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Speakers

Regina Lee Blaszczyk
Professor Regina Lee Blaszczyk is the Project Leader for the European Union funded research project The Enterprise of Culture. She joined the School of History, University of Leeds, as Leadership Chair in the History of Business and Society in 2013. Blaszczyk is also associate editor for the Journal of Design History and has published seven books and numerous articles on the history of design, innovation, and consumer culture. Her most recent book, The Color Revolution (2012), examines the little-known history of the creative profession known as colour forecasting. At the conference, Professor Blaszczyk will focus on the topic 'History on the High Street'.

Carina Gråbacke
Carina Gråbacke is Associate professor in Economic history at School of Business, Economics and Law, Centre for Consumer Science at University of Gothenburg. Fashion, clothes and shopping in an historical perspective is the heading that best describes the current focus of Gråbacke’s research. Previously she has been engaged in work that relates to business and labour history, studying for example how the trade unions of the textile and retail workers acted when they were confronted with the consequences of rapid innovative activity. Carina Gråbacke is currently working on a book about the history of the Fashion industry in Stockholm, 1945-2010.

Ulrika Berglund
Ulrika Berglund is PhD Student at the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University. Her research investigates the development of Swedish Fashion industry in the years 1930 to 1959. This was a period when Sweden was 'modernised' and the famed Welfare state evolved. Berglund’s study will develop new perspectives on Swedish Fashion production and the trans-national role of design within the Swedish fashion system. How was the haute couture interpreted in a country with a democratic socialist government in which equality was paramount? That is one of the topics Berglund addresses in her forthcoming dissertation.

Jacob Östberg
Jacob Östberg is Professor of Advertising & PR at Stockholm University School of Business and head of the Marketing section. Östberg’s studies cover various aspects of the symbolic dimensions of consumption. For example, he is interested in how individuals in our consumer society create meaning and value through consumption and how brands are filled with meaning in the intersection of popular culture, marketing and consumers’ lived lives. To catch the visual aspects of consumer culture Östberg has worked with videographies and presented award winning films at The ACR Film Festival and in Consumption, Markets and Culture. At the conference, Östberg will focus on 'A consumer culture perspective on fashion as taste regimes'.

Jörgen Andersson
Jörgen Andersson has a degree in Economics from Stockholm University. For 25 years he held various positions in H&M, from controller to global Chief Product Officer menswear and later on as director of Brand and New Business for the H&M Group. He is today global Marketing Director at the Japanese fashion retailer Uniqlo. Uniqlo is part of the Fast Retailing Group with brands like Theory, Helmut Lang, Comptoir des Cottoniers, Princess Tam Tam and JBrand. It is one of the fourth biggest apparel companies in the world. During his years as Marketing Director for H&M Jörgen Andersson invented, together with Jan Nord who was Creative Director at the time, the ground breaking collaborations with famous luxury designers, a concept that has been widely recognized and copied not only in the fashion industry. Jörgen Andersson will talk about the 'generic world' where 'what' you do tends to be less relevant for the consumer who rather appreciates 'how' you do it.

Lena Patriksson Keller
Lena Patriksson Keller has a degree in Fashion Marketing  from the American University in London and in Design Marketing from Parsson School of Design in New York. She has worked in the fashion industry for more than twenty years, focusing on branding and communications, but also on buying, distribution and product range. Lena Patriksson Keller is the founder and owner of Patriksson Communication, where she is now Executive Chairman. She  was previously part-owner of Whyred and has worked at J. Lindeberg AB and H&M. Other board assignments include positions on the boards of WESC and NSP (Nordic Service Partners) and as chairman of the board of the industry organization Association of Swedish Fashion Brands (ASFB). At the conference, Patriksson Keller will talk about 'The Shift in Fashion Communication'.

Alexander Husebye
Alexander Husebye is CEO of the Centre for Business History in Stockholm. He has held that position since 1996 and has been part of the development of CBHS from an ordinary business archive to a content provider of significance for stakeholders such as member companies, academic community and media. Alexander Husebye has a wide experience of establishing a large network of companies and organization with the aim to promote the position of business archives. He also travels a lot as an advisor for similar organizations in the US and Europe. Alexander is the lead contact at the Centre for Business for The Enterprise of Culture.

Ingrid Giertz-Mårtenson
Ingrid Giertz-Mårtenson, an ethnologist and art historian, has a long experience of the international and Swedish fashion industry, having worked in French haute couture houses as well as in European fashion organizations and as Director of the Swedish Fashion Council.  She is the initiator of the establishment of the Centre for Fashion Studies at Stockholm University and Senior Advisor at the Centre for Business History in Stockholm. In her present capacity as CEO of Swedish Vision she is a counsellor to various cultural and business institutions, and has promoted and curated exhibitions on Swedish dress and fashion including Ten Views of Sweden, at the National Museum in Stockholm in 2005.