Meet Boden World, the multi-faceted student design studio, clothing brand and publisher

Here in England Boden is known as a bit of a mum-sy brand, a go-to for linen shorts and dungarees for kids. In Oslo however, Boden World is a design studio and clothing brand set up by three students, Axel Berggraf Egenæs, Jonas Vetlesen and Elias Bjørnson Olderbakk, working across art direction, graphic design, illustration, photography, film, branding and concept development. What can’t these students do!?

Boden World’s main ethos is to focus “on the underrepresented importance of business, organisational culture and the distinctive strategic mind cooperating within a network,” one-third of the design trio, Elias, tells It’s Nice That. It began by the three students wishing to break out of the student routine explaining that while “design school is very fun, you can bet a bit stuck within the walls of the school,” Elias continues. In turn, Boden World is their “attempt to connect with the outside world”.

So far Boden World has had two pop-ups. The first launched its clothing brand and the second concentrated on its latest project, a magazine. Taking its name from the studio, Boden World is the print embodiment of the Oslo-based studio in 140 pages. Across double page spreads and various visuals the studio explores “aesthetics, rhetorics and semantics in the business world, seen through the eyes of young people who are interested in design and streetwear,” Elias explains.

In terms of visuals, Boden World presents a mix of photography and graphic work interpreting a theme inspired by “the business mindset of the 80s and 90s, where everything was branded with company names and big words,” says Elias. In turn, some of the features are fictional and some are fully real,” leaving it up to the reader to figure out what’s real or not. “And of course,” he continues, “we have fake ads for various Boden World products.”

The magazine also sees the trio add yet another string to their design bow, setting up Boden Publishing to release it, a platform which will continue to grow by publishing zines and smaller magazines in future.