of the scene resonates through objects and gestures. Blending Roots shifts into green, where Diop steps into the frame. His stance anchors the image in the concept of shared origins.

In Blending Minds, Julia Nordhaus of Lavazza Germany becomes the focal point. The ochre tones of autumn surround her, carrying the energy of collaboration and the pursuit of ideas. Her gaze suggests a vision forward, rooted in creativity and innovation.

Blending defines each frame. It appears in the arrangement of subjects, in the textures, and in the spaces where people and objects converge. The recurring bar counter emphasizes gathering and exchange, while the costumes and props bring layers of context and meaning into focus. Every element contributes to the overall narrative.

read more: Let´s Blend! Calender 2025!

(c) Omar Victor Diop
LAVAZZA Calendar 2025, August

(c) Omar Victor Diop
Artist portrait

“I depicted the concept of blend through the use of color—universal yet deeply personal. My intent was to create a multifaceted fresco that united identities, origins, and skills in a unique symposium.”

Omar Victor Diop

scroll the calendar

Arne Anker brought his perspective as Lavazza’s Ambassador of Indulgence for Germany. His Berlin restaurant, BRIKZ, reflects the blending ethos through its evolving menu. Coffeetails, a centerpiece of his work, reimagine coffee as a living ingredient, constantly adapted to new contexts.

Anker’s approach embodies the spirit of blending, creating moments that move beyond the static and into the experiential. Francesca Lavazza spoke of the calendar as a reflection of shared values. Her words grounded the project in the brand’s ongoing mission to connect people and ideas. Julia Nordhaus, whose presence in Blending Minds highlights Lavazza’s commitment to forward-thinking innovation, underscored the importance of collaboration within and beyond the company.

The 2025 calendar extends Lavazza’s heritage into new dimensions, transforms blending into a framework for thinking, one that bridges art, culture, and identity. Its unveiling in Vienna emphasized this movement, reinforcing Lavazza’s role as a catalyst for connection and creativity. The project shows how blending, born in coffee, continues to shape the way the brand engages with the world.

A Brewed Vision shared with Lavazza

(c) Omar Victor Diop for LAVAZZA
2024

Charlie Rowe - Interview

.aesthetic talk
CHARLIE ROWE
*Quiet Rhythms, Unexpected Directions

written + interview Alban E. Smajli

Charlie Rowe is a study in understated charisma. At just 27, he’s amassed a body of work that spans two decades, quietly orbiting around some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters while carving out a space that’s distinctly his own.

“It brings a palpable energy to the set,” he says of working alongside Noah Baumbach, George Clooney, and Adam Sandler. “There’s certainly an anticipation. But they are three lovely people who are fantastic at what they do. I just tried to observe and soak in as much as possible. I was tremendously lucky to be there.”

full look ALEXANDER McQUEEN

TEAM CREDITS

seen + art direction ANTONIO EUGENIO
styled IGNACIO DE TIEDRA
talent CHARLIE ROWE via PINNEACLE PR UK
grooming TERRI CAPON
photo assistant MITCHELL KEMP

“Argyle knits and sweaters. Scottish Highland, Folk-core style. But also perhaps a bag. I’m yet to find my perfect man bag. I’d like to co-create that. I’m sick of rucksacks.”

Charlie Rowe speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

full look JOSS ROWE

For Rowe, luck might play a part, but there’s also a certain rhythm—both to his choices and the roles that choose him. “A bit of both,” he admits when asked if he’s drawn to characters or if it’s all about timing. “I audition for parts that have a rhythm that interests me or at least the project, as a whole, has a rhythm that speaks to me. Whether I get them or not… now that is up to the universe aligning.”

It’s clear that this rhythm extends beyond film. Fashion weaves into his identity, not just as an actor, but as someone who’s grappled with—and grown from—some youthful experiments. “I had a hat phase at an oddly young age,” he says. “I was watching a lot of Mad Men and wearing fedoras and trilbys. I had a bald head at the time, so it was mainly to cover it, and it was not my greatest look.”

These days, Rowe’s relationship with fashion feels more intentional. “Argyle knits and sweaters. Scottish Highland, Folk-core style,” he says when asked about a potential fashion collaboration. “But also perhaps a bag. I’m yet to find my perfect man bag. I’d like to co-create that. I’m sick of rucksacks.”

On set, Rowe relishes the unexpected. “This is the job; searching for something unexpected,” he reflects. “Directors and good direction are essential as sometimes an actor can overcomplicate the search for something surprising. Most of my unexpected choices have come from simple notes and relaxation.”

full look DOLCE & GABBANA

full look FERRAGAMO

“I love improv. A good script never feels too restrictive. I actually like the repetition of film as you can keep finding more and more, if everyone is on board.”

Charlie Rowe speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

full look DOLCE & GABBANA

shirt + trousers ALEC BIZBY
shoes DOLCE & GABBANA

Even the structure of film, often seen as rigid, is something Rowe navigates with ease. “I love improv, though I’m not particularly well-versed in the craft of it. I would love to do more. But a good script never feels too restrictive. I actually like the repetition of film as you can keep finding more and more, if everyone is on board.”

As he steps further into the spotlight, Charlie Rowe’s evolution feels less like a meteoric rise and more like the steady heartbeat of someone who’s always known exactly where they’re headed—searching, always listening, and quietly redefining what it means to lead.

Seth Howe - Interview

.aesthetic talk
SETH HOWE
*Instruments of Seeing

written + interview Kate Hoag

Seth Howe is a New York-based artist and architect whose multidisciplinary practice includes sculpture, works on paper, photography, video, and installation—all focused on exploring light, space, and perception.

Howe’s Stackworks series exemplifies these explorations, featuring alternating pieces of metal or wood that form minimalistic layered sculptures. Described by Howe as "instruments for seeing," these pieces invite viewers to move around them and reconsider how they experience the world.

In this conversation with LE MILE Magazine, Howe offers a closer look into his artistic practice, reflecting on his architectural influences, the evolution of his Stackworks series, and his ongoing exploration of perception and the act of seeing.

Seth Howe
Diamond Rotation Series

“My three-dimensional works are meant to act as 'lenses' or 'seeing devices' to look through, not as coded objects to look at.”

Seth Howe speaks with Kate Hoag
for LE MILE .Digital

Seth Howe
The Mechanism of Seeing, in Picturing Light at FIT
Photo courtesy of the artist

Seth Howe
seen by Peter Murdock

Kate Hoag
Your work spans a range of media, from sculpture to video to photography. Do these each act as a different form of expression?

Seth Howe
Everything starts in three dimensions, and my Stack structures are the source inspiration for all of my other work, including works on paper, photography, and video. The main focus of my art concerns perception and the human body in space, and how it is that we can understand and navigate through the material world. My three-dimensional work establishes a physical relationship with the body of the viewer, in real space and time, in an effort to highlight the ordinary experience of seeing. The two-dimensional work acts as an imprint or record of perceived moments over time, either as a sort of snapshot of the physical experience, or as simulations of that experience. I explore perception and the act of seeing in all of the different mediums, toggling back and forth to inform and strengthen my overall conceptual ideas.

You are also an architect. Could you tell us about your personal relationship with architecture versus fine art? Do you feel your architectural training influences the way you approach form and structure in your sculptural work?

My architectural training most definitely informs my artwork. I was trained in the modernist tradition as postmodernism began to infiltrate architectural design and the culture at large. It was an interesting time, as my upbringing and education embraced technological and scientific progress as a way to improve society, but of course underneath this rational worldview things were slowly being dissected and dismantled. I was always hyper-aware of my own physical presence and the relationship of my body to the environment. I think that’s why I was always fascinated with space and architecture. Through my architectural practice I came to question the systems and paradigms that make up the construct of our reality, and I turned to artmaking as a more facile way to investigate these matters. Despite this, I still use modernist materials and strategies in my artwork because those are the forms, materials, and notions of space that are intrinsic to how I see and know the world. They are the tools and materials that I’m comfortable working with, and ultimately the goal of my work in the physical realm is meant to point to a more metaphysical space, one that is not based in the physicality of art or architecture.

You often work in iterations. Could you walk us through your process of revisiting your work?

Everything originates from the Stackworks, using the conceptual notion of constructing a three-dimensional structure in the most efficient way possible, in this case an alternating stacked structure using identical repetitive parts. The original Stack structure was conceived about ten years ago, and it has continued to inform me about perception and the process of seeing. It’s a sort of unfolding that reveals new ideas and sharpens my focus. The work ties in perfectly with things I have been thinking about for a very long time, such as phenomenology and nonduality.

I started fabricating my structures with four sides and have since expanded this to six sides. Part of this came from the requirements of creating stability in larger works, as well as expanding my own presumptions about what the form can do in terms of the perceptual experience. I imagine in the future I might change the number of sides or alter the form, materials, colors, etc., but any iterations will conform to the original stacking concept.

How does each iteration build upon or diverge from the previous?

All iterations emanate from the source structure, a four-sided stacked tower of twenty alternating raw aluminum parts. I was experimenting with scrap material when I first conceived of the work. At the time I wasn’t quite sure of what it was, but I liked the simplicity and elegance of the form, along with the solid/void patterns created by the assembled parts and the shadows that were produced in certain lighting. I played with the shadows initially, shooting light through the structure and photographing the resulting forms. I then moved on to figure/ground works, my Diamond Series prints, which captured and flattened the patterns of solids and voids as if rotating around them. I added color and reflective surfaces to the structures, and played a lot with scale and the number of parts. I placed the works on a turntable, which acted as a stand-in for our movement through space, and started photographing them with long exposures, creating blurry and fragmented images. All of the work is related and references the original theme, one that I will continue to pursue and build upon.

Minimalism has often been considered a hyper-masculine movement, yet your approach feels more inclusive and personal. Do you see your work navigating or perhaps redefining space within Minimalist tradition?

I think all Western movements of art through to the 1990s can be considered to be hyper-masculine, as mainstream culture mainly celebrated the white male artist. There were some female minimalist artists of course (Anne Truitt, Nancy Holt, to name a few whom I admire) so I don’t think the conceptual nature or hard edge materials of minimalism is inherently masculine. I am using materials and methodologies that can certainly be associated with minimalism, and some of my concerns are quite similar. Since I am working in this specific culture and moment in time, I cannot ignore the current cultural climate we’re living in. I use minimalist materials in an effort to address the raw nature of seeing, which I think ultimately goes to the root of so many issues plaguing our society at large: how we see dictates how we act, our values, and our capacity to have empathy and understand one another.

The recent exhibition Picturing Light at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where you exhibited a large-scale installation, questions some of our basic assumptions about how we experience light and illumination. Do you see your work in the exhibition likewise challenging viewers to think about their assumptions regarding light and vision?

My goal is to challenge viewers to have an awareness of the sensation of seeing. I believe it’s not what we see as much as it is that we can see at all. Light brings forth our visual perception of the world, and I use the qualities of light in my work with reflection, color, etc., but I am not interested in light as a subject matter. I’m interested in raw seeing, as if we removed all thinking and feeling, including memories of the past and all projections into the future—what is that pure experience like? Light is one of the ways in which we understand and bring meaning to the material world, but the subject of my work is not light, it is the viewer themselves, seeing in a new and unfamiliar way.

Are there specific reactions you hope to evoke in your work?

I’d like viewers to bring themselves to the work, whomever they might be. I see the work as more universal—the majority of humans are sighted and have the ability to perceive physical matter and to navigate space. I want the viewer to actively participate with the work, not be a passive observer. Although most people rely on prescribed conventions of seeing to understand the world, I think everyone has the capacity to see anew and this can happen in a small way. I will not dictate how or what a viewer sees or thinks, I prefer to nudge them out of their preconditioned state just a little bit, enough to make them aware that they are seeing, to have an awareness of being aware.

Seth Howe
SPIN Series A, No.4 (1_3), 2022
Photograph on cotton rag
51”x41”x3”

Seth Howe
SPIN Series A, No.5 (1_3), 2022
Photograph on cotton rag
51”x41”x3”

“I am interested in raw seeing, as if we removed all thinking and feeling, including memories of the past and all projections into the future—what is that pure experience like?”

Seth Howe speaks with Kate Hoag
for LE MILE .Digital

Many of your pieces have been described as “instruments for seeing.” Can you elaborate on what you mean by this and how this intention shapes your creative process?

My three-dimensional works are meant to act as “lenses” or “seeing devices” to look through, not as coded objects to look at. I hesitate to call them sculpture because that implies an object and form that has referential meaning or signifies something else. These works exist in real space and time, no different than a human body, and I would like them to be experienced in that way. That they happen to use industrial materials and take certain geometric forms is less consequential to me, it’s their function that is important. And their function is to convey a new way of understanding the world, not as a fixed conventional reality, but as a reality that is always in flux, everchanging, and malleable.

How do you define “functional art” within the context of your practice? Do you see your works as having a function beyond their aesthetic?

My functional work is conceptually the same as my artwork, but as an architect and a “user” of space I am always drawn to making something functional, such as a table or a seat. I see these works as fine art but something that is a bit more approachable. They are physical things that people can interact with on a daily basis. In this way they are closer to being like the objects we already have around us. It’s really interesting to me to think about the boundary between something that is useful in a physical way and something that exists as an entity for sensory experience…the line can sometimes be a bit blurry.

Who or what continues to inspire you, whether in art, architecture, or other fields?

I am continually inspired by New York City, how one navigates through the streets, as if we are perceptual seeing machines, constantly taking in data and experiencing fragments of architecture, light, color, and reflections. The physical sensation of movement through space is heightened in an urban environment. This will forever be fascinating to me, the moment by moment experience of seeing as if for the first time. The city has taught me how to see, and has encouraged me to step out of my own conventional ways of seeing. I am inspired by work that brings forth some of these same attributes, whether in music, fine art, film, or architecture.

How would you describe your artistic philosophy? Is there a central idea or feeling that guides your approach across different projects?

My main conceptual thesis is about the experiential sensation of seeing, and this has been a developing theme throughout my life. We can only know the world through our senses; everything that exists comes through our sensory experience. I’ve always been drawn to the visual world as my contact point to reality. I read a lot of French existentialism when I was young which opened me up to questioning the nature of society and my existence within it. I then discovered the ideas of phenomenology in the works of Merleau-Ponty, Bergson, and others, which expanded my perspective of the different ways of examining reality. I explored the systems of language, linguistic and visual signs, social and power structures, and ultimately the ways in which reality is a type of construction itself, built piece by piece through the development of complex fabricated systems of language and knowledge. I’ve recently been exploring non-duality, which posits that everything in the world emanates from pure awareness, that all of culture, science, thinking, and feeling are subsets of consciousness itself. My work is both a tool for me to use in my exploration, as well as a device to communicate what I see with others. The point is not to create objects that end in some sort of didactic explanation, but to create things in the physical realm that provoke questions and wonder about the world we inhabit.

Looking ahead, are there any new directions or materials you’re excited to explore in your work?

After many years of investigating, thinking, and making art, I have just begun to show my work in public and I am excited about moving into that arena. There are no new directions per se, but I think the act of being in the public realm will certainly influence my work. I do like working on site-specific installations, such as the FIT show, and I am excited about fabricating larger works for exterior spaces out of stainless steel. I also use digital technologies as tools for exploration, including 3D printing for study models, and digital renderings of large works. But my output will always remain in the physical realm, a place where we all reside, in this present moment.

Seth Howe
Diamond Rotation Series A, No 4, 2021
Archival pigment print in wood shadowbox
28.75x21.75x2in (framed 28.75x21.75in)

Seth Howe
Stackwork 6
Aluminum, 12x6x6in

“We can only know the world through our senses; everything that exists comes through our sensory experience.”

Seth Howe speaks with Kate Hoag
for LE MILE .Digital

Lester Kamen - Perspective

.aesthetic talk
The Rebirth of Lester Kamen
Finding Harmony in Chaos

written + interview Chidozie Obasi

Recent years found many artists rejecting “coolness” (a buzzword of the early noughties) for a more introspective approach.

Oxford-based Lester Kamen’s journey of early music pursuits could partially relate to such an example, which has seen him swapping pitches—from the court to the piano—with a somewhat freewheeling vein that’s currently searching its edge.

coat + jacket THE FRANKIE SHOP
shirt QL2
pants CHRISTIAN BOARO
loafers SANTONI

“I'm continuously exploring myself because I have feelings of being tangled, and maybe I don't express them well in words as I do with music, which is my comfort zone where I feel like I can thrive.”

Lester Kamen speaks with Chidozie Obasi

coat TOM FORD
jacket DIOR HOMME
shirt MEIMEIJ
short skirt QL2
long skirt MEIMEIJ
loafers SANTONI

jacket FERRAGAMO
shirt PAUL SMITH
pants + loafers ZEGNA

“I'm continuously exploring myself because I have feelings of being tangled, and maybe I don't express them well in words as I do with music, which is my comfort zone where I feel like I can thrive,” opines Kamen. “My mum's been a piano teacher since I was born, so for the whole time I've had a really deep music knowledge in my house. I've also had guitars, but one thing that my mum never did is force me into learning, or taking grades and all that.”

With early stints as a footballer, Kamen later withdrew from this practice as he was diagnosed with blood clots in his leg, meaning he has to take a particular drug that wouldn’t let him play football full time. “I can have a kick about with my friends, however I can't play fully, and when I was younger my whole life was about pursuing this sport—but I used to sing in my own time while playing guitar and piano just as a thing on the side; and after the doctor told me I couldn't play again, such a decision took a toll to me and I needed something where I can pour my heart into. It eventually happened step by step, and I felt like I started to lean on to music as a way of expressing myself because football was my outlet back in the day.”

Weirdly, it’s interesting how newcomers build up their own obstacles to pleasure. It’s exactly the reason why the scale and complexity of the music industry imply that those with the means to deeply understand and acknowledge the meaning of their artistic practice could lead the way on the long haul. Not only by expressing mere passion. Which pretty much epitomises the discernment between an artist and a singer.

“I feel that it's very important to have a body of work before you jump into things too much,” Kamen offers, who’s currently working on his first compendium of songs to present by the start of next year. “Because if one song does extremely well, and people are expecting a lot more but you don't have a body of work, you will find yourself having to press the breaks on everything whilst you have the pressure of writing something.”

Another reason why he’s taking it slowly, working to ensure he gets it right before pouring his songs out and into the wide world. “Well, I gave myself this period of time to create this body of work that once it's out, there'll be enough songs that are not just a few, but that feel like a whole body of work. And I did have to spend some time just not releasing anything and being quiet so that, again, the bigger the body of work, the more it feels like I'm prepared for what this music industry has in store.”

pants PAUL SMITH

Will his music be ready for his next act? “As I write more songs, I would like my words to be simpler and simpler in a way that I can say a lot with a little,” he offers. “Maybe I haven't said that, but again, when you're left to your own devices, you can write a song that can convey something in as little words as you want.”

All in all, his songs do not have a theme per se, and upon questioning, Kamen was reluctant to “philosophise” over his music practice, which I thought was a shame. In other words, let the lyricism speak for itself, which these could do plenty if honed rather rigorously.

total look MCQUEEN

total look LORO PIANA

“As I write more songs, I would like my words to be simpler and simpler in a way that I can say a lot with a little.”

Lester Kamen speaks with Chidozie Obasi

also read
.aesthetic talk CAELIAN DEL’MARE *On Identity, Rebellion, & Finding Home

jacket THE FRANKIE SHOP
sweater CANAKU
shirt GRIFONI
t-shirt DIOR HOMME
skirt THE FRANKIE SHOP
pants ZEGNA

TEAM CREDITS
seen COSIMO BUCCOLIERI via Studio Repossi
fashion director + stylist CHIDOZIE OBASI
head of production JESSICA LOVATO
fashion coordinator DAVIDE BELOTTI
make up KIM GUTIERREZ via Studio Repossi
hair GAETANO PANE via Julian Watson Agency
talent LESTER KAMEN

photography assistant ANTONIO CROTTI
production assistant ANJA MENEGON
fashion assistants GINEVRA ELISA VITALI + GLORIA MOLTRASIO + VERONICA VAGHI



(c) LE MILE Magazine, Cosimo Buccolieri

MOEBE - Interview

.aesthetic talk
MOEBE
Rewriting the Rules of Design

written + interview Monica de Luna

MOEBE is rewriting the language of design. With Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd, and Anders Thams leading the charge, this Copenhagen studio is all about pushing boundaries.

Their latest project, the Modular Sofa, premiered at 3daysofdesign 2024, embodies a new era of design thinking— modular, sustainable, and unapologetically forward-looking.
MOEBE’s design philosophy challenges conventions, blending modular innovation with an uncompromising focus on sustainability. Each piece is carefully thought out, designed for flexibility, and built to endure, reflecting a future where furniture adapts to life’s changes.

In the AGE OF CHANGE, Fall/Winter 2024 edition, we sit down with the visionaries behind MOEBE to explore the ideas and processes driving their work. This is design that moves with you, built for the ever-shifting rhythms of modern living.

Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd and Anders Thams

“Versatility and sustainability are a compound subject at MOEBE, and all of our designs adhere to these principles in one way or another, whether it’s through their construction or their adaptability.”

Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd and Anders Thams
speaking with Monica de Luna

first published
LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

Monica de Luna
The Modular Sofa made its debut at 3daysofdesign 2024. What was the core inspiration behind creating such a versatile and eco-friendly piece?

MOEBE
Versatility and sustainability are a compound subject at MOEBE, and all of our designs adhere to these principles in one way or another, whether it’s through their construction or their adaptability. Our commitment to designing in this way has only strengthened over the years as our collection grows, and the Modular Sofa is really a natural extension of this design philosophy.

MOEBE is renowned for its modular design approach. How does the Modular Sofa elevate this concept in the world of adaptable furniture?

The Modular Sofa is a continuation of that modular, component-based thinking, perhaps even taking it a step further. Of course we are not the first to have the idea of a sofa split into sections, but we have tried to push the boundaries of what modular design can do and what a modular sofa can be.
For example, not only is the sofa constructed from individual modules, but the modules themselves can be separated even further to their constituent parts. Modules can be easily reconfigured, the cushions can be changed out without affecting the rest of the sofa, and everything is designed to arrive flat-packed. You have more choice when it comes to colour and form, and you are not tied to one specific configuration. When most people think of modular design they tend to think of flexibility, but we are just as interested in its other benefits, such as how easy it is to assemble, and how parts can be repaired without needing to be replaced. All of this can be found in the Modular Sofa.

Sustainability seems to be a cornerstone for the Modular Sofa, with certified oak and EU Ecolabel- compliant foam. How crucial is sustainability in MOEBE’s overall design philosophy?

Sustainability is really important to us, and something we consider through every step of the design process. That said, it’s also an incredibly broad area, and sustainability means different things to different people. So we decided to build our own framework to operate in, and we came up with six guiding design principles that feed in to everything we do, and help keep us in the right direction.

For example, we also have a commitment to producing spare parts for all of our designs. We believe that it should always be easier to repair than to replace, so this commitment is our way of helping people keep their furniture for longer, instead of always having to buy something new. It sounds simple enough, but it actually takes a lot of work to make sure that our designs are made in such a way that they can be repaired. Looking again at Modular Sofa, the way it is constructed and put together means that it can be shipped flat- packed, which has the environmental advantage of reducing the carbon footprint of shipping, and the component-based design lets us focus on producing a set number of parts, which helps avoid overproduction.

Flat-packed and easy to assemble – what were the biggest challenges in designing a piece that balances simplicity, durability, and style?

Aside from the technical challenges that come with designing any piece of furniture, we really wanted to create something that could stand by itself, without needing to rely on its label as ‘flat-packed’, or ‘easy to assemble’ to be attractive. In short, we wanted to create a sofa that people fall in love with because of how it looks, as well as how it is built.
When you design a sofa to be as modular as possible, with modules that work in any angle and configuration, you are really challenging yourself. You have to put that extra bit of effort in to make it look just as sharp. To make sure that the corner module works just as well on the left or the right side, and so that the middle section can turn both ways. It needs to look good as a pouf, or as a two-seater sofa, or as a much larger configuration that can turn corners and even accommodate people sitting at opposing angles. It’s a challenge for us as designers, but it’s also an opportunity to show what modular design could do. All of this flexibility from four basic modules, without compromising visual appeal. Now that’s a challenge!

Your Modular Sofa is the first large-scale seating option. What does this launch signify for MOEBE's growth and future direction?

It underlines our commitment to our design principles, as we continue to grow into a full-scale design studio. MOEBE started over ten years ago, and in that time we have gone from making small accessories and design items through to bigger interior and furniture pieces. We design everything in-house, and we only add products to our permanent collection that we fully believe in.

Everything needs to be born of the MOEBE design philosophy, whether it’s a small Key Ring or a Shelving System that spans a whole room. The Modular Sofa will definitely not be the last big piece, but rather the start of the next phase of MOEBE. Perhaps we’ll push even further into architecture and finally build that little shed in the woods we always dreamt about?

“We really wanted to create something that could stand by itself, without needing to rely on its label as ‘flat-packed’, or ‘easy to assemble’ to be attractive.”

Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd and Anders Thams
speaking with Monica de Luna

first published
LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd and Anders Thams

From single pouffes to multi-angled sofas with integrated tables, the Modular Sofa’s flexibility is impressive. How do you see this versatility fitting into modern living spaces?

We designed the Modular Sofa to work in many different situations, and we thought a lot about how it could help facilitate a more modern, dynamic lifestyle. We see two main scenarios where the flexibility can help achieve this. To start with, the modules can be added and changed over time, meaning that you can start with a single chair or pouf and add it to at a later time. You don’t need to start with a four-seater sofa from the beginning, but instead you can slowly work up to it as your living situation changes and evolves. Secondly, we wanted the modules to be adaptable in real-time, meaning that you can re-arrange and re- configure when the need arises.

We think the sofa looks beautiful in a big empty space, but we know that most of us live in smaller spaces or apartments where there is always the challenge of shared spaces. You want a comfortable sofa to watch TV, but perhaps you also want a more spread-out seating arrangement for when guests come over for coffee. With the Modular Sofa, you can simply break up the modules and move them around, easily adapting it to different needs at different times. It can do all of these things, and we think that’s super nice, especially over a long period of time. It’s a system you can build on, but you can also use its flexibility on a daily basis.

The smart construction of the Modular Sofa becomes evident in the details. What were the key considerations in ensuring the piece remains both easy to assemble and durable?

We think a lot about construction and how we put things together, so we love that you can see it. As designers, of course we are interested in forms, shapes, and colours, but it’s also incredibly important to remember that a sofa needs to be durable, hard-wearing, and suitable for years of everyday use. The requirement we set ourselves to make it both robust and easy to assemble was perhaps the real challenge of designing the Modular Sofa. Without getting into too much technical detail, we tested out hundreds of different construction methods in the design stage, and ended up finding elegant solutions that facilitated both of these demands.

Even if some of the details are hidden from view, you can see the constructional simplicity of the modules when you turn them upside down. The construction is easy to understand and never gets in the way, which is what we’re always aiming for.

How do you see the Modular Sofa challenging traditional furniture design and impacting future innovations?

Danish design has a unique heritage, and when we started MOEBE ten years ago we wanted to build on that, demonstrating that it can be done differently, with more focus given to making things that are easy to repair, and can adapt to changes in how we live. And this of course has an impact on future innovations too. We are part of a movement showing how sustainable thinking can be designed in from the start, and the Modular Sofa is our biggest statement yet of that way of thinking. It’s proof that you can make a sofa that follows these design principles, that is flat- packed and component-based, but is also beautiful, functional, and comfortable. We are always seeking out better materials or design solutions, and we know that our customers are too. The more designers that are active in pushing for these things, the more chance there is that the rest of the industry will move in the same direction. That’s our hope for the future.

“We are part of a movement showing how sustainable thinking can be designed in from the start, and the Modular Sofa is our biggest statement yet of that way of thinking.”

Martin de Neergard Christensen, Nicholas Oldroyd and Anders Thams
speaking with Monica de Luna

first published
LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

Caelian del’Mare - Interview

.aesthetic talk
CAELIAN DEL’MARE
*On Identity, Rebellion, & Finding Home

written + interview Alban E. Smajli

Caelian del’Mare is a force shaped by the vibrant chaos of Kreuzberg, the vivid energy of Istanbul, and the cinematic pull of Los Angeles.

Rooted in his Berlin upbringing, the actor moves through life with an authenticity that feels as raw as the streets he calls home. His work is an exploration of identity, movement, and resilience—layers formed through early experiences that continue to fuel his creativity.
In this exclusive conversation with LE MILE Digital, del’Mare shares how Kreuzberg’s diversity shaped his worldview, how Istanbul’s markets ignited his determination, and how the rhythm of dance connects to the emotional depths of his roles. Whether reflecting on the transformative power of a name or imagining a character yet to be played, del’Mare embodies the energy of someone constantly in motion, constantly evolving.

jersey CAYEMO

“Berlin, Kreuzberg! This is where I was born, where I grew up. These streets taught me life. It’s not just a place; it’s a part of me.”

Caelian del’Mare speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

pants HOLZWEILER
jacket + bag FASHION ARCHIVE
shoes CAMPER

Alban E. Smajli
Berlin, Istanbul, Los Angeles—where does Caelian del’Mare feel most at home, or are you constantly searching for something beyond places?

Caelian del’Mare
Berlin, Kreuzberg! This is where I was born, where I grew up. These streets taught me life. It’s not just a place; it’s a part of me. So much love, but also so many contradictions—it’s rough around the edges. Many say that if you’re born here, you never truly leave, no matter where you go, and that’s true. I could move elsewhere, but I want my big breakthrough to come without even realizing it’s happening. I want to show my people that I have what it takes to be the next movie star.

When you step into the skin of a character, how much of Caelian stays outside?

There’s always something of me in every role, maybe just a nuance. My early, often tough experiences sparked my creativity and gave me a unique perspective on characters. As an actor, I am confident and serious but also relaxed enough to approach any role flexibly. My expressions give my performances a certain intensity that often resonates well with people. It feels like I bring parts of myself into every role while transforming into the character.

From short film to feature film—is it just a change in runtime, or does each format demand something entirely different from you as an actor?

Each format has its own rhythm. In a short film, you have to portray the character quickly and precisely, almost like a poem that touches directly. A feature film, on the other hand, gives you more time to unfold the character step by step and take the audience on a deeper journey. For me, that means each format requires a different approach.

You’ve trained in street and urban dance—do you find that rhythm and movement unexpectedly guide you in intense scenes?

Absolutely. Dance gave me a kind of language for rhythm and body movement that goes beyond words. Sometimes, it’s not the dialogue but the movements that bring the moment to life. The rhythm of the body can build tension. This connection to movement often gives me access to the emotions of the character.

Your name, Caelian del’Mare, has an almost mythical quality. Does it influence how people in the industry perceive you or the roles you’re drawn to?

I’m completely at peace with my identity and real name, and I don’t deny it in any way. But my stage name, Caelian del’Mare, represents a creative extension of myself. It allows me to show a different side of me and create something that stands apart from my everyday life. The name was born from my desire for change and hope for something new – it symbolizes a fresh start. It’s entirely possible that I’m perceived differently because of the stage name, as it establishes a distinct creative identity. Still, it remains a part of me, and it’s not about hiding or completely changing who I am but about presenting my art from a new perspective.

What is your creative rebellion? Is there a rule in filmmaking you’d like to break but haven’t had the chance to yet?

There are no rules. I’ve seen a lot in life, more than one might guess from the outside. There were times when I felt lost, unsure of who I truly was or where I belonged. Acting gives me the chance to step into roles that are far removed from the life I was born into. It’s as if I’m living out all the dreams I could never fulfill. I’m not just playing a character – I’m living everything I might never have experienced. Every role I play is a piece of me that I find and lose. It’s a journey that changes me more than I ever thought it would.

total look GCDS

“There’s always something of me in every role, maybe just a nuance. It feels like I bring parts of myself into every role while transforming into the character.”

Caelian del’Mare speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

Was there ever a costume or look for a character on set that felt so close to your personal style you wanted to take it home?

Yes, absolutely! Once, I played a character who wore a worn leather jacket and black boots—it reminded me of Marlon Brando, a simple yet authentic look. The jacket felt like it had a story, and it just clicked with me. At the end of the shoot, the costume designer practically had to wrestle it out of my hands.

When you play someone complex, like Umut in Tek Yol, do you lose parts of yourself in the process?

With Umut, I played a very complex character, defined by intense emotions and contradictions. He is aggressive, doesn’t take anything lying down, and is full of energy, but at the same time, he is also emotional and a true charmer – the 36 Boys were my inspiration. From the very first moment, I had a vivid mental picture and genuine thoughts about him.

These thoughts allowed me to experience the character with all his depth and pain. My name comes from a boy who wanted change – that boy was me, Merdan Karatas. I created a new identity to achieve what no one believed in.

Is there a story or character the world hasn’t seen yet that you’re eager to bring to life?

I’d love to play a character struggling with their inner self, someone who sees the world differently and is often misunderstood. Someone who lives for themselves despite all the obstacles in their way. I’m fascinated by how such people think and feel, and I’d love to portray that role as vividly as possible.

What’s next—are there any projects, collaborations, or creative directions you’re looking to explore?

There’s no official new film project at the moment, but plenty of exciting opportunities are on the horizon. A few open castings and collaborations are being discussed, and I’m excited to see where it all leads.

jersey CAYEMO

shirt ASKET

production credits

talent CAELIAN DEL´MARE
seen JULIAN MELZER
styled KLAAS HAMMER
photo assistant IMKE HOYNDORF
production LIAM MONOT
post production lemilestudios

“My name comes from a boy who wanted change – that boy was me, Merdan Karatas. I created a new identity to achieve what no one believed in.”

Caelian del’Mare speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

Jorge López - Interview

.aesthetic talk
JÓRGE LÓPEZ
Hot Pursuit

interview Juan Marti

Madrid’s heat blazes like an open flame, pushing the city to its edge, and in the midst of it, Jórge López appears like a shot of cool relief. Known worldwide as one of Chile’s most electric talents, he’s captivated screens with an intensity that refuses to fade.

Jórge López defies the usual trajectory, choosing a path of substance over spectacle. In an exclusive interview and photoshoot with LE MILE Magazine, he reveals a moment of genuine connection—focused on new roles, personal pursuits, and a vision that’s both dynamic and unapologetically his own.

total look Dsquared2

total look LOEWE

“I know it's going to surprise you, now it's my turn to play the villain, an ambiguous man, with intentions that are difficult to understand.”

Jórge López with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

team credits

seen ANDREW JIM
styled SERGI PADIAL
producer JUAN MARTÍ
grooming SERGIO ÁLVAREZ
retoucher ISMAEL VILLAR
talent JORGE LOPEZ
production assistant VINI DORE
fashion assistant ANDREA ESTIRADO
artist (painted backdrops) LUCHO CAMPOS

total look DSQUARED2

total look DOLCE & GABANNA

Juan Marti
What have you been up to these days?

Jórge López
I confess that I don't stop; I haven’t had time to be still since the summer started. I just got back from Mexico a few days ago after finishing a project. Now I’m in Madrid, dying from the heat.

Speaking of the film and your roles, which character have you been focusing on?

I know it’s going to surprise you—it’s my turn to play the villain, an ambiguous man with intentions that are difficult to understand. But it’s been a real gift because I returned to Disney with Tini, the Argentine star. We both return to that place that saw us grow, which has now become a platform for all kinds of audiences and produces a wide range of content. Our project is a real thriller that explores identity and how our environment influences us as we develop as people and individuals, as well as the situations we can get caught up in when we’re unclear about who we are or when we become someone we don’t want to be.

Where do you want to focus right now?

I’m giving myself a period of self-care. I’m trying to break away from the conventional idea of success and the endless work spiral. I love working, and I want to keep working, but I also want to live. I want my life project to be my main focus. In Chile, I’m remodeling my house, and here I just finished renovating my apartment. I want to accomplish personal goals, even jotting down ideas as they come to me. I’m also considering a trip to Angola.

What do you have coming up?

An adventure that, for now, has no end and that I plan to enjoy. I really want to explore that part of Africa and learn its dances, to connect with my body and my side as a dancer. I want to nurture myself, to travel alone. I love traveling solo; it’s an experience that forces you to be self-sufficient and resilient.

total look LOEWE

total look DIOR MEN

“I'm trying to get away from the conventional concept of success that surrounds us and the endless spiral of work.”

Jórge López with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

Omar Rudberg - Interview

.aesthetic talk
OMAR RUDBERG
Northern Star

written + interview Juan Marti

Passion can be a dangerous feeling in the heart of the wrong person. Such an emotion makes us do crazy things but also great deeds.

That has been the case with young singer and actor Omar Rudberg: The Swedish-Venezuelan singer and actor was born with the most radiant passion running through his veins and from minute one it was clear to him.

His desire to express himself through music dominated his world and in early childhood he started working hard on his musical technique. Making the audience dance, feel and enjoy with his voice was his light bulb in an adolescence where we all wondered who we wanted to be and where we wanted to go. Omar's talent eliminated any kind of doubt and from the beginning of his solo career, through the years as a member of the boy band FO&O, Omar has shined with his own light. Becoming one of the most recognized voices and faces in Sweden thanks to starring in the Netflix hit show Young Royals, Omar lives an artistic moment of maturity and reinvention, where he feels free and powerful to unleash his most honest passions. A well-deserved feat, then, for a promising star.

total look VERSACE
necklace SWAROVSKI

“You gotta take risks and throw yourself out there, because if you don’t, you’ll never find out what could’ve happened if you did.”

Omar Rudberg with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

team credits

seen NICOLA PAGANO
creative fashion director CHIDOZIE OBASI
fashion editor DENNIS CAPPABIANCA
head of production JESSICA LOVATO
contributing editor LEONARDO MARTINO
talent OMAR RUDBERG via NEXT MANAGEMENT

make up MATTIA ANDREOLI
hair DOMENICO PAPA
video editor ALEXANDRE JOUX
set designer ALESSIA SORESSI

fashion coordinator LEONARDO VANTAGGI
fashion assistants LAURA GIROLAMI, JULIA ANTONIN, NICOLÒ PIOMBINO, IRENE MOTTO-ROS
production assistant ANJA MENEGON

LE MILE Magazine’s 37th issue, AGE OF CHANGE, is sold out in print but still available as a Digital Download.

total look DSQUARED2

cardigan ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
trousers LEONARDO VALENTINI
boots DSQUARED2

Juan Marti
Omar, it is a pleasure to talk to you. I would like to start talking about changes. This year has been very important for you and I would like to know how you face the new chapters in your life. What feelings do moments of change awaken in you?

Omar Rudberg
This year is one of the most exciting and important years of my career. I really get to release my new music for the international market and it’s very exciting. I don’t know what’s going to happen next—that’s what I love about what I do, even though it’s sometimes scary.

Do you consider yourself someone who is not afraid of risks or are you a more cautious person who prefers to think twice?

That really depends on my mood. Sometimes I wake up and I’ll think multiple times to do things right, and sometimes I don’t. I’ve learned from taking risks and I’ve gained from them. I would never be where I am today if I hadn’t taken the risks I’ve taken in my life.

When it comes to making an important decision, do you prefer to go it alone or do you like to seek advice from someone you trust?

I definitely seek advice from my real ones. I trust the ones that are close to me, and I know they’ll always tell me their honest opinions. Seeking advice is never a bad thing. And sometimes it can even change the way you see things and suddenly, everything is so much more clear.

Musically, 2024 has meant your expansion as a singer to a much wider audience. Have you felt pressure or nerves when facing this new challenge?

I think that I’m my worst enemy when it comes to pressure. I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes and that has been something that I’ve had to work on.

I like that one of the first singles of this new stage is Bye Bye. It is clear that you are saying goodbye to a stage, but beyond that, what other things are you saying goodbye to with that song?

Actually, the first single of this new era was Red Light. But yeah, I’m basically saying Bye Bye to bad habits, bad relations and bad energy. I feel free and I’m doing what I love and what I want to do and nothing or no one will stop me!

coat JIL SANDER by Lucie and Luke Meier
trousers THE FRANKIE SHOP

watch making of film

“I would never be where I am today if I hadn’t taken the risks I’ve taken in my life.”

Omar Rudberg with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

total look DIESEL

shirt THE FRANKIE SHOP
skirts MOSCHINO
earrings LAG WORLD
necklace SWAROVSKI

also read
.aesthetic talk Nemo *Fame, Freedom, and the Art of Doing Nothing

Last February was your first solo concert. You did it in Stockholm in front of thousands and thousands of people. How did you experience that concert? Do you have any special memories?

That day was one of the most amazing days of my life. I felt so much joy, love and energy. I still can’t believe to this day that it all happened. I’m so thankful for every single human being that came to the show. It was an honor to be able to give them a bomb ass show!

Sweden is the country where you grew up but you were born in Venezuela, how do you keep your roots alive with this beautiful country?

My roots are just in me. I’ve always seen myself as a Venezolano. My mom and my family are number one to me. I eat Venezuelan/Latin American food everyday, listen to the music everyday, and I speak my Venezuelan Spanish everyday. I can’t wait to go back and visit my home country. Venezuela Libre. ¡Hasta el final!

As a big fan of crime novels that I am and you being from Stockholm I would like to ask you if you are also a fan of that genre that is so acclaimed in Sweden, any recommendations?

If you like crime tv shows, then I’d see Snabba Cash on Netflix. It’s not a novel but it’s a really good Swedish show.

I have to congratulate you because I really liked your debut in Karusell, I'm a big slasher fan. How did you prepare for the role, are you a fan of horror movies?

Thank you! I do like horror movies. For me it’s a fun experience watching a horror movie with friends or family. Since Karusell only was my second project to film, it was important for me to feel like I was playing a new character far from Simon in Young Royals. Dante is pretty much the opposite of what Simon was so it was kind of easy for me to find who Dante was.

Karusell confronts its protagonists with the pending accounts of what happened in their adolescence, what were you like when you were in high school?

I never went to high school. I was busy touring Scandinavia and the US with my band at the time. In school I was a loud and crazy kid with my friends. But I was also very shy and insecure at times.

This year the Netflix series you starred in, Young Royals, one of their biggest hits came to an end. What lessons have you been able to learn from that incredible experience?

You gotta take risks and throw yourself out there, because if you don’t, you’ll never find out what could’ve happened if you did. I’m glad I did—even if it meant skipping mathematics in high school.

I'm sure the years you spent filming Young Royals were incredible, can you tell me about any moments you hold dear to your heart?

The whole casting process to me is something I’ll always remember. It was a very weird and special time in my life before the casting started. But when Young Royals came into my life it changed me.

I would like to end the interview talking about new beginnings, what can we expect from the new…

You can expect a lot of great new music and live shows!! Because I’m releasing new music very soon and I’m going on tour! Also, 2025 is going to be NEXT level.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next—that’s what I love about what I do, even though it’s sometimes scary.”

Omar Rudberg with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37 Edition, Fall/Winter 2024

NEMO - Interview

.aesthetic talk
Nemo
Fame, Freedom, and the Art of Doing Nothing

written + interview Alban E. Smajli

Nemo’s world is a delicate line—fame on one side, fierce privacy on the other. Talking with LE MILE, Nemo is clear: silence is as essential as sound.

Fresh off the Eurovision win, Nemo is headed somewhere quieter, carving space for nothingness in Aix-en-Provence, where everything else can fall away. Nemo creates music as a universe—crafting worlds, experimenting with genre, and aligning their art with their wardrobe, where every stitch resonates with sound. Privacy, once blurred in the rush of recognition, is now an obsession.
In the spaces between spotlight and solitude, Nemo finds the balance—where the loud meets the quiet, where raw edges mix with crafted lines. Their art? Pure and boundless, spilling over into fashion, music, and a life that answers only to their own rhythm.

shirt MCM
pants NAMILIA
jewelry PANDORA

“I think I'm learning to do nothing in my downtime. I’m going to Aix-en-Provence in France, and my plan is to do absolutely nothing. If this works out, then I would say that what gets stripped away when the lights fade is, ideally, everything.”

Nemo speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

dress  RITUAL UNIONS

total look TOEBROCK
sunglasses MCM

Alban E. Smajli
How do you balance the rawness of your personal life with the glossy, sometimes artificial world of fame? What gets stripped away when the lights fade?

Nemo
I think I'm learning to do nothing in my downtime. I worked through my first vacation after, like, five months of working full-time every day. I’m going to Aix-en-Provence in France, and my plan is to do absolutely nothing. If this works out, then I would say that what gets stripped away when the lights fade is, ideally, everything. I work in cycles of full awareness, being fully present when working and giving it my all, then having days where I do nothing at all. I think that's a balance. I mean, I crave to create.

Your style is a statement on its own. How do fashion and your art collide? Is your wardrobe a mirror or a mask for the world to interpret?

I think my wardrobe aims to reflect my music in the best possible way. So, in that sense, it’s a mirror of my music, my art. It’s either a mirror or an extension of it, sometimes both. That’s what I strive for, from stage to street.

Where does your artistic identity end and your private self begin? Or is the concept of privacy already extinct in your universe?

No, privacy is really important to me. I’m realizing this as I become more exposed, both as a person and as a public figure. Through this, I’ve come to see how essential privacy is. I didn’t understand this at the start, as my public and private lives were intertwined—everyone in my public life was also part of my private life. But as I became more recognized, especially to the degree that happened this year, I began craving privacy, moments for myself and with friends, away from the public eye. I value being with people who don’t overanalyze or categorize everything I do. So yes, privacy has become very important to me.

Does the music industry’s obsession with genre labels suffocate creativity? How do you intend to break those constraints with your next moves?

I always aim to create something fresh, something that opens a door not many have stepped through—or maybe even one no one has. In a world where almost every sound has been explored, new genres rarely arise, so mixing elements—genres, moods, contrasts—is how something entirely new can emerge. The more daring you are with mixing, the more likely you are to hit those moments. That’s my goal in music, and I think it's there in many of the new songs I’m working on. This explosion of constraints. I might put that in my bio: 'I’m an exploder of constraints.'

team credits

talent NEMO
seen JULIAN MELZER
styled KLAAS HAMMER
hair + make up LEO STERN
photo assistant YEONGHYEON KANG
fashion assistant KATHARINA PITTACK
production LIAM MONOT

post production lemilestudios

“Privacy is really important to me. I’m realizing this as I become more exposed, both as a person and as a public figure. [...] I value being with people who don’t overanalyze or categorize everything I do.”

Nemo speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

total look PINKRAININTHEBRAIN

also read
.aesthetic talk JOEL SÁNCHEZ *Breaking New Ground

Are you craving a deeper integration between music and the fashion world in your future?

Definitely. I’ve been working closely with many designers recently and learning so much about fashion, especially in the UK. I’ve met some wonderful people, and I feel the urge to expand my vision through fashion. It’s a powerful way to express myself, alongside music, singing, and writing. Integrating fashion more closely feels essential. The experience over the last few months has been eye-opening, and I look forward to more collaborations, launching my own line, and possibly participating in Fashion Weeks. These are things I’d truly enjoy.

Your lyrics seem to hold the weight of entire worlds. What's the one theme you keep circling back to, even when you try to escape it?

A general theme in my music has been freedom—finding freedom in yourself and defining it personally. That’s at the core, and even when it’s not directly in the lyrics, it’s in the sounds I choose, the worlds I create, and the feel of my music. So, I’d say that’s the recurring theme.

The Eurovision crown is still yours. What’s next? What keeps you awake at night now that you’ve tasted this level of success?

I’ve learned a lot over the past half year. The main thing is that I love creating without limits and collaborating with musicians I admire. Recently, I’ve been working with people I hadn’t had the chance to work with before, and it’s opened a new world for me, pushing me beyond my comfort zone. That’s a feeling I love. My aim is to make music, release albums, play concerts for the rest of my life, and create work that deeply resonates with me and challenges the conventional views of music and art, as well as myself. Those are my goals.

jacket + pants NAMILIA
shirt MCM
sunglasses KRISZTIAN P

“The experience over the last few months has been eye-opening, and I look forward to more collaborations, launching my own line, and possibly participating in Fashion Weeks. These are things I’d truly enjoy.”

Nemo speaks with Alban E. Smajli
for LE MILE .Digital

Joel Sánchez - Interview

.aesthetic talk
JOEL SÁNCHEZ
Breaking New Ground

written Juan Marti

Sometimes it's all down to fate. It happens when the stars conspire like the witches of Mcbeth and without expecting it, someone appears who makes a great impact, a person with something special.

LE MILE Magazine, AGE OF CHANGE Nr. 37
Fall/Winter 2024-25

JOEL SANCHEZ wears
total look JIL SANDER by Lucie and Luke Meier

watch film

“It allows you to live a thousand lives and makes your own life more complete because it makes you look into your psychology and above all into people's.”

Joel Sanchez speaks with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine - AGE OF CHANGE, Issue Nr. 37

That thing is difficult to explain but it's what makes you can't take your eyes off them, that makes you interested in the way they dress, the way they talk, even the way they smoke. Joel Sánchez is one such example: he has that thing that dazzles before the cameras and he has been able to prove it with only one TV series behind him.

His character in the successful spin off of Money Heast, Berlin, made millions of people fall in love with him all over the world thanks to his mischievousness, attractiveness and comedy. Critics and audiences have deemed him as the show's "breakout star", and for good reason. The entertainment and fashion industries have surrendered to Joel as he deals with maturity and professionalism the wave of fame that has burst into his life. But the actor, with a splendid future ahead of him, maintains his relaxed attitude and tries to savor every second of the magnificent gift that life has given him: making his dream come true.

total look ALEXANDER MCQUEEN

vest PAUL SMITH
pleated trousers SETCHU
trousers CHB CHRISTIAN BOARO
shoes SEBAGO
earrings VOODOO JEWELS

Juan Marti
Joel, time goes by so fast! It's been almost six months since the premiere of Berlin, the spin-off of Money Heist, which was a huge success. Looking back, what do you feel when you think about the months in which the series came out?

Joel Sánchez
Well, I feel very happy because it was something new for me, and to be able to see how people embrace the project and your character is something very nice and something I had never experienced before.

Berlin was also your first job as an actor, a profession that has always been your great passion. Do you believe that dreams come true?

It is a profession that always generated a lot of curiosity in me, but honestly until I did not work in it I did not realize what a beautiful job it is, it allows you to live a thousand lives and makes your own life more complete because it makes you look into your psychology and above all into people's. I feel very lucky to have found this beautiful profession. I feel very lucky to have found this beautiful way of making a living.

In less than a year your life has changed completely. I'm sure there are times when big changes can be overwhelming. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by everything that has happened?

The truth is that no, as I said before it has been a very nice process, I really enjoy the messages I read and things like that. Obviously there will be moments and moments as with all things, but at the moment I am savoring it.

Is it easy to keep your feet on the ground when success comes so unexpectedly?

For me that lies in the education and values that each one has.

During this year, what is the most important lesson you have learned?

The most important lesson for me that I have learned is that you have to be "calm" when things go well and when things go wrong, because everything is over, everything is temporary.

trousers VERSACE
necklace SWAROVSKI

team credits

seen NICOLA PAGANO
creative fashion director and stylist CHIDOZIE OBASI
head of production JESSICA LOVATO
contributing editor LEONARDO MARTINO
talent JOEL SANCHEZ via NEXT Management @nextmilan

makeup MATTIA ANDREOLI
hair stylist DOMENICO PAPA
video editor ALEXANDRE JOUX
set designer ALESSIA SORESSI
fashion coordinator assistant LEONARDO VANTAGGI

fashion assistants LAURA GIROLAMI, JULIA ANTONIN, NICOLÒ PIOMBINO, IRENE MOTTO-ROS
production assistant ANJA MENEGON

“You have to be 'calm' when things go well and when things go wrong, because everything is over, everything is temporary.”

Joel Sanchez speaks with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine - AGE OF CHANGE, Issue Nr. 37

shirt DURAZZI
pull FERRAGAMO
shorts THE FRANKIE SHOP
trousers ZEGNA
tie CARLO PIGNATELLI

shirt DSQUARED2
blazer OCTOBRE EDITION
jeans LOIS JEANS
shoes SEBAGO

micro-striped shirt BALLANTYNE
maxi collar shirt SANDRO
orange shirt FENDI
pants DIESEL
shoes PAUL SMITH

You will soon premiere La Favorita 1922, a big production about a restaurant in Madrid in the 1920's. What exactly interested you in this project?

Well, I was interested because it is my second project and I want to work and work and work, but above all I was curious to be able to play a period character, the clothes, the way of seeing and enjoying the life of that era.

You now live in Madrid but I know you are very attached to your homeland, the Canary Islands. What do you do when you feel homesick?

I start watching videos that I have in my favorites of moments with my family and friends in Lanzarote and I get over the nonsense (laughs).

Starting your life in a big city is always hard and you live moments that you never forget. How do you remember your first years in Madrid?

My mother is from Madrid so for me the change was not so radical, besides that I consider myself a very open person and always eager to meet new people so the adaptation was quite easy.

Now that you have immersed yourself in a project set in the last century, I would like to talk about nostalgia. Are you a person who usually remembers the past?

I tend to remember the past as long as it does not affect the future I want to project. It is true that for this work you have to resort to past things to empathize with things of your character etc. But I always try to do it in a healthy way and not to stir up old traumas.

What advice would you give Joel from ten years ago, and how would he feel if he saw all that you are achieving?

To enjoy life because 80% of the problems happen only in our head. That it is good to worry about the future but not to live in it.

I am happy because it has not been an easy road, at the end you make a decision without knowing the consequences and once you have seen them and see that it was worth it, it is a very nice sensation.

also read
Gregory Crewdson at Espace Louis Vuitton *Dreamscapes of a Haunted America

coat OUR LEGACY
shirt LEVI’S
skirt DURAZZI MILANO
trousers DOLCE & GABBANA

polo CALVIN KLEIN JEANS
shirt Plissè ISSEY MIYAKE
jeans THE ATTICO

If you could choose a past era to live in, what would it be?

I would say the 70's or 80's, in those years for me life was more real, without social networks, without anything that could distract you from being here and now.

How did you feel when you first entered the beautifully constructed sets of La Favorita 1922?

As if coming out of a time machine, the truth is that the sets are a real blast.

Your character is a waiter trying to find a better life, in what way did you connect with your character? Do you always seek to identify in a certain way with the characters you have played so far?

In a way, I also worked as a waiter and other things to pay my college tuition, so I empathize with my character, I think you always have to look for something of yourself in the character to empathize with his life, but I also think that throughout your career as an actor you will get characters that make you learn and delve into areas that you had never considered within yourself and that's nice.

blazer TOM FORD
trousers LOUIS VUITTON

“At the moment, I am savoring it.”

Joel Sanchez speaks with Juan Marti
first published: LE MILE Magazine - AGE OF CHANGE, Issue Nr. 37

Gregory Crewdson at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich, Cathedral of the Pines

Gregory Crewdson at Espace Louis Vuitton
*Dreamscapes of a Haunted America

written Monica de Luna

Gregory Crewdson’s photographs are a punch to the gut, and the latest exhibit at Espace Louis Vuitton München doesn’t hold back.

As part of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s bold Hors-les-murs program, Crewdson’s series Dream House (2002) and Cathedral of the Pines (2014) are unleashed upon the Munich audience, exposing the fractures beneath the pristine surface of middle-class America. The exhibition pulls you into a world where the familiar dissolves into the surreal, where dreams blur into nightmares, and where small-town life becomes a stage for unsettling cinematic narratives.

(c) Gregory Crewdson, Cathedral of the Pines
at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich

(c) Gregory Crewdson, Cathedral of the Pines
at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich

Crewdson doesn’t just photograph—he directs. His large-scale works, meticulously staged like movie stills, turn ordinary scenes into eerie tableaus. The deserted streets, the muted lighting, the frozen moments—they all draw from the visual lexicon of film noir and psychological thrillers, leaving you hanging in the quiet dread of what might come next. The characters are caught in the eye of a storm you can’t see, their stillness heavy with a tension that won’t break.

This latest showcase at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich goes deeper into that dissonance. Dream House is a series that pulls back the curtains on domestic spaces, revealing the lurking darkness that fills the cracks of suburban life. Crewdson’s use of twilight and nighttime settings floods each photograph with the same unease you get from waking up in a dream you can’t shake. Cathedral of the Pines, on the other hand, feels more intimate, more introspective. Shot in the forests of rural Massachusetts, these images are quieter, more meditative—yet no less haunting. You feel the weight of isolation, of lives lived on the fringes, of nature encroaching on the fragile constructs of human existence.

What sets Gregory Crewdson apart is the way he plays with time. In his world, nothing moves. There’s no before, no after—just the moment. This cinematic suspension freezes the characters and the viewer, locking you in an unresolved narrative. That sense of unsettling calm, of a story half-told, is why his work lingers long after you’ve left the gallery. Every photograph is a secret waiting to be uncovered, but Crewdson isn’t offering answers. He’s here for the mystery!

In Cathedral of the Pines, the mystery becomes more personal. The forested backdrop and the desolate interiors of small-town homes mirror Crewdson’s own journey—of dislocation, personal reflection, and a return to the woods of his youth. This series marks a shift, a softer but more emotionally charged tone that contrasts the colder precision of Dream House. Here, the silence is almost deafening, but it’s the kind that invites you to listen closely—to the rustling leaves, the creaking floorboards, and the whisper of unsaid thoughts.

(c) Gregory Crewdson, Dream House
at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich

There’s no escaping the comparison to David Lynch. Like Lynch, Crewdson captures the dark underbelly of the American dream. Both artists are fascinated with what lies beneath the surface of manicured lawns and polite smiles. In Crewdson’s world, the perfect façade is just that—a cover for something far more disturbing. It’s no accident that his images feel like stills from a movie that could sit comfortably between Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks. The suburban dread, the unease in the everyday—Crewdson’s lens finds the uncanny in what most would overlook.

And yet, despite the cinematic scale of his work, there’s something deeply personal about Crewdson’s exploration of these themes. Whether through the stark portrayal of loneliness in Cathedral of the Pines or the visual claustrophobia of Dream House, there’s a sense that Crewdson is constantly searching for a way out—of both the frame and himself.

His images require you to stop, stare, and confront the unease that rises from the edges of the frame. They are moments from a story you’ll never fully understand, but one you won’t be able to forget.

(c) Gregory Crewdson
Espace Louis Vuitton Munich, 2024

(c) Gregory Crewdson, Dream House
at Espace Louis Vuitton Munich

HARRI - Interview

.aesthetic talk
HARRI
From Inflatable Fantasy to Everyday Edge

written Gennaro Costanzo

As Fashion Week nears, designer Harri KS, famous for his avant-garde inflatable pieces, is taking a fresh turn. This season, he's blending his artistic vision with a more wearable, everyday style — without losing the edge that made him a standout in the fashion world.

It’s September — the time of year when the world begins to embrace autumn. But for fashion lovers, it signals something even more exciting: Fashion Week is just around the corner. Designers like Harri KS are busy wrapping up their collections, adding the final touches that will soon grace runways. When I met Harri, it was no surprise to find him in his London studio, diligently putting the finishing touches on his newest collection. At just 30, this Indian designer has already made waves, from the British Fashion Council to fashion insiders, thanks to his signature bold, inflatable garments. But now, Harri is turning the page, ready to embrace something new. As he explains, his latest collection isn’t just about pushing the boundaries of fashion anymore — it’s about merging his artistic vision with something more wearable, while still keeping that unmistakable edge that made him stand out in the first place.

“The material tells me what to do. I listen to it. I don’t see colour like everyone else. My world is defined by light, shadow, and form.”

Harri speaks with Gennaro Costanzo
LE MILE .Digital Special

Harri’s journey into the fashion world is as unique as the designs he creates. Born and raised in Kerala, a lush, scenic state in southern India, Harikrishnan Keezhathil Surendran Pillai (or just “Harri” to his friends and fans) grew up far removed from the fast-paced fashion capitals of the world. In Kerala, people typically find themselves drawn to steady, stable careers, much like his father, who worked in the public sector. “My dad wanted me to follow that path because he values security,” Harri shared. For a long time, it seemed like he was on that track too — a future in banking or public service seemed almost inevitable.

But something inside Harri was pulling him in a different direction. “After the 10th grade, I realised I didn’t fit in. I needed to create my own life and take charge of it,” he says, reflecting on a time when he made the bold decision to pursue modelling. It wasn’t an easy choice. Leaving Kerala for a bigger city — much like how young designers leave for Milan — was necessary to chase his dream. It was a move that would change everything.

Harri’s path wasn’t linear. After enrolling in a design institute, he quickly found out that his career in fashion would be more of a winding road than a straight shot. His time as a model and bodybuilder weren’t just career choices; they were part of his process of self-discovery. “I started modelling, but after six or seven months, I knew it wasn’t for me,” he recalls. While the role gave him a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry, it wasn’t fulfilling. Bodybuilding, on the other hand, became a deeply personal outlet. It was a place where he could reflect and recharge. “The gym was my time to speak to myself,” Harri says, adding that bodybuilding wasn’t just about physical transformation. It mirrored his design process. “In both, there’s discipline and focus. Whether I’m shaping my body or working with fabric, it’s about planning, thinking, and breathing through it.”

team credits

Photographer @inkan___
Production @dktalkies
Movement Director @5eirian
Movement Artists @5eirian / @berendamico / @zacktidswell / @airajadi
PR @inderatamara
Photo Editor @stefanogiovannigiuliano
Assistant @binusabu
Equipments @jerinjosephphotos
Logistics ARUN

Special Credit @rkimaging

“We did artsy before, but this collection is more fashion, more clothing. I want my work to be accessible, but still true to who I am.”

Harri speaks with Gennaro Costanzo
LE MILE .Digital Special

Harri’s big break came when he introduced the world to his inflatable trousers, a daring and playful design that caught everyone’s attention. These bold pieces weren’t just about making a statement. “For me, it was about the process,” he says. The trousers, which quickly became his signature, represented his own evolution — a blend of artistry and craftsmanship. They caught the eye of artists and performers, including Sam Smith, who famously wore Harri’s black latex suit at the Brit Awards in 2023. The look went viral, solidifying Harri as a creative force in popular culture.

When it comes to his work, Harri’s approach is deeply rooted in the materials he uses. “The material tells me what to do. I listen to it,” he says, explaining how his colour blindness has shaped his design choices. “I don’t see colour like everyone else. My world is defined by light, shadow, and form.” This unique perspective has heightened his sensitivity to texture and shape, which is clear in his work. His designs often play with bold, surreal forms while keeping the colour palette understated. “I have rolls of grey and olive green in the studio. They’re labeled, but to me, they look the same,” he laughs, adding that this limitation forces him to rely on other creative instincts.

Now, as he prepares for London Fashion Week, Harri is stepping into new territory. His upcoming collection marks a shift away from the purely artistic pieces he’s known for. “We did artsy before, but this collection is more fashion, more clothing,” he says. It’s a move toward something more practical, but still infused with his signature creativity. Harri wants to create pieces that people can actually wear while staying true to his bold, innovative spirit. “I want my work to be accessible, but still true to who I am,” he adds.

This collection represents more than just a new season for Harri; it’s part of his ongoing exploration of what fashion can be. He’s open about the financial realities that come with balancing creativity and commercial success. “We’re experimenting, trying to figure out what’s next. If it’s not financially viable, we’ll have to reconsider, but for now, we’re pushing forward,” he admits.

As Harri looks back on his journey, it’s clear that his work is more than just clothing. It’s a reflection of his life, his challenges, and his growth. “Each season, we experiment and gain clarity about what’s next,” he says. His designs don’t just push boundaries — they tell a story. A story about a young man from Kerala who dared to step off the beaten path and carve out a space for himself in the world of fashion.

also read
Dorothy Rice *New Look Model & Painter

Harri’s work goes beyond fashion and art. It’s about making a connection, leaving a lasting impact on both a personal and cultural level. “I want my work to resonate, to mean something,” he says. And with every bold design, Harri KS continues to do just that — challenging norms, sparking conversations, and inspiring those who follow his journey.

follow artist @harri_ks

Jonell Lennon & Mark Pittman - Interview

.aesthetic talk
Dorothy Rice
*New Look Model & Painter

written + interview Jonathan Bergström

Dorothy Rice (1924 - 2023) was an artist whose work spanned across multiple disciplines, including painting, sculpture and silkscreens in addition to her celebrated career as a fashion model.

Known for her bold approach, she defied traditional boundaries throughout her life. Her iconic role as the face of Christian Dior’s New Look collection catapulted her into the fashion limelight, resulting in collaborations with top fashion photographers, as well as performances in more than 100 plays and several acclaimed TV shows.

In this conversation with Le Mile Magazine, Jonell Lennon and Mark Pittman (representatives of Dorothy's estate) offer a deep dive into Dorothy’s legacy, shedding light on her artistic evolution, her global influences, and the guiding philosophies behind her work.

Dorothy Rice
painting in studio, 1975
courtesy of Dorothy Rice Art Company

Dorothy Rice
Marshes, ca. 1988-1990
Silkscreen on Paper, 22 x 30 in

Jonathan Bergstrom
Dorothy displayed artistic talent from a young age. earning an invitation to the Art Students League of New York at 14. What sparked this early interest?
Jonell Lennon & Mark Pittman
Dorothy’s early interest in the arts was deeply rooted in her familial origins. She descended from a long line of talented artists, including her father who had a successful commercial art studio in Manhattan. Dorothy spent summers working with him at his studio where she learned to draw and do illustration work. Dorothy wanted to be an artist, and her father supported her. Upon his urging, Dorothy applied and was accepted to the Art Students League when she was just 14. She went to high school during the day and took art classes at night where most of her classmates were more than a decade older than her.

To someone who isn’t familiar with Dorothy, how would you characterize her as an artist?
Dorothy was a versatile artist whose intellectual curiosity about people, culture, fashion and the human spirit pushed her to try not only a variety of mediums but also different artistic fields. Despite her father wanting her to paint, Dorothy explored a variety of art forms. Her resolve was evident in her artistic journey, beginning as an illustrator in her father's studio at 13, transitioning to modeling at 15, and later, acting in more than 100 plays and multiple television movies before shifting her attention back to painting in her 40s. Dorothy spent the next several decades experimenting with materials, technique and subject matter, using oils with a palette knife, watercolors, sculptures and silkscreens. She typically built collections based upon specific locations throughout the world. She did not want to be put into a box and felt it was essential for an artist to continuously evolve. 

How did she go from being an artist to becoming a highly sought-after model in the fashion industry? 
When Dorothy was 15, on an evening out with Art Students League classmates at the legendary nightclub El Morocco in Manhattan, she was "discovered" by Vogue photographer John Rawlings. That connection led to a shift in focus to modeling. Dorothy started with girl-next-door shoots for Town & Country and pinups for Earl Moran. Her big break came shortly after WWII when Christian Dior chose her to be the face of his “New Look” collection for American Vogue. Dorothy traveled to Paris for the shoot. She said the French models she met were upset that she was chosen for this honor; they felt a French woman should represent Dior’s clothes. Once the Vogue issue featuring Dorothy hit the newsstands, Dorothy shot to stardom. 

What qualities do you believe led Christian Dior to choose Dorothy as the face of his “New Look Collection” for American Vogue?
Dior scouted hundreds of models in France before expanding his search to America to find the woman he felt best projected the sultry image he wanted for his collection. Dorothy believed Dior was initially interested in her because she had the physical attributes he required: a voluptuous body and a young, blank face. Interestingly, Dorothy didn’t yet see herself as a sophisticated woman. She was just 21 and had done mostly girl-next-door shoots. It was Bettina Ballard, the fashion editor at Vogue, who convinced Dorothy that with the right makeup, styling, and attitude she could adapt to fit the part. Dorothy worked with the creative team and studied every aspect of Dior’s collection to ensure she could deliver the look and presence Dior wanted. 

“Dorothy was a versatile artist driven by intellectual curiosity, starting as an illustrator in her father’s studio at 13, modeling at 15, acting in over 100 plays, and returning to painting in her 40s. She believed in continuous evolution, experimenting with various mediums and styles throughout her life.”

Jonell Lennon & Mark Pittman speaks with Jonathan Bergstrom on Dorothy Rice
LE MILE .Digital

Dorothy Rice
Mountain View, ca. 1988-1990
Silkscreen on Paper, 22 x 30 in

In what ways did her modeling career influence her artistic work?
As a model, Dorothy spent years working with renowned designers, stylists and high art fashion photographers such as Milton Greene, Horst P. Horst and Francesco Scavullo, honing her adaptability and attention to detail. She constantly evolved her look to suit changing tastes; one minute she could look like an ingenue, the next a glamorous runway model. Most of the time Dorothy did her own makeup and hair and credited her artistic eye to keeping her in demand for 18 years. When she transitioned to painting, she said she was happy to turn the focus away from herself to the world around her. Dorothy took a similar approach to painting as she did to modeling, constantly studying and experimenting with different styles and techniques. 

Could you point out some of the standout collaborations Dorothy had with top fashion photographers and designers throughout her modeling career?
The two standouts are her collaborations with designer Christian Dior and photographer Peter Basch. Dior chose Dorothy to be the American face of his “New Look” collection, but she also modeled his clothes numerous other times. In the mid-1950s, Dorothy teamed up with Dior again for a documentary about his life that was filmed in New York. They became good friends and planned to work together on more projects, but he died tragically of a heart attack in 1957. 
Peter Basch was a well-known fashion photographer in the 50s with whom Dorothy collaborated extensively. He loved her versatile look. When Dorothy was starting out, Basch helped her by taking photos for her lookbooks, which were books models used to get work before the rise of the internet. When Dorothy’s career later took off and she was a top model, she repaid Basch by regularly posing for him. 

Which of Dorothy’s photos or collaborations do you hold as personal favorites?
Jonell Lennon
All of Dorothy’s modeling photos are incredible. One of my favorite collaborations of Dorothy’s was with the photographer Ewing Krainin, who coincidentally was my maternal grandmother’s cousin, which Dorothy and I discovered years into our friendship. Dorothy said the photos Krainin took of her didn’t portray her as the most glamorous or sophisticated version of herself but captured her exactly how she saw herself.  

How did she balance her modeling career with her passion for painting during the height of her modeling success?
Dorothy didn’t paint during the peak of her modeling career. Instead, in order to achieve the level of perfection she sought as a model, Dorothy focused exclusively on every aspect of the craft: fashion, design, lighting, photography, hair, makeup, etc. When Dorothy first started out, she was uncomfortable in front of the camera and spent months learning to overcome her fear. She referred to modeling as her “first acting role.” After years of studying and working on her craft, she learned to create and portray the persona each shoot called for.  During this time, Dorothy was repped by John Robert Powers who negotiated her deals, but she had to get her own work, which she said she did through hustling and word of mouth. Dorothy returned to painting only after her modeling and acting careers ended. Once she made that transition, she was solely committed to her art.  

With the move from New York to Beverly Hills, Dorothy began to transition more into television and acting. How did this change of environment impact her personal life and professional work?
Dorothy met her husband, Stanley Chase, in New York while she was transitioning from modeling to acting and studying with Uta Hagen. Stanley was an up-and-coming theater producer, backing Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (which ran for seven years and helped legitimize off-Broadway productions), as well as plays written by Eugene O’Neill and Graham Green. During their New York years, Dorothy and Stanley were in the center of the social scene, befriending authors such as Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams, and stage legends such as Rosemary Harris, Anne Bancroft and Marlene Dietrich. Dorothy and Stanley supported each other’s careers and were also colleagues. When they moved to Los Angeles, they both shifted their focus to television and film, collaborating when they could. For example, Dorothy appeared alongside George C. Scott in the Emmy award-winning Fear on Trial, which was produced by Stanley. Dorothy helped Stanley with his projects, including giving notes on scripts and advising on casting and directors. While Dorothy embraced much of the California lifestyle, she was always a New Yorker at heart, including never learning to drive.  

What drove her decision to go back to painting after her successful modeling and acting careers, and did her artistic focus shift when she came back to it?
When Dorothy transitioned from modeling to acting, she deeply enjoyed the craft but didn’t enjoy the business, the politics or the way women were treated. Despite being offered prime roles, she wanted to challenge and express herself in a more in-depth way which led her back to her first love, painting. While modeling and acting, Dorothy developed a disciplined artistic approach that emphasized constant study, practice and experimentation. That same process was applied to her painting career but instead of concentrating on her own performance she found joy through engaging with inspiring people and places, whether a farmer’s market in Morocco, a street scene in France, a beach in California or children playing in Mexico. 

Do you have any personal stories or anecdotes about Dorothy that capture her creative spirit and the influence she had on those around her?
While modeling, Dorothy lived for nine years at the Barbizon Hotel, a women’s only residence in Manhattan, which was filled with aspiring models, actresses, dancers and artists. She loved being part of a female artistic community and supporting other women.  As her career blossomed, Dorothy mentored younger models and enjoyed passing along what she had learned about the craft and business.  She displayed the same generosity with actor Jack Lemmon. She had known Jack for years as their fathers were friends and also through studying together in an acting group. Jack was not yet successful, but Dorothy was struck by his immense talent.

She felt his lack of confidence was preventing him from landing good roles. Dorothy spent hours working with Jack on scenes for their classes and prepping for auditions. His confidence blossomed and his career soon took off.  Later, Dorothy and Jack worked together professionally in a French comedy called La Ronde, which was a nice full-circle moment for both of them.

Dorothy Rice
Untitled, ca. 1976-1979
3.5 x 12 in

“Dorothy’s big break came when Christian Dior chose her as the face of his "New Look" collection for American Vogue, propelling her to international fame. Her collaborations with top photographers and designers, including Dior and Peter Basch, solidified her as a highly sought-after model.”

Jonell Lennon & Mark Pittman speaks with Jonathan Bergstrom on Dorothy Rice
LE MILE .Digital

all images (c) Dorothy Rice

Clara Galle - Interview

.aesthetic talk
Clara Galle
*Truth in Art

interview + written Alban E. Smajli

In Clara Galle's dazzling realm, the fusion of genuine emotion with artistic excellence sparks performances that captivate and strike a chord.

Clara, renowned for her authentic portrayal, masters the intricate dance of human emotions with unparalleled depth. Her diverse roles across genres showcase a dedication to capturing the true spirit of her characters, supported by a distinctive combination of athletic discipline and the instinctive fluidity of her performance style. Whether it's through carefully crafted character playlists or engaging in the collective endeavor of storytelling, Clara's method stands as a tribute to the impact of sincere engagement. As a protector of human stories, Clara Galle's body of work invites us to engage with narratives that resonate with honesty and deep understanding. Elevating beyond mere acting, she emerges as a storyteller in an arena seeking truth. Her empathetic journey into the human condition marks her as a transformative presence, reshaping the narrative landscape with her steadfast devotion to genuine storytelling.

Clara wears
dress PALOMO Y BIMBA & LOLA
shoes FERRAGAMO
jewelry TOUS

full look VERSACE
garter belt BIMBA BLUME
jewelry TOUS

“What I always look for, and what is essential for me, is to tell the truth. That's the focus I bring to my characters... If I find myself blocked in a scene, I tell myself, 'Just tell the truth,' and I think that's what makes a character come through.”

Clara Galle speaks with Alban E. Smajli
LE MILE Magazine TRANCE, Nr. 36

Alban E. Smajli
Your performances are often described as captivating and immersive. Can you share with us how you prepare to embody a character and create such a deep connection with your audience?
Clara Galle
What I always look for, and what is essential for me, is to tell the truth. That's the focus I bring to my characters. Obviously, I build their personality, the way they talk, how they walk, but in the end, when I'm on set, the most important thing is that those characters somehow move, and you're not going to move if you're not looking for the truth. That's why, for me, everything else comes in second place, even though I work a lot on each aspect and build it from scratch. If I find myself blocked in a scene, I tell myself, "Just tell the truth," and I think that's what makes a character come through.

Trance can be interpreted as a state of intense focus and immersion. Have you ever found yourself so engrossed in a character that it felt like entering a trance-like state? If so, what was that experience like for you?
I can easily differentiate when I am in character and when I am not. I know how to get out of it, but it is also true that, since you give yourself completely to the character, to the scene, and to the sequence you are working on, even when you know that you are no longer in character, the body is still there somehow. You have forced it to feel something in particular, be it sadness, happiness, or any other emotion, so, somehow, you trick your body. It has happened to me that I have gone home sometimes with the feeling that I have worked with, although mentally, I know I'm not there.

Throughout your career, you've taken on a variety of roles across different genres. Is there a particular genre or type of character that you find yourself drawn to, where you feel most in tune with your own artistic expression?
I haven't been in this career for very long, but it's true that I've had the opportunity to work in different genres, and I'd like to explore all of them in the future. I'm a curious person and would like to try action, horror, romance, or science fiction. But what I feel more in line with my artistic sensibility, more than the genre, is the everyday scenario. A sequence that does not need many elements, but several people, or even one person, talking and expressing the deepest yet simplest aspects of human beings. I feel that in those simple things, I recognize myself the most and can dig the deepest artistically. But there is also another part of me, the impulsive, restless, and sporty part (since I come from the sports world), which is very much drawn to action. When I move and use a kind of energy that comes from another place, I feel that I generate an artistically different Clara, and I love that too.

As an actor, you have the unique ability to transport audiences into different worlds and experiences. How do you approach the challenge of balancing the authenticity of a character's emotions with the demands of storytelling?
What is important for me, when telling the story and at the same time being faithful to the character and the expression, is to trust the script, the director, the rest of the cast, and the team. It may seem that creating a character is an individual task, but when the character comes to me, it has already gone through a screenwriter and a director. Although you are the one who delves into the depths of the character, it is a collaborative effort. Cinema cannot be individualistic; quite the opposite. The purpose of cinema is collective, so the creation process cannot be individualistic either. It requires both an individual and a group effort.

Trance music often serves as a catalyst for introspection and self-discovery. Have you ever used music or soundscapes to enhance your preparation for a role or to deepen your understanding of a character's psyche?
Music is a tool I use extensively for my characters, to work on them, even for casting. All my characters have had a playlist with songs they would probably listen to, songs that remind me of a scene or describe a character's emotion. In the end, what is rational, what can be said in words, is limited, and a character and a mood are not, so I feel that music reflects that best. I use it as a field study, but many times also on set, I put on the music and create the atmosphere from which I transform myself into the character.

Re flecting on your journey as an actor, what has been the most unexpected lesson you've learned about yourself or your acting?
It's actually something I already knew, but this profession constantly reminds me of, and I love that it does: I don't know anything. I have millions of things to learn, and there will always be many more to come. It can be a bit overwhelming at times to think that, no matter how much you want to learn and grow, you will never have complete knowledge, but actually, I find it fascinating to know that every day you will go out into the world and learn new things. I think it's a thought that keeps you constantly with your eyes open, keeps you curious, interested in what's around you, and in how human behavior can be. It is a lesson that helps me in my work, to put things in perspective, and also to manage my self-demands.

full look GEORGES HOBEIKA
jewelry TOUS

full look PRADA
jewelry TOUS

“Music is a tool I use extensively for my characters, to work on them, even for casting. All my characters have had a playlist with songs they would probably listen to, songs that remind me of a scene or describe a character's emotion.”

Clara Galle speaks with Alban E. Smajli
LE MILE Magazine TRANCE, Nr. 36

bra VALENTINO
dress ANA LOCKING
jewelry TOUS

team credits

seen Leire Cavia
art direction Josefina Maiza
styled Manu Mendi
muah Pablo Macías by ARMANI Beauty
fashion direction Chidozie Obasi
talent Clara Galle
retouch Sara Ivars
set design Lucho Campos + Josefina Maiza

As you continue to evolve in your career, what are some personal or professional goals that you aspire to achieve?
Obviously, I have speci fic dreams, such as directors or actors I would like to work with, genres or stories I would like to tell. I have learned to write down the things I want on a list and keep them there but let my path choose me, which will always find me striving, working, and learning, since many times what comes is even better than what I wished for. But my greatest wish is to be able to choose things with my heart and see that I am improving, growing as a person and as an actress.

In a world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming, what role do you believe art and storytelling play in helping us navigate and make sense of our experiences?
I believe that telling stories, as well as listening to the stories that are told to you, is essential. Since I was a little girl, my weekend plans with my family (even though my parents don’t professionally belong to this world) have been to go see a play at the theatre or a movie at the cinema. I have grown up with that, and I don't know how I would reason in my head if these activities had not been a regular part of my life, if I had not grown up listening to stories. There is something about sharing, about knowing the same story, seeing the same movie, having the same or different feelings about the same story, that makes society become a community, and makes us think and consider things.

follow artist @claaragalle

all images for LE MILE Magazine (c) Leire Cavia

Dana Montlack - Interview

.aesthetic talk
Dana Montlack on Art and Science
*Microscopic Worlds

written + interview Jonathan Bergstrom

As both an interdisciplinary biospheric artist and researcher, Dana Montlack bridges the gap between art and science.

Montlack's work, distinguished by its unique composite style and mixed media, urges viewers to see the unity of all living things and to reflect on our environmental impact. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including the Whitney Marine Biology Research Center, Atlantis The Palm in Dubai, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. Alongside her artistic career, she is also a devoted educator, teaching Visual Arts and Contemporary Art History at Georgia State University. We had the chance to talk with Montlack about the challenges of translating science into art, her deep affection for the ocean, and how art can bring awareness to the wider public about the state of the environment.

Dana Montlack
SIO-24. Sea snail, Venus comb murex
topographic and bathymetric map of the Sea of Cortez

Dana Montlack
SIO-75. Giant Kelp, Gulf of California
Sea Nettle tendrils

Jonathan Bergstrom
I understand that your grandfather played a pivotal role in shaping your career path. Can you share more about his influence and the ways he impacted your journey?
Dana Montlack
Both my grandparents were hugely influential in my life and career. My grandfather was a physician in Cleveland, Ohio. When I was 15, he took me under his wing and taught me how to take and develop X-rays in his office, probably to keep me out of trouble. My grandmother was a dancer who left Akron, Ohio, at 15 to pursue a career in dancing with the American Ballet School in NYC. They were a continuous stream of encouragement, emphasizing that falling and getting up again and again is part of the journey.

What is your method for merging art and scientific elements in your interdisciplinary work?
I merge artistic and scientific elements, propelled by a relentless pursuit of understanding and decoding nature's secrets. I perceive each layer as an intriguing challenge to uncover, akin to sifting through the layers of sediments on the seafloor, excavating soil strata or deciphering the growth rings of a tree. Importantly, I thrive on collaborative efforts, as they not only provide ongoing personal and intellectual development opportunities but also foster a sense of shared achievement.

Can you walk us through your process for creating your composite imagery pieces?
I am inspired by geological locations, species that one cannot see with the naked eye and the behavior of particular animals like the octopus, bower bird, and the waggle dance of honey bees. Then I do a deep dive to know everything about the area, species, etc. I take hundreds of photographs, both microscopic and macroscopic, including archival maps, topographics and bathymetrics. I juxtapose this with scientific data using layers of information, often drawing and painting on top of photographs and reincorporate that into the final image.

What difficulties do you encounter in making scientific concepts accessible to viewers through visual art?
The allure of abstract ideas and forms is undeniable, and I've come to realize that it can pose a challenge for many. Viewers often find it difficult to extract information from abstraction, leading them to overlook its significance. To tackle this, I've started incorporating subtle hints in my work, be it in the title or a quote, to nudge viewers towards their own understanding.

“I merge artistic and scientific elements, propelled by a relentless pursuit of understanding nature's secrets. Collaborative efforts foster ongoing personal and intellectual development and a sense of shared achievement.”

Dana Montlack speaks with Jonathan Bergstrom
LE MILE .Digital

Dana Montlack
W-30. Southern goose barnacles, jellyfish polyps, Catostylus blue blubber jellyfish
Chromogenic print mounted on acrylic, 24 in x 48 in

What do you think the microscopic world can tell us about our daily lives? 
The microscopic world creates curiosity and awe, prompting us to ask questions and wonder about the unseen aspects of the world around us. By examining the intricate details at a microscopic level, we can better understand the world around us and how it impacts our daily experience.

Is it challenging to maintain scientific accuracy while also conveying artistic creativity?
It is less about accuracy and more about my understanding of the science and the narrative I want to create. The images are multi-layered and complex. Sometimes I get lost in the creative process and forget some of the essential data I have encompassed. It’s more about remembering which data and imagery I’ve included; at a certain point the images are not recognizable.

Your work can be seen in Waves of Wonder at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum in Savannah, Georgia through September 2024. Can you tell us more about it?
My work there draws its inspiration from the delicate and captivating interplay between land and sea. This exploration is a testament to the vulnerability and resilience of coastal ecosystems, where the ebb and flow of tides reveal a hidden world of diverse life forms and intricate interactions. This opportunity was awarded by the Georgia Sea Grant, NOAA, and the assistance from Dr. Mona Behl (UGA), Dr. Joel Kotska (Georgia Tech), and the Imaging Core Facility (GSU).

What draws you to the ocean as a central theme in your work?
My work is a tribute to the ocean, a testament to its scientific and sensory significance. The ocean is where I find clarity and grounding. The thick, invigorating salty air keeps me present. The sight of the vast, ever-changing sea brings me calm.
Scientifically, the ocean is a lifeline for our planet, shaping weather patterns, providing a home for countless species, and generating a significant portion of the oxygen we breathe. Sensory-wise, the ocean's sounds, smells, and sights are a wellspring of inspiration for my creativity. By infusing the ocean into my art, I strive to share its beauty and importance, fostering a deeper appreciation and a call to action to protect this invaluable resource.

You have collaborated with scientists from institutions such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. How has that experience been for you?
I am deeply honored by my collaborations with scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and others around the globe. I am grateful for the time and insights these scientists share with me, as each interaction is a relationship that informs my work. I continue to work with scientists, finding kindred spirits in their curious pursuit of understanding and interpreting the world around us.
Scientists’ approach to rigorous research and dedication to uncovering truths about our natural world inspires me every day. It is a privilege to witness their commitment firsthand and to translate their findings into visual narratives that can resonate with a broader audience. This collaboration has reinforced my belief in the power of interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve some of the most pressing environmental challenges we face today.

How do you think art can influence people’s perspectives on environmental issues?
Art can transform how people perceive and interact with the environment, encouraging a more thoughtful, informed, and proactive approach to environmental stewardship. It can also illustrate the interconnectedness of all species and ecosystems, emphasizing the importance of biodiversity and the impact of human actions on the environment.
Lastly, art can be an educational resource, making scientific concepts and data more accessible and understandable, as well as a lasting record of the state of the environment, preserving the beauty of natural landscapes and documenting environmental changes over time.

Beyond the art world, what or who inspires you? Are there any rituals or activities that connect you with creativity?
The philosophers Wittgenstein and Paul Feyerabend have had a profound influence on my thinking and continue to be relevant in our present culture. Wittgenstein’s work, particularly his concept of rule-following in the Philosophical Investigations, resonates with me as I see the growth of natural language coding as closely aligned with this idea. At the same time, Feyerabend’s realisation that science is a belief system like any other and is shaped by culture, but is not necessarily hierarchically progressive, helps to balance my perspective and encourages me to think critically about the role of science in society. These philosophers have provided me with valuable insights and have helped me to think more deeply about the nature of language, knowledge, and the ways in which we understand and engage with the world.

What impact do you hope your artwork will have?
As an artist, I am driven by a profound purpose to ignite curiosity and inspire a deeper understanding of the Earth's need for protection, shedding light on both its visible and invisible aspects, which is why I often underscore the interconnectedness and interdependence of all species for survival. By bringing these critical issues to the forefront, I urge individuals to introspect on their relationship with nature and to actively contribute to its preservation for future generations.

Dana Montlack
C-17. Coral, ocean, netting, seaweed, cells, giant kelp
Photograph printed on archival paper

“Art can transform how people perceive and interact with the environment, encouraging a more thoughtful, informed approach to environmental stewardship and emphasizing the interconnectedness of all species and ecosystems.”

Dana Montlack speaks with Jonathan Bergstrom
LE MILE .Digital

follow talent @vonwolfe_

all images (c) Wolfe von Lenkiewicz Studio