Renowned for its ultralight down-filled jackets, Italian outerwear label Duvetica encourages adventure in everyday life. Since its inception by two former Moncler designers in 2004 and further amplified following its acquisition by South Korea-based group F&F in 2018, the playful, colourful and adventurous brand designs for the unconventional and wearers to treat any environment as their playground. Inspired by the latest collection, LN-CC enlisted photographer Sebastian Kapfhamme and set designer Nienta Nixon to create their own Duvetica playground. Building on the mountain memories of his childhood, the German-born, London-based photographer worked with Nienta to create a surreal daydream landscape.

FIRSTLY, HOW ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE WE INTERRUPTED YOU FROM? I’m very well, currently finishing this very busy period of a year that has seen many great projects. At the same time, as we approach a new year, I’m excited about the new chapter.

YOUR ORIGINS STORY AS A PHOTOGRAPHER IS A POWERFUL ONE. COULD YOU SHARE IT WITH US? As I detail in my bio, there was one life changing event in my childhood. I was involved in a car accident and almost lost my ability to speak. Without the main communication tool, I had to figure out a new way of processing my surroundings and how I communicated. At the same time, I was gifted a camera as a present and I was drawn even more deeply into the visual aspect of life and photography became a way for me to capture my own world. While I love the mediums of photography and film, the focus has always been on the content, the storytelling nature of it. Obviously now I can speak, I can communicate with language but this event had a major effect on my life, it shaped my upbringing and the person I am today.

WHAT OUTLET DID PHOTOGRAPHY AFFORD YOU THEN, AND HOW HAS IT EVOLVED? On the one hand, it's the way I process my reality and allows me to stop time. But on the other, it's creating something new, something which is limitless, something where you don't have to follow certain rules and you can be free to tell a story. Growing up with this kind of disadvantage with this kind of lack of communication, drew me to question what is beauty and what isn’t, what it means to conform to societal norms and what it doesn’t. For me, there can be something very beautiful in the things which are not accepted, what is not aligned with the standard. It’s accepting the beauty of duality, of difference.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE STRONGEST TRUTH ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE? However old you are, people tell you who you should be, what you should be, what you should do, what's wrong and what's right. And whether it’s photography, film or art, the beauty is there are no limitations. You can tell whatever you want. The work that interests me most is raw, honest, and immediately demonstrates that there is a story behind it. I'm not necessarily bothered about what people see in my pictures because we all different and it's subjective. In some ways, photography is a way of diving into a daydream and when I achieve that in my work, I'm very happy.

CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR APPROACH AND PROCESS FOR THIS COMMISSION? Most of the time, if you close your eyes and let go, you can see where you end up. I grew up in the mountains, so my past is part of the dialogue but this is a hyperreality. I imagined myself in this landscape. Ultimately, It’s a hike in a surreal world, a colourful world that has darkness and some mystery to it too. When I look at it now, I see something dynamic, something shaped by adventure BEYOND PRODUCT, WHAT DO YOU HOPE VIEWERS TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR VISUALS? I created this story with my personal story, but I can’t control what people see. Some people won’t see anything because we’re living in a fast world, but I hope some viewers take this excuse to create their own story based on these visuals. It’s romantic, cheesy even, but that’s what I wish.