Code-X (59)

By: Joshua Glenn
April 15, 2015

Joutsen outerwear (Finnish)
Joutsen outerwear (Finnish)

Call this code: Nordic Brooding.

Definition: On the websites and in the social media feeds of many Nordic brands, we find a code in which a solitary figure tramps along a lonely road — looking inward as much as outward.

Stutterheim raincoats (Swedish)
Stutterheim raincoats (Swedish)

Notes on this code: Though alone and solemn, these individuals aren’t necessarily unhappy. As the Danish existentialist Kierkegaard lamented: Once upon a time, thoughtful people sought out solitude, but “nowadays the only use that can be made of solitude is imposing it as a penalty, as jail.”

66 North outerwear (Icelandic)
66 North outerwear (Icelandic)

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SERIES INTRODUCTION | ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES

MORE SEMIOSIS at HILOBROW: Towards a Cultural Codex | CODE-X series | DOUBLE EXPOSURE Series | CECI EST UNE PIPE series | Star Wars Semiotics | Icon Game | Meet the Semionauts | Show Me the Molecule | Science Fantasy | Inscribed Upon the Body | The Abductive Method | Enter the Samurai | Semionauts at Work | Roland Barthes | Gilles Deleuze | Félix Guattari | Jacques Lacan | Mikhail Bakhtin | Umberto Eco

Categories

Codebreaking, Semiotics