Selva Huygens

Thanks a lot for reaching out. I'm here now in my studio in Berlin, in the Neukölln area.

I’ve been based in Berlin since 2017. I came here without much planning. There was an opportunity to extend my visa and stay in Europe, and that was the main reason, not even Berlin’s creative scene or the fashion and art world. It was just about being able to remain in Europe. I found a job here, which helped me stay and deal with the paperwork needed to live in Germany. That was the main goal: getting the necessary documents to stay in Europe. So I moved, obtained a visa, and started working as a metal sculptor for a well-established artist.

Yes, absolutely. I was always trying to figure out what I wanted to do, though I didn’t have a specific object or discipline in mind. I moved around a lot, exploring different fields to discover the one that truly resonated with me. It took me 35 years to figure it out. I initially studied architecture and industrial design, focussing on architecture, industrial design, and furniture. For a time, I worked with wood to create furniture designs. Later, I concentrated on producing metal sculptures, a discipline I’ve been involved in for eight years while working at a gallery here in Berlin. For many years, my main focus was metal sculpting. That was my primary discipline, but in parallel, I was trying to develop my own projects. I jumped between painting, sculpture, and furniture design until I finally figured out what I wanted to do. When I realised I could merge everything I loved into one, that’s when I felt truly empowered by my work.

Not directly, but I do have memories related to my grandmother. I don’t remember much, but she was a tailor who made wedding dresses. I was quite young when I saw her work. I spent a lot of time at her place because my parents were often busy with work. I’d watch models coming in for fittings, surrounded by white dresses everywhere. Those memories really stuck with me. But nobody ever taught me how to sew or make clothes; at that time, there was this mentality of “boys play with balls, and girls play with dolls.” My father also worked in the creative field; he was a carpenter. Later in life, he tried to transition into art. So yes, my childhood was definitely filled with artistic influences.

My father, first and foremost. When I saw him creating art, I thought, "Okay, I want to do this too." Watching exhibitions also made me realise that this was something I wanted to pursue. One of my biggest influences and inspirations was Jean-Michel Basquiat. His approach to art and the way he immersed himself in his work left a huge impression on me. That’s actually what inspired me to start painting.

I was trying to find my discipline. At that time, I was creating functional art, mainly furniture design made from discarded materials I collected from the street. I was always making chairs, tables, and similar pieces, but everything stayed in my studio. I didn’t have opportunities to showcase my work outside of that space. That’s when I came up with the idea of exhibiting in ATM bank spaces. It gave me a way to display my work without needing approval from galleries or curators. My first-ever exhibitions were held in those small, white-cube ATM spaces. I showcased my furniture and paintings, turned them into exhibitions, and invited people. The idea was to create an open, accessible space for art.
Over time, I started incorporating performance into these exhibitions. Performers would interact with my pieces, walking around or sitting on the furniture to demonstrate it. Then I thought it would be interesting if the performers wore unique outfits. I decided to design those outfits myself, improvising the looks for the shows. That was the turning point. Initially, my main focus was furniture, but after dressing performers for the first time, I gradually shifted my attention toward creating outfits. Over time, the outfits took centre stage, while my focus on furniture and painting gradually diminished.

Yes, the Odyssey Collection was my first-ever collection. It was made from packaging materials and airbags, the ones used to protect items during shipping. I used around 500 of these pieces, all joined together.
The concept was about the future, imagining that this would be the only way to wear clothes. The pieces were filled with water, so they could be charged and refilled every time they were used, creating a sort of "closet." It was a vision of the future and how fashion could evolve by 2074. It was my way of thinking about how fashion might look in the future, and it helped me explore that concept. It was the first thing I developed, and I still enjoy thinking about the future of fashion. However, I don’t consciously plan it; it just happens spontaneously.

Originally, I used car parts to make furniture. The first piece I created using car parts was a chair, primarily made from these materials. As I worked with them, I started noticing the shapes they were taking, and they were always really interesting. When I began creating outfits for performances, the idea just came to me. I thought, "What if I hang a car part on a model, like a piece around the neck, just to see how it looks?" It was purely out of curiosity. I realised that the shapes of car parts are actually quite ergonomic; they fit the contours of the human body. From there, I started experimenting by placing the car parts on the models and then trying to replicate their shapes—especially from bumpers—and translate those into fabric. That’s how it all began.

Usually from the street. I often go out looking for them on the streets.

This also happened while I was figuring out which discipline I wanted to focus on. I decided to merge everything I liked into one movement, so that’s how it started. In the Brutalist Functional Art Movement, I combined many existing movements into one. Brutalism, for example, was something I studied in architecture, and I’ve always been passionate about it. But that wasn’t enough, so, since I was working with functional art, I began merging architecture with functional art into a single piece. I think right now is the moment when I’m closest to fully achieving that goal, creating pieces that are still functional but also 100% artistic, with a strong architectural influence.

In the past few years, I've had over four studios. I tend to move around a lot, always searching for large, empty spaces. Most of the time, they’ve been warehouses, but not spaces that come with facilities. The studio I’m working in now is 140 square meters. I’ve built a small kitchen and basic bathroom facilities, but the most important thing for me is that the space remains empty and white. I focus on the white light and the clean, neutral colour to create the right environment for my work. When I'm working on something, it tends to get quite messy. It’s a bit chaotic, but that’s part of my process. Most of my materials are spread out on the floor so that I can see them all clearly. I find it easier to create when everything is visible and accessible. I don’t store much stuff because it doesn’t work for me.
With the car parts, fabric, and other materials on the floor, I’m always using them. Sometimes, the car parts might even hang around for weeks without any immediate purpose. But even when it seems like nothing is happening, your mind is still processing. You might not actively work on it, but every day you see that piece, and eventually, one morning, you wake up and know exactly what to do with it. At the moment, I’m working with my business partner Natalia. She’s the brand and communications manager, organiser, and my assistant. We’re also starting to bring in interns to help us develop collections. But for now, it’s mostly just the two of us handling everything. In the beginning, I did it all myself, and now we’re at a point where we’re starting to get help as we grow.

The obsession with white began when I was feeling stuck in my work, around 2020 and 2021. I was working across different disciplines but not focusing on any one thing. One day, I realised nothing was moving forward, and I thought, this wasn’t going anywhere. I wanted to make something happen, but I knew I needed a change. At the time, I was working with a colour palette dominated by yellow, but I decided to stop using that colour. I decided to stop doing furniture and stop painting. I felt like I had to start everything from scratch. The idea of white came to me as a way to clear everything out, a way to reset. I thought if I thought in white, I could find a new discipline, a new palette of colours. So, I started working with everything in white to keep it clear, without any contamination. I told myself, "Everything you’ve learnt so far is good, but now it’s time to erase it all." White became a blank slate, a void, like a baby or a bird in the sky, untouched and pure. That was the key, and I believed that this colour would help me discover a new direction.
White helped me get to where I am now, but this year, I felt a switch happen after a lot of work. The cycle of thinking in white came to an end. It was something I needed to move forward, to find new ways of working. After four years of using white as a tool to discover another colour palette, I feel like it’s finally working out. Now I can leave white behind for a while and experiment with other colours without feeling stuck like I did before.

For sure, this city has been a huge help and has allowed me to develop what I’m doing now. I feel very inspired here, as there’s this freedom to create. For example, I did interventions in ATM banks without any permission, which allowed me to do unconventional things that maybe other cities wouldn’t have accepted. So, Berlin is where I found my creative path. However, that doesn’t mean I feel like I’ll settle here forever. There are a lot of interesting things happening in Berlin, but we also want to explore beyond the city. This autumn, our brand manager, Natalia, had the opportunity to go on a delegation trip organised by Fashion Council Germany, a powerful organisation that supports and promotes German fashion brands. During the trip, she learnt more about the American market, met people from the industry, made new contacts, and pitched our brand to industry experts. It’s really cool that the Fashion Council Germany provides support to brands like ours. At the moment, we’re focused on Berlin, but we don’t feel tied down. After presenting at fashion shows here, we definitely want to discover New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week and see how things work there as well. We’re excited to explore those opportunities.

It just happened also from one day to another, but before that, we had been working a lot with these car parts. Before that project, we had a very intense two months in which we developed so many pieces and created so much content. We created so much content working with Natalia, even before she joined the brand. We believed that it started to spread the word outside, and one day, it just arrived. One day the stylist of Lady Gaga, Nicola Formichetti, contacted us, and we started working on a piece for her. On the one hand, it was a surprise for us, but on the other hand, we believed that we were doing something strong. But I never thought that it was going to be this amount, that's for sure.
The time we got to work on the pieces was very short, and we needed to develop pieces pretty fast. We were very excited by Nicola's direction, working together in the distance in phone calls, showing options, sending photos on WhatsApp, and designing pieces under his direction. It was the most exciting part. He gave us freedom, and also he had a very clear idea of what they wanted with the Gaga team and him, so it was easy for us to work. So, yeah, we worked on that piece and commissioned this thing. The pieces we originally developed for Gaga were stuck at the borders customs in Germany; that's why, to avoid risks of them not arriving on time, Nicola's team decided to create similar pieces from scratch, and we did it in less than 48 hours, and they flew Natalia all the way from Berlin to Los Angeles to deliver them and style them on Lady Gaga. It was truly an exciting story.

For that piece, we used the full front bumper of a Mercedes-Benz E-Class. It was the front part of the car, which is typically made of plastic. We chose this piece because its shape matched what we were aiming for with the outfit. It was the closest match to the design we had in mind.

I would love to collaborate with Kanye West because he’s one of my biggest inspirations. Since I was studying, he’s been someone I’ve looked up to. I also would have loved to collaborate with Virgil Abloh, but unfortunately, he passed away. Regardless, collaborating with Kanye would be a dream, because he’s someone who has continuously pushed boundaries, moving from one discipline to another without limitations and not caring about what others think. Whether it’s music, fashion, design, footwear, or even putting on a fashion show, he’s done it all. His ability to seamlessly jump between these different fields has been a huge source of inspiration for me as I’ve developed my brand. In the future, we’d also love to work more with Nicola Formichetti, who has been a great mentor to us. We’re looking forward to exploring other projects with him as well.

Our goal is to continue following our artistic direction, creating pieces for special events that are meaningful and unique. We really enjoy working on special requests and collaborating with clients who share a deep connection to the pieces. At the same time, we are excited to launch our first-ever ready-to-wear collection, which, while wearable, will still maintain an edgy and slightly controversial vibe. We also plan to incorporate some of our signature looks into the ready-to-wear collection. For our upcoming capsule collection, we will be using innovative, sustainable fabrics developed by TEXNIC, made from recycled battery separators. These separators, which are a critical component in electric vehicles, were previously discarded due to minor imperfections. We saw an opportunity to repurpose this material, recognising its environmental potential. TEXNIC’s fabric, made from these car battery separators, will be a key material in our new collection. On December 20th, we will host a soft launch of our upcoming collection at Studio DB Berlin, showcasing new looks from the line.

I'm Argentinian, but I haven’t visited Latin American countries in eight years. So, this trip will be my first time back. I haven’t been to Latin America in a long time, and then we received this offer from Mexico. I travelled there as a teenager, and I really enjoyed the culture, the art, and the rich history. I remember exploring the pyramids and visiting monuments and archaeological sites. I’ve always been fond of Mexican culture, and when the offer came, it felt like the perfect opportunity to visit again and show my work to a completely new audience. The offer came from the team at Cinettica, with whom I’ve collaborated before. They previously presented a film about my first collection and organised the Cinettica Fashion Festival in Berlin, where I showcased my collection in 2023. We’re really excited about this project. But on the other hand, it’s going to be a busy month because right after the show in Mexico, we’re also planning a show in Berlin on December 20th. It will be our first wearable collection launch, along with some other pieces, so it's going to be a very eventful few weeks.

Our main goal is to continue developing and establishing the brand. We're focused on expanding our team, securing funding and investments to cover production costs, and seeking opportunities to drive the brand forward. We’re also working on a new collection and aiming to showcase it at some of the world’s most prestigious fashion weeks. In addition, we plan to collaborate with car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Hyundai, and others, as well as car shops, to source discarded car parts for our new designs, all while promoting sustainable, zero-waste practices. If you're interested in supporting or collaborating with us, or if you'd like to join the waitlist for our new collection, feel free to reach out at [email protected].