Wallet may have wrapped but founder Elise By Olsen is nothing if not productive. Even during the start-stop quarantines enforced in her native Norway, she can't help but create.
By Olsen created Never Ending Journey, a particularly personal five-minute short film, with the aid of creatives who live locally, including Wallet creative director Morteza Vaseghi and director Leonard van Vuuren. Pandemic limitations be damned!
"I've been working on [Never Ending Journey] throughout this year whilst being injured after a skiing accident back in February," By Olsen explained. "The year has given me much-needed time to reflect — with limits and restrictions also came opportunities. This time was great for exploring my practice and artistic forms even further. The film we have created mirrors that."
Suitably described by By Olsen as "surrealistic" Never Ending Journey sees the International Library of Fashion Research director hobbling around Norway on her temporary crutches and ruminating on the current state of the fashion industry in voiceover.
"The current fashion climate is saturated, overwhelming, almost grotesque in its speed," says By Olsen. "It's a vehicle for desire, for pleasure, for people. ... Resistance is a driving force."
She's "on the search for... a work-life balance," among other things, and the genuinely stunning Norwegian landscape — the backdrop for a drive in one of Polestar's electric cars — sets the scene pretty nicely.
"As a young woman, I’m everything most car insurance companies would rate as high liability, which makes this [partnership] quite unexpected," By Olsen admits.
Though By Olsen is only in her early twenties, she's a veritable industry vet. In the past, she produced videos for clients like adidas but Never Ending Journey is purely motivated by self-interests.
She knows as well as anyone the excesses and stresses inherent to the biz, Never Ending Journey isn't a total send-up of the industry. It's more of a public vow that, even with a mangled leg, By Olsen will continue on the endless journey towards a better future.
