Fresh Faces: Jimivain
Who are you and where are you from?
I`m Jimi better known as Jimivain from a small town called Hyllykallio near Seinäjoki. I would call myself as a creative but I mainly work in the clothing design field.
How would you describe your style and innovation?
When it comes to creating clothes, I feel like my style portrays the things that I like, my personal preferences, such as music. I take inspiration from different punk bands and the overall punk scene. In fact, I like to think that my clothes fit somewhere in between punk and streetwear scenes.
What guidelines do you follow in your creative process?
My creative process varies a lot, and there’s not a single process to it. However, I usually begin by drawing a design on paper. Then I bring it on a computer using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. After this, I start thinking about what the best way would actually be to create the physical product. However, if I have a more straightforward graphic in mind, I might skip the pen and paper part and draw it straight on a computer.
What values do you respect production-wise?
As a clothing designer, I feel like it is my duty to think also about the ethical side of whatever I create. This usually means that I try to find the best possible way to create my pieces ethically, but I am also aware that if I wanted to create 100% ethical stuff, I shouldn’t be a clothing designer. Unfortunately, this is not possible with modern technology. If I want to be a clothing designer, I gotta be a little bit unethical… Other than that, I also respect values such as that I want to create everything by myself as much as I can, using my own hands. I want my customers to immediately recognize my products when they see them as products that Jimivain has stitched together.
What strives your passion?
I get a really good feeling when my friends and customers like the things that I create and give me positive feedback. I first began creating clothes strictly for myself, but I have now realized that I might be able to make a career by doing this by having a bit of good luck. However, the fact remains that the streetwear community in Finland is not large when compared to most other countries. I feel like if I was doing the same thing in a country that has more streetwear enthusiasts, I might very well be further with my projects. Most of my customers have already been international ones, and the international streetwear community has shown pretty good interest in my products. For example, more than half of my Instagram followers are from other countries than Finland.
What initially made you create custom designs?
This is kind of corny to say, but I am a pretty artsy person and not too much of a business mindset, so I do whatever I feel like doing. It started from an Instagram post that highlighted a design of mine, and my friend Baka told me that this is going to be huge. Apparently, Baka had forwarded my post to other people, and the next thing I know @Hidden.ny shared my post. Then @Complex, @Liljupiterr, and other similar pages began sharing it. I was excited to see so many people showing love for my customs. I also feel very indebted to the guy running @Hidden.ny Instagram that if he ever wants a pair of my shoes, I’ll make them for free for him! I feel like he was a big reason for my post becoming viral.
How did Playboi Carti reach out to you?
This is kind of a funny story. I was in Helsinki one day visiting friends of mine when I got an Instagram DM. I opened the message and realized it was Playboi Carti saying something within the lines of “Yo” - I wasn’t sure what to make of that at first. I just responded with something similar. I went back home, and then I woke up in the middle of the night to my phone ringing – I answered the call and had a talk with Carti. He told me he liked my stuff and wanted to get a pair of my Air Jordan 1s, and the rest is history.
You have also created clothes for other international artists. Are there any other ones you can mention?
I respect the privacy of my customers, so I don’t like to tell the names of my customers if they have not publicly told this information first. But I can tell you that I’ve created things for many American rappers and an NBA player, as well as regular streetwear enthusiasts and a few international streetwear industry influencers. I can also tell you that there’s a big possibility that a customer of mine will post an exciting thing on Instagram before my first public drop, which is releasing on January 10th. But yeah, Carti has probably been the one I’m most excited about because he was the first big-name client of mine, and his support helped other people to find my stuff too. I’ll always be indebted to Carti.
Have you made shoes for any other Finnish artists than Cledos?
I’ve been in the talks with many Finnish artists, but I’ve just been so busy that almost none of those projects haven’t come into fruition yet. I’ve made two pairs for Cledos as of today, but Ibe is probably gonna be the next Finnish artist I make shoes for, so keep looking out for this!
Your prints and graphics have always been super dope. Where do you look for inspiration for them?
As I mentioned, Punk influences my graphics a lot, but I am also a huge fan of Vivienne Westwood. Her designs from around the 1960s first got me into the kind of graphics I make today.
Who is your most significant influence in the streetwear field?
Ian Connor has influenced my style a lot as well, even though he is not necessarily a clothing designer. I just am a big fan of his style, aesthetics, and overall self-representation. And when it comes to streetwear brands, BAPE and Midnight Studios have always been very cool brands for myself.
Your label is titled ”VAIN” - can you fill us in with the semantic aspect of the name?
I’ve been using the name VAIN for a long time. It got started in 2014 by accident when people started calling me as JIMIVAIN. I actually first didn’t like the fact that people called me JIMIVAIN, but I named my Instagram as JIMIVAIN as part of the joke. It kinda just stuck with me from there, and I’ve since begun liking the name over the years. Today, I actually like the word VAIN a lot because “Vain” means two precisely opposite things in Finnish and English. In Finnish, it means “just” or “only.” In English, it means “showing an excessively high opinion of one’s abilities, appearance or worth.” Truth to be told, the brand JIMIVAIN happened by accident over the years. I’ve been making clothes under the name for many years now. I’ve always been kind of a restless person, so I’ve spent most of my days in school just drawing things on my hands, jeans, tables, and so on. Somewhere in between, I began writing the word VAIN all over the place, and that’s pretty much how my brand was formed.
Would you ever want to design your own shoes from the scratch?
Definitely. I began customizing shoes because designing shoes naturally takes a lot of money, so I want to grow my brand a little bit before I feel like I am ready to take the next step. But definitely keep an eye out for self-created shoes in the future!
What’s your favorite food joint in Helsinki and Seinäjoki?
In Seinäjoki, my favorite place is Pizzeria Istanbul. It means a lot to me because I lost a good friend last year and it was his favorite place, so the place is very close to my heart. As to Helsinki, I might wanna say Tokyo 55 because it was such a banger spot. Ps. Shoutout to Fabe, who showed me Tokyo 55.
What’s your favorite shoe silhouette?
Right now, it’s Air Jordan 1, mainly because of the customs I have done lately. But I also like Margiela’s Tabi sneakers a lot.
What’s your number one grail that you have in your possession?
Vivienne Westwood’s Mountain Hat.
Do you have any shoutouts?
Shoutout family.
Shoutout friends.
Shoutout those who are feeling my stuff.
Shoutout those who aren’t feeling my stuff.
Shoutout everyone.
Jimivain is dropping his first online release on the 10th of January 2020. See the banner below for more details on the release.
Curated by:
Kasper Kasanen, Karim Awad, Joel Kotivuori
Photos by:
Karim Awad