Slash’n’Lace: Welcome to the Couture of OTTOLINGER

032c sat down with Christa Bösch and Cosima Gadient from „Ottolinger“ and spoke with them about their first collection, their life between different cities and the secret behind Swiss chocolate.

Is there a story behind the brandname Ottolinger?

Ottolinger: It was the name on our neighbor’s doorbell at our first studio, and we loved it.

Tell us about your approach to this first collection. What message did you want to send?

The first line is supposed to offer an intricate vision of how clothing becomes an identity. It aspires to an extreme form of beauty that thrives at the border between individuality and community.

Your laced up seams have the street feel of something ripped and repaired, but also the handwork of something couture. Is it about deconstruction or something else?

Its about constructing our own world—stitched together from the raw material of recent culture. Its becomes a zone where we identify with references, mix them, and do away their meaning, reconstructing them into handcrafted couture garments.

You are registered in Switzerland, based in Berlin, and you show in London. What inspiration are you drawing from all these different contexts?

Switzerland is our home. It’s where we get our energy and where everything started. Berlin offers the perfect situation for both living and working. Going to London was an impulse, but we are also open in terms of showing somewhere else. It’s the combination and tension of both—the countrysides and cities that influence us and keep us inspired.

Would you describe your approach as being unisex?

We didn’t think about that. It was mainly about things we would wear ourselves.

What’s the secret behind swiss chocolate?

The mountains. And Lindt Maitre Chocolatier.