Blogger Spotlight: Lisa and Columbine of Space Matters

We met up with Lisa and Columbine of Space Matters in the West Village to find out how their separate fashion journeys collided together to form the amazing "digital atelier" they run today. The trio (including Nike Felldin), created the space as an outlet for women from all ends of the fashion industry to come together to share inspiration and ideas with readers. Read below to hear their journey – how they met, how Space Matters came about, and even the spark that got them interested in fashion in the first place!

What’s your blogging story? How did you start and what has your journey been?

Lisa: I think I started my first blog in 2005. TEN YEARS AGO!! It was part of my job as an editor and I was a bit dubious about it, but still curious about how to do it well. I'm a journalist, so I guess for me it started as a sort of an experiment with words. Then I paused to do a monthly magazine, and when I returned to the internet it was with a video blog for the Swedish public service broadcaster SVT. It was a fun project, but a bit too weird and early. Then I went on to a daily newspaper and didn't blog, but took it up again at Rodeo Magazine, where I was editor-in-chief for six or so years. Now I have a feed on Space Matters and although it's just a small part of what I do, I'm very fond of it, mostly because of the context. Space Matters is a space where some genius women get together to share their inspiration, so being part of that is, of course, a lot of fun.

Lisa: Through work! I instantly knew I was going to like Columbine, I felt as if we'd sort of lived the same lives, only a few years apart. We started traveling a lot together before we knew each other very well, first for work and then also for pleasure. Nowadays we spend about half our lives together, often in some tiny rental apartment in New York, or somewhere by the water in Los Angeles. I think perhaps no one knows me better. <3

Columbine: We actually got to know each other through travelling together for work. I think we both felt quite instantly that we are very much alike and had similar backgrounds. We both grew up with hippie parents and had kind of similar experiences in life. I guess we’re both sort of spiritual but we definitely express it in different ways. That’s really what I love about Lisa, she understands me completely but also makes me see new possibilities; it’s an ever growing friendship. She is more than my best friend, she is family to me.

How did Space Matters come about?

Lisa: We wanted to create our own space, different from what we'd previously been used to, where we could share our own inspiration and work processes on our own terms, and to which we could invite some of the brilliant women we'd met or wanted to meet through work. We see it as a constant work in progress, something like a digital studio where inspiring women come and share their thoughts.

Columbine: We’d been talking for a long time about making something new with blogging. Something that wasn’t necessarily just a feed of outfit pictures and shopping tips. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but we both felt like it was time for something new – a conceptual space for creative women working in this industry. As I was currently working on other projects at that time, Lisa also teamed up with Nike Felldin, whom is also a great part of creating Space Matters. We all started talking about this more thoroughly and came to the conclusion that we wanted it to be a space that could work as a digital atelier for ourselves, as well as for women from different ends of the fashion industry. Also, the design played a big part of how we wanted the site to be and feel, it was important to let the whole mood board experience be in the center to really take part of the creative worlds and mind sets of our contributors.

What sparked your interest in fashion?

Lisa: I think me ending up in the fashion industry originally had to do with my frustration with how the whole fashion discourse was looked (and frowned) upon as a female, shallow thing without relevance. I guess I wanted to prove them wrong.

Columbine: I’ve always been drawn to fashion as an expression and art form. As a kid I used to dress up wearing the weirdest finds my mom bought in thrift shops. I remember I got this raincoat as a 4 year old, it was quite heavy and looked like it had the wings of a ladybird. There was something in the material, structure and movement in that coat that made me feel powerful, full of confidence. Like I could do anything. I think that feeling stayed wth me and made me want to start exploring it more at a young age. Working as a stylist it’s all about creating a fantasy, the clothing is only the tool. A great editorial should be able to make the same impression as great music or art. Well, that’s the goal anyway, right? To make the spectator feel..something.


How would you describe your style?

Lisa: Comfortable. Most days I can wear nothing but white linen t-shirts, vintage jeans and worn-out white sneakers, everything else makes me feel... wrong.

Columbine: Well it depends on my mood. But I always like to look sophisticated yet bohemian. Also, you can never go wrong with a perfect blazer. Goes with anything, it really does.

Any advice for aspiring stylists and/or bloggers?

Lisa: Find, I mean really look for, your own voice, and be patient to develop it and let it mature.

Columbine: Be yourself. Always try to explore but stick to your own voice.

Lisa: We ask people who we think inhabit their own visual worlds, and who have something special that they want to communicate. Most of them tend to think in images instead of words. All of them have their unique way of looking at things.

What’s one thing you wish you knew when you started?

Lisa: Haha. I'd rephrase to something like: No-one ever knows anything. We only think we do.


We saw that you were in New York City for a month, how was that? Any favorite places or stories?

Lisa: We actually bought a monthly calendar and filled it with all our favorite spots. We're thinking we'll share it on Space Matters somehow in the future.... For now though: we both fell in love with the Isamu Noguchi Museum, please go there everyone!

Columbine: It was perfect. We both have the luxury of being able to work in other locations and for me New York is perfect as I can do a lot of stylist work, everything is easier there. We actually bought a calendar which we wrote down every single (good) place we went to for a guide to share on Space Matters later this fall. I’d say the Isamu Noguchi exhibition in Queens was pretty much everything! I was amazed. I know there is another one opening up in Brooklyn Botanical garden this fall, I’m probably going to check out that one as well. For food, I fell in love with the restaurant Dimes, they make the best wheatgrass Margaritas and the food is great.

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Pictures by Joey Cupelli for Bloglovin'