Sia Arnika: The Berlin-based label inspires stars like Tyla, Charli xcx & Kylie Jenner

The creaking door to the spacious Kreuzberg studio is opened by a woman who can be described as an ethereal presence: tall, with large eyes and a narrow nose, dressed all in black, her dark-blonde hair tied in a tight braid. With long strides, she leads us through sparse rooms in an old building; in one, there's a large cutting table and sewing machines; in another, a kind of conference table, two chairs, and a sofa. Drawings and fabric samples hang on the walls, and in one corner, there's a clothes rack with designs from past collections.

Sia Arnika: The greatest passion is the material

During the conversation, Sia Arnika repeatedly stands up, walks over to the sketches and dresses, points to gloomy-looking figurines, traces silhouettes with her fingers, takes fabric in her hands: she prefers to talk about the object by using the object – she wants to show, not just talk.

Sia Arnika's greatest passion is the material itself, which can't always be explained in words alone. "In addition to organic cotton, I particularly enjoy working with fabrics that feel a bit like they weren't made for fashion at all," she says, referring to robust, sometimes stiff technical materials reminiscent of PVC or neoprene. She calls it "Experimental Normality" – elevating ordinary everyday materials to true fashion art through artisanal refinement.

Using laser cutting, for example, Sia Arnika carves tiny, rounded corners into a lightweight, recycled polyester fabric, which then flutter around the body like delicate feathers. She also decorates a blood-red plastic material with long, narrow points reminiscent of stylized flames. "The resulting piece should be wearable, but still retain the experimental element," explains the designer.

The designer's fashion is interwoven with her homeland

But that's just the craft, just the technique that Sia Arnika learned during her studies at the Berlin branch of the French fashion school ESMOD. Before that, she studied fashion design in Copenhagen, but found the Danish capital too confining. Her collections thrive on content, on inspiration. And this, one could almost call a twist of fate in her personal story, leads Sia Arnika back to Mors, of all places. "Somehow," she says, furrowing her brow in thoughtful wrinkles, "I always end up on the island through my work."

Stories from her childhood often shape Sia Arnika's collections, even though she always places her early experiences in a contemporary context: For this coming summer, for example, she presented deconstructed polo shirts and sweatpants at Berlin Fashion Week , as well as jersey dresses that look like elegant jerseys for late nights. They are borrowed from Sia Arnika's childhood fascination with football, the many hours spent on Danish pitches, and at the same time, suggest associations with the dynamic club culture of contemporary Berlin.