Last spring, we went to the west coast of Norway, where we were invited by the wool company Devold. While it's not a household name here in the States (yet), it is in Norway. Founded in 1853 by a visionary entrepreneur, Ole Andreas Devold, he launched the company by being the first to bring state-of-the-art mechanical knitting machines to the country, specifically, to a small yet prolific cod fishing port town, Ålesund. He started by selling knit caps, underwear, and sweaters to the local community, and within a couple of years, demand had grown so much that he purchased a steamboat to travel up and down the coast to deliver his orders. A curious and industrious man, he was able to grow rapidly—in part due to his nose for a useful invention (he was, notably, the first in the area to have electricity and a telephone). Devold's success hit just as the first polar expeditions caught on: The American polar explorer Lincoln Ellsworth flew over the North Pole with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and afterwards, wrote a letter to Devold, thanking them for outfitting them in their woolen clothing for the trip. Devold was the country's original influencer: As the letter was shown to vendors elsewhere in Europe as proof of the company's quality, its expansion continued. Ellsworth and his team experienced what every Norwegian already knew—and soon, the rest of the world would catch on.

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Matt Hranek Matt Hranek

Now, their latest expansion is into the U.S.—and in order to kick that off, Devold enlisted some designer friends of ours to create a capsule collection. Andrea Westerlind is the owner of the store, showroom, and brand Westerlind, which represents some of the world's coolest outdoor and adventure lables in the world. Emil Corsillo is the founder of The Hill-Side, the cult men’s accessory brand, and a creative consultant to many insider fashion brands. They both have impeccable taste and travel nonstop, so when they kept telling us how gorgeous this part of Norway was, and that they had the inside scoop on where to go…we decided to join them. I sat down with Emil to recap our adventure.

Matt Hranek

Tell me about how you, a designer living in L.A., who grew up on the East Coast, ended up on this Norwegian project.

Andrea and I have known each other for a long time, from the New York menswear world. Devold approached her to be represented in her showroom, as they wanted to expand the brand into the U.S. market. Andrea has a lot of experience with doing exactly that with Scandinavian brands (she’s from Sweden). Even though the brand is 160 years old, nobody here in the States had really heard of it. We looked at their history and their heritage, and presented them a collection, going back to their oldest, most original products—revamping them a bit—to make them relevant and cool for today’s customer.

Their real heritage comes from Norwegian wool, which is rougher, but it’s what really works for the intense cold and wet conditions that most locals here live through—and it’s what our collection is based on. You know the L.L. Bean Norwegian sweater? It’s a spin-off of a Devold sweater called the Nordsjø sweater (which means "North Sea") that dates to the early 1900s. They used to produce it for L.L. Bean, back in the day. The Nordsjø is one historical piece I chose to base a lot of our collection on—growing up in New England, it was what we all grew up with—and it was a nice bridge to introduce Devold to the U.S. It's a staple of classic American menswear, even making a prominent appearance in the Official Preppy Handbook. The first season of our capsule collection is just coming out now, and will be in 15 stores worldwide, as well as through a dedicated e-comm site just for the U.S. market.

Matt Hranek Matt Hranek

Let’s talk about Ålesund, where we started our road and boat trip. I love how easy it was to fly there—we had a nonstop from Toulouse, and then went back to New York City via Oslo. With Norwegian Airlines' incredibly affordable tickets, it really does open up Norway.

Since we were there a couple of times to meet with Devold, we got to know this charming town pretty well. When you say Ålesund to any Norwegian, they universally say, “It’s the most beautiful city in the country.” In 1904, the whole city burned down, and the town was completely rebuilt in a hodge-podge, colorful art nouveau style. Architecturally it’s really special, but it also sits at the entrance to the Geirangerfjord—which is the most epic landscape in the country. It’s also the cod fishing capital of the world: Make sure you try cod tongue when you are there—it’s delicious, and when are you every going to get a chance to try cod tongue anywhere else?! It tastes like the best fish and chips you ever had. We loved staying at the Brosundet—it is so cozy, and has what seems like the world’s tallest fireplace, which we definitely spent many in evening in front of. The rooms are charming, the food is great (breakfast buffet a highlight), and the light inside—it’s so painterly.

The Atlantic Ocean Road isn’t so far away from Ålesund. I’m so glad you sent us there!

Yes, we knew you guys would love it—but we couldn’t fit it into our trip itinerary, so we thought you had to go. It’s just under three hours from Ålesund. That road is referred to as the “world’s best road trip” and the Hulvagen Bridge is where a ton of commercials get filmed. We wanted you guys to go to as many of the stops on the Norway National Tourist Routes (NTR) but some of them weren’t open, or were a little too far off the itinerary. At least you got to experience the bridge! I really wanted you to see the Trollstigen, but it is closed every year from late fall until beginning of May. However, it is so famous, and has such a limited window of opening, that it gets quite crowded, and is definitely more expected.

Matt Hranek Matt Hranek

Let’s get into the trip itself, which actually was a road and boat combo.

We left Ålesund and took a boat up through the Hjørundfjord. When you’re on that fjord, it feels like you’re in the most remote place possible. Every now and then on either side of the fjord you’d see a small cluster of buildings, with one house with grass on the roof, and just try to imagine who lives here, so deep and far, to settle and live. Our destination was the Union Øye hotel, but about halfway up the fjord we stopped at Christian Gaard restaurant, which we were told was not to be missed. This was built by a guy who is apparently an anarchist and lives relatively off the grid.

It’s not easy to get to—you can’t drive up to it—you have to take a ferry or a private boat, or you have to do some combination of driving, boating, and hiking. You can ask the owners to come get you at a certain spot on their ATV. But all of this complicated arrival just means it’s a magical local spot. Apparently in summertime it’s a bit of a bacchanalian vibe—divorcée parties, wild concerts… it feels like it has a real swinging side to it. The restaurant itself is very homemade—there were two lunch options, and both were delicious (one was venison burger from a deer that the owner's friend had recently killed)—and there’s a fire going, and it feels like you’re in someone’s house (which you pretty much are.) And then there’s the tree swing—you swing out over the fjord—which is super special. It’s also a mega-Instagram moment: if you go to the geotag for Christian Gaard, every single pic is of someone on that swing.

Matt Hranek Matt Hranek

When we got to the Union Øye Hotel, which sits at the very end of the Hjørundfjord, I just couldn’t believe it—it was out of a fairytale.

Yes, the story of that place is so deep—it’s been around since 1891 and has attracted royalty, aristocrats, and notables since it opened. The rooms all are decorated so differently, so spectacularly—and all are named after different famous guests—like Karen Blixen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Grieg, Ibsen, and Kaiser Wilhelm. It’s an amazing place—I love that it was seemed so un-renovated—they didn’t strip it of its history and soul. It definitely had a fancy-ish vibe—which was interesting, because all the guests looked so outdoorsy. But that’s kind of the cool thing about the Scando way. Outdoorsy isn’t a characteristic or a style, it’s who you are.

Matt Hranek

Next, we went to the Juvet Landscape Hotel (after driving from one jaw-dropping fjord view to the next)…

This was definitely the most Norway Bucket List that we got—that hotel was made famous in the movie Ex Machina, and now every Instagrammer wants to stay there. And for good reason—it is special, and so is the owner, Knut. He commissioned these architects Jensen & Skodvin and gave them carte blanche. They designed these pods of sorts, that are built around appreciating and absorbing the beautiful landscape of the site. All of the rooms have floor-to-ceiling glass walls, oriented to face different views, and you can't see any of the other rooms—so you really feel alone, and out in the middle of the woods. In the forest.

Although we didn’t spend that much time there (top of the "I hope I get to return" list), the thing that sticks with me even more than the architecture and the landscape was that dinner we had there. Knut’s philosophy of the place is that everyone is going to eat together around two long tables—whether you like it or not. There’s a really cool contrast there—you’re in your room and its designed to make you feel isolated—and then at dinner time you’re forced to sit at the same table with everyone else who is staying there, getting to know each other, sharing stories. Knut is a great host and really brings all the people together at the table, and the chef was spectacular. He made a Minke Whale carpaccio that was unforgettable. And the breakfast: three different types of pickled herring, and the most perfect raspberries you’ve ever had in your life. It sounds so cliche, but it’s the epitome of a local farming-produce-community restaurant.

What would you say is the best time of year to go?

We were there in the early spring, but it definitely was what most would call mud season. Even so, I would say, it was more special to be there when it wasn’t at its finest, because we had it all to ourselves. And talk about perfect hygge moments—grey skies, candlelit, moody, it's also so much cheaper to go then. There’s something so much more intimate being here at this time. Remember the ferries that we took, and we were the only ones on them? Supposedly those are mobbed in high season—you park your car and wait for two ferries before you can get on one. That would have changed our whole experience so dramatically, to have had to share that with so many people.

When we were in our cars exploring, it felt like we had the roads to ourselves. A few days after you guys left, I went to the Geirangerfjord, the most famous fjord in Norway, which locals did turn their nose up to when I mentioned it. I took a ferry up to it, a huge boat—it seats something like 250 people. I was there on the first day it was running—and there were only 25 people. To be there when nobody else is there is just magic.