Today’s Stockholm is home to many of the digital innovations that are making urban life more manageable. New ground is being broken and development is being pushed forward in areas as diverse as medicine, science, advertising, film and technology, to name just a few. We like to call these innovators the New Rebels. By putting their creativity, intelligence, passion and energy into finding new areas to develop in their chosen fields, this new generation is changing the way we live, unapologetically following their hearts, playing by their own rules and living their dreams. We gathered together seven of these New Rebels working in the digital industry to find out more about what they do and why they do it.

Name: Maria Nilsson

Job: production manager, Splay

Dr. Martens 1461 Wigan

Why did you choose to work in your industry instead of doing something else?

“Coming from working on traditional TV productions like [the style-advice show] Trinny & Susannah, I was intrigued by the idea of working with new media channels, since linear television is getting more outdated. Splay is giving me the opportunity to work with premium content on digital platforms that reach a younger audience.”

What motivates you in your work?

“To meet people from many different places and backgrounds, to be a part of digital development and to have the opportunity to have a holistic perspective, yet still be able to focus on the details, is what motivates me.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“Fax machines!”

Name: Elina Nilsson

Job: producer, B-Reel Creative

Dr. Martens 1460 Mono

Why did you choose to work in your industry instead of doing something else?

“Everything started with me watching my big brother tinkering with our first computer. I was too young to try – at least my mother said – but as soon as I was home alone the exploration of the machine started. It was love at first sight. Later, my interest in photography appeared, and when I was 13 years old, I planned my own exhibition. Pretty quickly I realised that I was more interested in the entire creative process rather than the photography itself. I had the opportunity to study at Hyper Island, where I developed my skills even further. Next up was B-Reel, which is a perfect match for me, as we are always driven to find boundary-pushing ideas.”

What motivates you in your work?

“I love to be surrounded by great talents and together find solutions to combine the world of storytelling and technology. It really doesn’t matter what it is – a game, a website, a huge light installation or a brand platform. I love to make things happen.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“Can I answer with a GIF?”

Name: Dr Ashkan Fardost

Job: I don’t have a job title…

Dr. Martens Pilloy

“…I have a mission – to communicate how the ever-faster advancements of science and technology affect our lives now and in the future. My mission requires me to be different things each day.”

Why did you choose to work in your industry instead of doing something else?

“Some days I’m a global speaker, at events such as TEDx and awesome places like Hyper Island. Other days I’m a science reporter on Swedish Television, SVT. I also help companies to reap the benefits and navigate the challenges of new technologies. The freedom to be something different every day is why I chose to not pursue the traditional path in life.”

What motivates you in your work?

“Science and technology bring inspiration, hope and empowerment. Today, for example, anyone with a computer can take a world-class university course, create beautiful music, start a business or send a crowdfunded satellite to space – yes, Google it.

“Anyone can turn any idea into reality with little or no money. Advancements in medicine are taking us closer to cures than ever before. Contrary to the apocalyptic world we live in according to mainstream media, the world is actually becoming a better place, a lot of it thanks to science and technology.

“Having the opportunity to inspire and empower audiences, and convincing them that they have the power to do anything, change anything, with the help of technology, is the most motivating force that I know of.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“I don’t wait around until I get picked by person or company. I don’t hope to be discovered by someone. I don’t wait for permission to do something. With the help of technology and hard work, I can become whatever I want and achieve whatever I dream of. So far so good.

“Living with this mind-set is largely thanks to the books and lectures by Seth Godin. Especially his book The Icarus Deception.”

Name: Hoa Ly

Job: co-founder of Shim; PhD in psychology

Dr. Martens 8053 Wigan

Why did you choose to work in your field instead of doing something else?

“I think psychology, the study of people’s minds and behaviour, is the most fascinating and powerful knowledge there is. However, presently, there’s no scalable way to help people apply psychological knowledge in their everyday life. I want to change that. That’s why I have chosen to work with Shim.”

What motivates you in your work?

“Building and creating something meaningful and relevant for a lot of people.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“While everyone else in the tech world is working on building tools and services for optimising people’s lives, me and my team are working on building a service for people’s minds. That’s what makes me a digital rebel.”

Name: Martina Elm

Job: co-founder and CEO, Confetti

Dr. Martens 1B60

Why did you choose to work in your industry instead of doing something else?

“I didn’t really choose to work in this industry, I ended up here by accident.

“Three and a half years ago, I didn’t have a smartphone and I had never owned a computer. I was working as a chef, and one of my best friends, Jonatan, was in the midst of doing his first start-up with two other partners. One night, Jonatan and I met to prepare a DJ set, and I randomly met one of the other founders, who I guess thought I had something. I got offered a job interview for a community manager role. I don’t know what happened, but I managed to land the job!

“After that, I completely fell in love with the start-up scene and I’ve been in it ever since. I love technology and what it enables me to do, as well
as the openness and inclusiveness of the tech community.”

What motivates you in your work?

“Learning new things and having fun motivates me, as well as creating great products and experiences.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“I do what I want, not what people expect from me.”

Name: Anton Holmquist

Job title: tech entrepreneur at Dreams

Dr. Martens Adrian

Why did you choose to work in your industry instead of doing something else?

“The choice came naturally for me, since there are really not that many things that interest me. Since I was a kid I have always been interested in technology, and programming in particular, so doing something else seemed far-fetched.

“When I’m by the computer I get that almost manic urge to create something. It’s so much fun!
It’s all about problem solving and finding good solutions. I really enjoy the industry and all the great people I get to work with, so I can’t imagine leaving
it anytime soon.”

What motivates you in your work?

“First of all, it’s very rewarding to see a project grow, bit by bit every day, until it becomes something usable. Often it’s not until shortly before launch that a project actually looks decent. That vision keeps me motivated throughout the process.

“Second, I love the idea of creating something that other people would want to use. Just finding out that there is some traction to what you are doing is an amazing feeling.

“Also, learning is a big motivator. There are so many things to know, and working with people with different knowledge and experience from mine is
very developing.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“My naivety. I’m not afraid to try new things or jump into fields, not knowing what awaits there. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, learn and then try something else. It’s not that bad.”

Name: Abraham Asefaw

Job: founder-director, The Pop Up Agency

Dr. Martens 8761

Why did you choose to work in your field instead of doing something else?

“I studied law and politics, and the only reason I’m in the creative industry today is thanks to my younger brother. He told me I should give it a try since I had been doing projects in my free time and I clearly enjoyed it. I gave it a shot and did it for a while, and it went well. From there I decided to study on an Interactive Art Director course at Hyper Island and it was an amazing experience. Things kind of fell into place after that. It was a long journey. I did a lot of things to get to where I am today.”

What motivates you in your work?

“This is not a 9-to-5 job for me, it’s a lifestyle. I keep learning things and challenging myself by working with so many talented people. I am sticking to my passion, and connecting with my passion, on a daily basis. I keep re-evaluating myself and asking is it still interesting? Am I still passionate about it? This is important on all levels, not just in terms of this industry. We are all complex individuals and the key to staying motivated is holding on to our passion.”

The thing that makes you a New Rebel is…

“I don’t box myself in. I came into the game late and from a different perspective, and I knew jack shit.
My various experiences have made me who I am and that is reflected in the way I approach what I do in this industry.”

Credits:

Words by Tsemaye Opubor

Photography by Felix Swensson

Styling by Josef Forselius

Special thanks to Dr. Martens

Dr. Martens store, Katarina Bangata 15 Stockholm

Fashion credits:

1 Leather jacket from Stand, t-shirt by Commes Des Garçons, leather trousers with patching by Rodebjer

2 Top by Altewai Saome, faux fur by Stand and trousers from Rodebjer

3 Jacket stylist’s own, sweater from H&M, knit from BACK and trousers model’s own

4 Faux fur from BLK DNM, tie from Pierre Cardin, trousers models own and sweater from Helmut Lang.

5 Skirt from BACK and cape from H&M

6 All clothes from H&M, vintage hat

7 Trousers from Gant, leather jacket from Blk Denim and sweater from Monki

Farah Yusuf and MyNa Do are the two powerhouses behind Mahoyo, a Stockholm-based art, fashion and culture duo who work as DJs, stylists, costume designers, photographers and artists on projects that take them far from home. “We want to use culture as a weapon,” says Yusuf. “Many of the ideas for our projects come from our travels and our interest in developments in the urban music, fashion and art scenes around the world.”

Using their multidisciplinary platform and an urban, feminist perspective as their starting point, they explore ideas and work on projects in the global cultural sphere. “We also want to use culture as a way to make changes in society, especially for women, for people of colour, and for the LGBTQI community.”

This year the duo have been promoting The Mahoyo Project, a documentary film they produced last year in collaboration with Flip-Flop Interactive that examines and aims to break stereotypes based on gender, race and location. The film follows Mahoyo during a cultural exchange that took them to South Africa to join forces with local artists who are active in urban music, fashion and dance in Johannesburg. It is meshed with interviews with Mahoyo collaborators from Stockholm’s creative scene as well.

“The Mahoyo Project has received such a great response. It’s made us want to do another film,” says Do. “The trailer was featured on Solange [Knowles]’s website, after first being featured on the Okayafrica website, which really opened up our project to many more people than we imagined. We haven’t really marketed the project that much, but the film has been shown at festivals in Berlin, Philadelphia and Stockholm.”

Yusuf and Do have been close friends since childhood, growing up together in the small Swedish town of Oskarshamn. Mahoyo was born seven years ago, starting off as an e-tailer that offered unique streetwear items specially selected from international labels. They then started arranging parties and events for their network of friends, which included an urban posse of dancers, MCs and DJs in their town.

Trips to Tokyo and New York gave them creative energy and they started DJ-ing, which opened up further opportunities, with highlights over the years including DJ-ing at the VICE x Smirnoff party in Berlin in 2010 and opening for Robyn in concert at Helsingborg the following year.

“Going to Tokyo was an eye-opener. It really changed everything about the way we approached work,” says Yusuf. “We met people who had several different professions at the same time — people who worked as graphic designers and DJs and stylists.”

The idea of being able to work across several industries simultaneously hadn’t occurred to them before they travelled to Japan. “We’re from a small town in Sweden; we hadn’t seen anyone working in multiple areas like that before we saw it for ourselves in Tokyo,” says Do. “We also saw a lot of women DJ-ing in Tokyo and that encouraged us to step up our game and to create opportunities for other women to DJ. We wanted to show that it doesn’t always have to be guys playing music at parties.”

The two explain that they haven’t followed a singular path in the development of Mahoyo projects, but rather have been “doing things that [we] feel are important” — “Everything we do is activism, because of who we are,” explains Do.

Requests for their DJ workshops, styling and costume design have meant that Mahoyo are now able to work across a broad range of areas within the cultural landscape. Their work is gaining recognition and their presence at festivals around the globe, such as Afropunk Paris and Afropunk New York earlier this year, means that a much wider audience is discovering the Swedish duo. Other recent projects have included designing costumes for a play by Farnaz Arbabi, opening this month at Unga Klara theatre, Stockholm.

“It’s really surreal to meet young women and people of colour in cities around the world who don’t know us, but they know our work, and they thank us for what we do and for giving them a voice,” says Yusuf. “I feel so blessed. We hustled like hell in the early days. It’s hard to believe that the things we do today all started from a web shop, but they did.”

Credits:
Words by Tsemaye Opubor
Photography by Elis Hoffman

Mahoyo

Influenced by religious icons, portraiture, pop art and tribal decorations, the illustrator Joe Cruz chooses to celebrate beauty using found imagery, a photocopier and chalk pastels: “I’m trying to create a new aesthetic to embrace the feeling of youth in our generation.” The brightly coloured results speak of strong women and diversity in all aspects.

In earlier decades, beauty was easier to pinpoint. Back then, it usually related to a specific era, a celebrity, an ideal based on a certain body shape, gender, race, age, country or social status. In the 1970s it focused on hair length and volume, and shiny, embellished make-up. Then came the 1980s and big hair, and bright make-up colours reigned supreme. The 1990s was the age of grunge and heroin chic, when fashion magazines embraced a painfully thin physique, a gaunt face and hollow-eyed look. The 2000s brought hair extensions, lash extensions and Botox into the collective beauty consciousness of the masses.

Nowadays, thanks to social media and the digital world, we can find thousands of examples of the current beauty trends, making it harder to predict what will be current next month, season or year. The playing field has widened and the only thing we know for sure is that beauty today is an individual expression of a mash-up of trends, interests, song lyrics and whatever else moves us.

Make-up, adornment and beauty ideals have been positively affected by this new individuality. Even gender stereotypes are slowly being broken down as men, too, join the beauty party by wearing make-up if they choose to and by redefining ideas about what beauty means to them.

The British make-up artist Pat McGrath, who has worked on campaigns for Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci, and is often referred to as the most influential make-up artist in the world, summed it up in an interview with Vogue last June, saying: “Make-up should be playful and be a form of expression that’s worn to inspire confidence. If you feel great in the look you’ve created for yourself, I’d call it a success!”

Credits:

Words by Tsemaye Opubor

Artwork by Joe Cruz