At Lords of Scandinavia, we define the “Uniform of the Ambitious” not as a costume, but as a tool for transition. Jonas Kolecki moves between the high-pressure precision of directing for Porsche and the solitary, tactile chaos of his Copenhagen studio, Jonas lives in the “in-between.” We sat down with him to discuss why a painting is a diary, a film is a post, and why the most interesting things happen when you blur the lines.
The Intersection of Speed and Stillness
LOS: You’ve described the “clear line” between your painting and your film work as the difference between writing a diary and posting an Instagram photo. That’s a provocative distinction. Is the film work the performance and the painting the truth?
JK: It’s more about the direction of energy. Film is collaborative, technical, and extroverted—it’s a “post,” a shared experience. Painting is where I process the residue of those experiences. In Bolzano, when I first started, I realized my storyboards were becoming too dense to just be “steps” in a film process. They had their own life. Now, I use painting to slow down the world that filmmaking speeds up.
LOS: Our clients often deal with the “noise” of high-level leadership. Your work—specifically the Relics for a Possible Future series—seems to be about filtering noise. You take ephemeral things, like Bulgarian weather reports, and turn them into permanent frescoes. Why?
JK: I’m obsessed with what remains. We are bombarded with information that expires in twenty-four hours. By layering pigments and newspapers, I’m “cleaning the frame.” I want to take the digital noise of our era and give it the weight of stone. It’s about taking something fragile and making it feel architectural.
The Anatomy of the Workspace
LOS: There’s a specific “studio grit” to your aesthetic. You aren’t afraid of the mess—the yellow-brown pigments, the raw textures. How does that translate to how you dress when you leave the studio for a production meeting or an opening?
JK: My wardrobe has to be as versatile as my medium. In the studio, I’m working with raw earth pigments; it’s physical. But when I’m directing, I need a silhouette that signals authority and intentionality.
I look for the same thing in a jacket that I look for in a canvas: Structural integrity. If the “bones” of the piece are right, the surface can handle a bit of wear. There’s a beauty in a well-made garment that has seen a bit of life—it becomes a “relic” of your own history.
“I don’t fear the empty canvas. It’s never actually empty. It has a texture, a weave, a history before I even touch it. You just have to listen to what the material is already telling you.”
he Scandinavian Imprint
LOS: You’ve lived in Munich, Mauritius, and now Copenhagen. Has the Danish “functional minimalism” sharpened your eye, or are you rebelling against it?
JK: I think I’ve internalized it. In Denmark, there is a respect for the “clear line.” Whether it’s furniture, architecture, or tailoring, there’s a lack of ego in the design that I find very powerful. It allows the human element to stand out. My work is often about “human imprints”—the traces we leave behind. Copenhagen provides a very clean backdrop for those traces to become visible.
LOS: For the ambitious man trying to balance a creative soul with a professional trajectory, what is the “Kolecki Rule”?
JK: Stop compartmentalizing. Your “creative” self and your “professional” self aren’t two different people. Use the discipline of your business life to finish your art, and use the intuition of your art to lead your business. The most interesting people are the ones who allow those two worlds to bleed into each other.
The Lords Perspective: Get the Look
Jonas’s style mirrors his art: Tactile, structured, and unapologetically intentional. * The Studio Choice: Our unstructured Navy Hopsack Blazer—durable enough for the creative process, sharp enough for the gallery.
- The Palette: Earth tones, charcoal, and raw textures that echo Jonas’s use of natural pigments.
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