I have always focused on Greenlandic Spirit

Here in February 2026, Isaksen Design presents a new men's T-shirt collection. The collection includes both new styles and well-known designs that are returning after great demand. It will be exciting to see the innovations, and whether the Greenlandic fashion house follows its tradition of being faithful to the Greenlandic culture, which has always characterized Nickie Isaksen's designs.

Otherwise, it is on women that the focus is directed at Isaksen Design.

“For women, we are making a full collection, while for men this year we are only making t-shirts and sweaters,” says Nickie Isaksen, who is responsible for the design of Isaksen's creations.

Nickie Isaksen is today the sole owner of Isaksen Design ApS, the company she founded with her mother, Rita Isaksen, in 2002.

The whole family is involved

This is a real family business. Nickie Isaksen is director and is responsible for design, production and customer contact. Family plays a central role in the Isaksen business.

Rita Isaksen, co-founder of the company, handles customer service in the store at Larsbjørnsstræde 11 and is responsible for web sales and order handling.

The company is also drawing on the next generation. Their eldest son, Malik Angelo Isaksen, is closely associated with the company and actively contributes to the creative and communicative work. He works with styling, produces content for social media – including video and photography – and is responsible for styling and music for fashion shows.

The youngest son, Nuka Angelo Isaksen, also contributes his creativity and music in connection with events and fashion shows.

Together, the family forms a close collaboration where experience, creativity and new perspectives meet – and where the company is developed with both continuity and renewal in mind.

“The company has developed enormously since my mother and I started in 2002,” says Nickie Isaksen.

In Denmark, the company receives great help from its branch organization, Dansk Mode og Tekstil, both within export, marketing, new markets and legal assistance.

Focus on cultural heritage

– Even though I have lost my language because we moved to Denmark, my Greenlandic background and culture have always been the driving force in my design and creative expression both before and after the London College of Fashion and the Tailoring Academy in Aarhus, Nickie Isaksen tells Sermitsiaq's correspondent, who meets her and mother Rita in the store at Larsbjørnsstræde 11.

Inspired by Inuit tattoo, dots and lines have always been a recurring visual element in her collections.

– I am proud of my Greenlandic background, which is the history in everything I do. I am very clear that I am Inuk and from Greenland. It is important for my identity that I show in my design where I come from and what my roots are.

– History and craftsmanship have always been central elements in our products, in close interaction with the quality that underlies the work. Today we work primarily with wool and jersey – materials that reflect both functionality and longevity.

Over time, the company's development has naturally led to a clearer focus on our core areas.

– Today we work mainly with web sales, private label collaborations and delivery to tourist shops, and we are also in the process of starting a collaboration with a major tourist company in Canada.

– At the same time, we have chosen to establish ourselves in the heart of Copenhagen with a store in a creative and international environment close to Strøget and Rådhuspladsen, surrounded by design shops, cafés and restaurants. The location provides direct contact with both tourists and a design-interested audience and is a conscious choice in the company's further development, says Nickie.

Greenlandic sustainable design

When Isaksen Design started, there was a clear purpose to tell the story of Greenland through sustainable, handmade design.

"My inspiration is deeply rooted in Greenlandic heritage, our spiritual world, our nature and our history," she says on her website.

Three colors are repeated in Isaksen's design and in the company's logo, which Nickie created in 2003. They are red, white and black:

Black symbolizes the spiritual world, red symbolizes the blood of life and white symbolizes the bones of the ancestors.

The logo forms a circle that symbolizes the eternal life that is always there and that neither starts nor ends, she says.

Exciting development

The ambition was great when mother and daughter started in 2002. They focused on a very broad Greenlandic range, which also included seal skin products, jewelry, bags and shoes, etc.

At the same time, a large network was built up with sales from many stores throughout Denmark and Greenland, in the Nordic countries, the USA and Canada.

There was also a focus on participating in fashion fairs, always with the special Greenlandic expression.

– I have never followed the fashion trend and whatever the trend was in terms of colors and expressions. I have maintained my design inspired by the Greenlandic spirit and culture with tattoos, nanoq, qajaq, ulo, colors and so on and mixed it into my graphic universe.

For a number of years, work was also done on the American market with fashion fairs in New York, where Isaksen got several retailers, including Takashimaya on 5th. Avenue, stores in Washington, Chicago, and several stores in Canada.

The marketing in the years 2009–2017 was anchored in the concept of Greenlandic Spirit. – It is interesting to think about how it might have been received today, she says.

– At that time, the term resonated greatly in the USA, Canada and other countries, while it was less widespread in Denmark. Here I experienced that partners suggested that I could instead position it as Danish design. But for me it was important to maintain the Greenlandic heritage as a clear guideline – and it has been throughout the years, she emphasizes.

– But the development on the internet, especially after the corona period, has meant that we are now focusing on digital sales and have only maintained contact with a few selected stores in Denmark.

Online clothing sales are exploding, and this is particularly affecting small stores that are dependent on sales here and now.

– We are experiencing that customers - even our closest ones here in the area - would rather buy online and pick up their package from a parcel shop, than come to the store here, says Nickie.

– This development has meant that we have had to terminate some agreements with small stores.

– It has been difficult to tell stores that were there from the start that it is over, because the market is changing. But that is how it is.

– The development has meant that we are also shifting our focus. Partly on where and how we sell, and partly on how many different products we have.

– We are therefore selling more online, and we are focusing on our core products that we know we are good at and that are in demand.

– We therefore do not participate in the expensive fashion fairs, which in these new times have no significance for our business, and which are only a big expense, she says.

Who buys your products online?

– We sell most in Denmark and Greenland, but also in the Nordic countries, in Canada and in Europe, says Nickie, stating that customers on cruise ships are important.

Knitwear with Inuit tattoos and tupilak and polar bear prints are popular, she states, adding that the more international we become, the more important our own culture and our own identity become. This applies to all people.

Greenland

What about Greenland?

– In Greenland, we have started a collaboration with Anita Høegh and Mia Chemnitz and their shop Qiviut, where we sell our products. We are also in tourist shops around the country, at airports, in Air Greenland, etc. We have previously collaborated with Pisiffiks clothing shops. Experience showed that our products work best in settings where there is ample space for presentation and communication, and here the formats were simply different.

– Last year we had a fashion show in Katuaq. It was a huge success. I talked about our history, my visual language, and how the Greenlandic spirit is reflected in our products. My eldest son in particular did a great job with music, styling and presentation and was actually the main force behind the event. I was very proud of that, she says.