In My Dream Last Night… takes viewers on a journey through Helena Christensen and Camilla Staerk’s friendship and creative bond.
Multi-hyphenates, Helena Christensen and Camilla Staerk, have been friends and creative collaborators for decades. Brought together by their shared Danish upbringing and mutual love for all things art and design, the creative duo has worked on many projects together. Now, they are releasing a book documenting both their friendship and creative bond through the years.
Christensen and Staerk met in the summer of 2000, Helena had shot Camilla’s portrait and her first collection for Nylon. The year prior Christensen had co-founded the magazine. From the start, their creative bond was apparent. Both Christensen and Staerk “share a passion for drawing inspiration from everything around us, letting it seep into our inner worlds” Staerk tells Mission.
Rising to prominence as a model during the 1990s, Christensen took over the editorial and runway world by storm, appearing on various magazine covers and fashion campaigns. Before finding success in her modeling career, Christensen worked as a photographer, a profession she had intended to pursue before her modeling career took off. Through her involvement in the modeling industry and her studies in photography, she has taken on roles in various industries, including fashion, architecture, and design.
Staerk originally pursued a path in fashion, launching the STÆRK brand with her thesis collection in London. She has since completed a wide variety of work in both the art and design space. The unique influences found throughout her work can be greatly attributed to her childhood upbringing as she was immersed in the Danish furniture industry and her mom was a horse breeder, sparking her love for saddlery.
Christensen and Staerk’s individual successes and expertise is what makes them so successful together. Their collaboration under Stærk&Christensen “represents a shared aesthetic universe where our creative expressions converge. It is shaped by the influences that have always inspired us in our individual work and by our memories from our Danish upbringings” says Staerk. “Both of us left Denmark at a young age and have been influenced by adapting to and drawing inspiration from multiple cultures while still holding onto our roots”.
The creative aesthetic they have created together over the years has a unique flare, drawing from an array of inspirations ranging from old Holywood to modern sensibility. Stærk&Christensen has produced a variety of work including home decor, jewelry and photography. The launch of their book, In My Dream Last Night…, marks a new creative endeavor for the duo.
In My Dream Last Night… tells the story of Christensen and Staerk’s friendship and creative bond, taking viewers through their journey together. “Our friendship and deep bond are something worth celebrating and honoring. We are very grateful for this friendship and love the idea of a visual manifestation of it” explains Christensen.
The book serves as a form of visual storytelling, an important distinction as its chosen format captures a visual story more so than written words. In fact, In My Dream Last Night… is an ongoing creative project that has taken the form of short films and sound concepts in the past. Thus, the book served as a pleasant challenge for the duo as they were tasked with capturing the same essence of their films but without using moving images. “We strived to convey this narrative through images and snippets, using minimal text so as not to detract from the opportunity to inspire new aspirations and surreal moments for the audience. We hope our book can serve as an invitation to explore emotions, memories, fantasies and dreams” says Staerk.
“In dreams, we can be free from boundaries and from the fear of being vulnerable” Staerk continues. The title, In My Dream Last Night…, speaks to the power of dreams. When creating the short films as part of this ongoing project, Christensen and Staerk collaborated with various friends who inspire them artistically, interpreting their dreams in a raw and personal way. “Each piece is a co-interpretation of the subject’s dream, envisioned through the spectrums of any or all of these dual installations: darkness – lightness, poetic – erotic, love – solitude.” The title seems to imply that in dreams, art can truly come to life.
What is next in terms of their creative collaboration? In My Dream Last Night… is a constantly evolving creative project for Christensen and Staerk. They are currently in the works of an architectural project which they are excited to speak about when the time is right. It truly seems as though the sky’s the limit and dreams are merely the start for Stærk&Christensen.
All imagery courtesy of Stærk&Christensen.
