Name: Ida Ekman
Place: Originally from Finland, living in Melbourne, Australia for now
What do you do? I’m a make up artist, milliner, clothing designer and a freelancer. Traveler. Bird lover.
What are you into? Birds, nature, subcultures, hats, art, languages, Finnish cultural history.
Who tattooed your incredible goose chest piece? It’s actually a full frontal torso piece, not just the chest. Below the upper male goose is a female one as well, covering my stomach and reaching to my thighs. Everything I carry has been tattooed by Jarno Kantanen, @jarnokandahar on Instagram. He has a tattoo shop Tatuata in Helsinki, Finland.
Tell us about this piece: This piece only? It’s a part of the full bodysuit in the making, I have also my back, thighs, sleeve and neck done and Jarno and me are covering myself slowly but surely completely with birds only.
Who are your favourite tattoo artists? Jarno Kantanen, Adam Kitamoto, Shige, Jeff Gogue.
What do you love about designing hats? Pretty much anything is possible to design and produce. Hats can be insane! I feel there is so much less restrictions in designing headpieces than in designing clothing.
Describe the ultimate hat: The ultimate hat.. What a question. Something that hasn’t been done yet and that is waiting for me to create it!
You also do earrings, what are they made out of? I did, haven’t painted a pair in months though! Aquarelles on aquarelle paper laminated.
How long have you been in Melbourne? Now about 10 months.
What do you love about it? I love the freedom I got from leaving, I needed a change. I love to speak other than my mother tongue daily, meeting new people, getting to crazy adventures and even though I’ve traveled by myself since I was 16 during this year I’ve realised how freaking small the world really is.
I love you style, do you shop online and if so, where? I’m the worst in shopping, I very rarely by anything really! Most often I get stuff given or made to me by friends.. Or I make something myself. If I purchase something it has to be high quality, so I usually just stick to natural materials and the color black.
Can you describe your style? Helsinki city vampire.. Haha. No but seriously, my style is mostly black & leather.
Please tell us more about your passion for birds! All birds or any specifically? In general I love all the animals and bugs, but for some reason I have a huge love especially towards birds! I don’t have any favourite species, but on my body I try to collect mainly the ones we have in Scandinavia. I love the body shape of a bird, the structure of the plumage, the coat. The colors, the noises. People don’t like seagulls or pigeons but to me they are beautiful too.
How much of your body will you cover, you say a body suit, that’s the entire body? Will it/is it all birds? I plan on continuing this one common theme I have, birds and plants only. I want to eventually get pretty much everything else except my face covered.
What do you love the most? Love. To be able to feel passionate about things I do and see in my life.
Where is your favourite place in the world? My own apartment filled with antiques and taxidermy in Helsinki, Finland. I miss my own home.
What inspires you? The people I meet, the movies I see, birds, music, my friends, my dad. Love, life.
Favourite music/movie/person: Classical, heavy metal. Movie.. Do we have the whole day? Haha. Anything by Hitchcock, Polanski, Lars Von Trier. I also love French horror, exploitation movies from the 60’s and 70’s, splatter movies and documentaries in general. Favourite person? My dad. He’s the strongest and the most determined person I know.
What are you grateful for? Many things! But just in general to have the life I have and the most amazing people in it!
