We welcome Canada-based Estudio Niksen into the Goodhood roster and to the UK. As the official UK launch partner, we link up with co-founders Andrés Barrios and Gabrielle Gagné to find out more about the brand, the minds behind it, city living, finding slow moments, the future of independent retail, and much more. Check it out below.

GOODHOOD: For those who don’t know, who are you and what do you do? 

ESTUDIO NIKSEN: We are an independent lifestyle brand (or studio) presenting elevated garments and living-space goods through a mix of influences. Founded in 2021, it all came to life as a chance to further express our vision of a timeless, approachable and gender-less wardrobe with a simplified and friendly sizing program. In developing our clothing line, the need for a living space that reflected similar values and aesthetics became the fuel for our homeware collections. With that, came the desire to work and collaborate with artists or creatives from diverse backgrounds and disciplines; making it all feel like a never-ending journey of discovering new horizons. Today, with our headquarters and flagship store in Montreal and a satellite HQ in Seoul, we work with a design approach centered on creating timeless pieces in limited runs. Functionality, durability and traditional workwear influences remain at the core of our collections - with a distinctive edge and recognisable shapes; all, in our own way. 

GH: Can you tell us about the Dutch philosophy behind your name? Why you relate to it, why you named your store after it. 

EN: Andrés (co-founder) is from Venezuela, so the Spanish word “Estudio,” which means “studio” in English, came pretty naturally . It also gave us the freedom of not being labelled as a brand, agency or boutique and instead, opened the door to many creative avenues and in many different forms under one single roof along the way. As for Niksen, it is a Dutch concept often simplified as “the art of doing nothing.” It describes a state of aimless relaxation, without objectives or purpose. When choosing the name for our project, we sought a word that would encapsulate the essence of what we stand for but mostly, a concept that we needed to be reminded of everyday! Especially as an entrepreneur or freelancer, sometimes it's hard to pause for a minute. We believe that stillness, as rare as it comes in our society [and industry], is key to stay connected to our true essence. Remember, we are human beings not human-doings! Finding that little moment of ‘nothingness’ in a day can help us get different perspectives on various things, help us regain a bit of energy and can also help creativity. In all honesty, we’re far from experts in achieving a “Niksen” state of mind, we chose the name because we relate to the philosophy it carries and sort of a reminder for ourselves along the way and as the company grows - not at all because we think we’ve mastered it.

GH: Estudio Niksen in one sentence.

EN: Estudio Niksen is a clothing brand, but more importantly, it’s a creative studio with a great mix of influences—an inviting, curated environment that feels like a welcoming family.

 

GH: Estudio Niksen promotes mindfulness, slow living and the art of doing nothing. How does this translate into your designs and product?

EN: It’s not so much about slow living, but finding slow moments throughout our lives that allow us to regain energy, recenter ourselves and be ready for when we need to pick up the pace again. We often think of our product as very comfortable, accessible and particularly, timeless. It’s hard to see how this concept of ‘doing nothing’ is directly palpable on the product itself but we reckon that we are able to show it a bit more through our social media, our campaigns, and in the mood/atmosphere in our studio. We believe that feeling comfortable with the clothes we wear and being able to enjoy and appreciate our living space creates an opportunity for us to relax, settle down and enjoy little moments of pause.

GH: Really love the idea of Estudio Niksen being treated as a studio, rather than a brand. You’re being welcomed into a home, not just a store. How does this allow you to connect with your community?

EN: Since we (Andrés and Gaby) are a couple, Estudio Niksen started as a small, intimate, and somewhat naive project that evolved organically into something bigger, heavily influenced by our own tastes, curiosity and interests. Estudio Niksen began in the spare room of our apartment, with endless moodboards, doodles on walls and pictures all over the place - pretty much the same aesthetic that you can find in our store today. Over time, we’ve continued to develop that ‘studio atmosphere’, aiming to maintain a space that feels like home and reflects what we love. This vulnerability and authenticity in sharing our project has resonated with our community, making them feel like they are at home in our studio. We aim to be transparent, real and sometimes even vulnerable when communicating on our platforms - this way, our community not only gets to see the polished side of things but the mistakes, processes, questioning and reasoning behind all we do. Estudio Niksen feels more like a free, open lifestyle rather than just a brand. We think this is why people connect with us—we don’t force the connection; it just seems to happen naturally.

 

 

GH: How does this ethos manifest with your community outside of Montreal / Canada / those who are not able to regularly visit Estudio Niksen?

EN: This is the reason why we absolutely love doing pop-ups! They are a great way to meet the Niksen “familia.” We put a lot of love and energy into curating and developing our pop-ups so that customers get a true sense of the experience we offer at our flagship studio in Montreal. We strive to make our pop-ups more than just a space filled with racks of clothes. We often give early-access to collections or exclusive products and we collaborate with local artists or businesses that align with our values, creating unique and thoughtfully curated events. Of course, we are also limited in terms of where we can host pop-ups due to logistics, shipping, and operational constraints. But with our wholesale program growing quickly, this is also a great way to come closer to our international community around the world. I mean, we are at Goodhood!!!!

GH: How do you take slower approaches to the every day stresses of living in a city?

EN: This is a tough question. We love Montreal because, despite being a small city, it’s creative, diverse, and relatively calm. We think the city’s vibrancy is essential for us to stay innovative and motivated. Rather than blaming the city for any stress, we believe that stress is more a reflection of the current state of the world—the constant overflow of stimulation and information that can reach you even if you’re outside the city. We don’t have all the answers, but what we try to do personally is to “make time” for things that nourish our hearts and minds. Whether it’s taking the time to sip coffee instead of rushing off with it in the morning, trying to truly disconnect from work when arriving home by leaving our phones behind, making time for friends and simple things like going to farmers markets or flea markets. We believe in taking moments to live more slowly, simply for the joy of experiencing life without any particular goal in mind.

GH: Can you go into the decision behind putting more energy into your mainline, your journey from designing to sourcing fabrics to production?

EN: At first, launching our own brand seemed unnecessary given the abundance of great brands already out there. It was also incredibly intimidating. We preferred the idea of sharing our love for the brands we liked by curating a selection of products. However, as time passed and our audience grew, we felt ready to embark on the journey of designing and producing our own pieces - all in our own way. We started off with a couple of skus for our first Mainline collection and the reaction was simply incredible, giving us more and more confidence to create, make some mistakes, explore more techniques and expand our product selection. It’s a whole different beast, risks are higher, processes are longer but ideas are endless. The process of working with small family-owned factories and fabric mills in Seoul alongside our production team there, makes it all very enjoyable.

GH: What are your main motivations?

EN: As simple as it sounds, our main motivation is our love for what we do. Hoping this doesn’t come off as self-centered [haha], but we’ve always said that if this project no longer brings us joy or fulfilment—or if it brings more stress than pride—we’d stop. We believe our clients would also feel that shift if we lost our passion. We’re driven by the excitement of developing new products and seeing how people react to them, but above all, it’s about connecting with our community. We have a loyal and curious following that gives us so much love, and that’s incredibly motivating. Collaborations and creative connections also keep us motivated, as they help the company grow and evolve.

GH: What are your thoughts on the fashion industry and retail in 2025? In regards to being an independent company, the future of independent retail, ways of working…

EN: This is another challenging question to answer. We’re a relatively new and small company compared to others in the fashion industry, so we can’t claim to have the experience or insight to answer with certainty. However, it seems that the fashion industry, particularly large-scale retail, is somewhat outdated and might be ready for change. Smaller-medium retailers or brands, which we consider the most curated and exciting places to shop, are struggling to compete with the online world and big conglomerates. For smaller brands, it’s hard to stand out amidst the overwhelming number of offerings and when you do gain traction, it can feel a bit overwhelming to jump on this full-gas train and growth can be risky as the essence of your brand can get a bit diluted or lost. There’s a tension between the big fashion industry (driven by seasonal calendars) and how smaller brands and retailers can operate [financially and logistically]. We believe there’s room for a smaller, niche and more thoughtful fashion community, one where brands and retailers collaborate more organically, authentically and in a mutually beneficial way. And we believe that people are here for it!!

 

 

GH: This April marks 4 years of Estudio Niksen. What in those 4 years would you consider to be your biggest highlight?

EN: Oh, it's hard to just say one thing! Definitely our new studio in Montreal is up there on the list, opening our wholesale program, being at GOODHOOD!!, our pop-ups, but without a doubt and above everything else, the overall transitioning from being a boutique to becoming a brand with our own designs, production and supply chain. There’s nothing more fulfilling than doing things our own way.

GH: What’s in the pipeline for Estudio Niksen for the rest of the year?

EN: Funny that you ask; on the personal side; we are expecting a baby (Gaby and Andrés); so that’s going to be one hell of a fun change in our lives [haha]. On the business and studio side, we’re focusing on continuing to develop the brand and expand our product range - SS25 and FW25 are looking amazing and we can’t wait to drop them. Hopefully we come to London for a popup towards the end of this year!

Gaby threw it out of the park with the new Niksen Rugs designs coming this spring which we are super excited to launch and to step on in the studio! We may be also working on a little jewellery line for Q4 but you didn't hear that from us. And we are working on a pretty big collaboration for 2026 but that is all we can say for now [haha]. Overall our goal is to strengthen our relationships with key and curated stores like you guys worldwide to become more accessible to our international customers.

More on the long term, honestly we have no particular plan. So far, it seems like ‘no pattern is our pattern’ so we’ll just keep pouring our hearts into developing Estudio Niksen to its fullest potential without any fixed end goal. This allows us to better enjoy the ride and appreciate many small wins. Our priority is to grow and evolve organically, connect with more people, and work on enriching projects, while maintaining a strong team and healthy relationships with our partners and clients.