He runs two record labels by day and shakes the dance floors by night. DJ Ionik should by now be familiar name to all people who dig soulful music. We took the chance to interview him on a cold winter day in Turku, Finland.

Karhu Originals: Let’s get right down to it. Tell us how you got hooked in the music game?

DJ Ionik: To be honest it all started from crappy music heard at school discos! I wanted to raise the level and what better way than start playing records yourself? Already in Elementary school we had a big group of youngsters who respected quality music. Back then there weren’t many record shops in the neighborhood so it was more rewarding the harder you had to dig for a new cassette or vinyl. Mail orders from the States, souvenirs from relatives living abroad etc.

Karhu Originals: Sounds familiar…

DJ Ionik: Yeah. A little later I remember watching the first Yo! MTV Raps episodes which got me really after two turntables and a mixer. When I finally got my set I mastered my backspin day and night! [laughs]

Karhu Originals: How did you end up starting you own record label?

DJ Ionik: This was back in 2002 when the Hip Hop game had gone back to home studio artists throwing demos and promos out. Many of them never properly released, I wanted to help up and coming artists and Traveller Records was established.

Karhu Originals: Ok. Tell us about your other project Kojak Giant Sounds?

DJ Ionik: As Traveller Records is a legit record label with worldwide distribution, Kojak Giant Sounds is a New York based office run by night, providing the tightest disco edits and re-works.

Karhu Originals: Can you name some highlights from your career so far?

DJ Ionik: The sweetest thing simply is the fact that I can play the dopest music night after night! On Traveller Records side, it is always great feeling to give a fresh test press the first spin on turntable. When it comes down to single releases I have to give it out to Sun Rise Above, Velben LP, Dragon Fli Empire, BBAS, Alphabet City, Rhythm Kings, Creation and the list goes on. I have to mention that to take it to next level one record has to show the path and break big time. That happened to be Maxxi Soundsystem’s Criticize last year. Felt privileged to be part of the project.

Karhu Originals: That was one of our favorites as well. Thanks again for letting us use it on our 80s running clip! Talking about Karhu, can you remember your first Karhu memories?

DJ Ionik: Definitely the Harlem Airs I wore playing basketball in Porvoo Tarmo. Since little kid our club had a good deal with local dealer “Simolin”. Once they were not any good for playing indoors, you rocked them outside for a good 12 months at least.

Karhu Originals: Besides Harlem Air, any other favorites from Karhu?

DJ Ionik: Champion is iconic! Also have to mention the Helsinki from 1983.

Karhu Originals: Right on! Lastly, can you reveal something you have in bag for 2012?

DJ Ionik: You know I can’t reveal everything, but you can expect to hear something from these artists to name a few: Combo De La Musica, Muslim Disco Club, Ultimate Man, Pat Les Stache, Jori Hulkkonen, Rayko etc… This spring will keep me busy touring in the US…

Karhu Originals: Sounds good! Thanks for the chat and keep on doing the do!

Traveller Records
Kojak Giant Sounds

Karhu has always been on top of research and development, but perhaps its most innovative breakthrough saw the light of the day in 1986. Fulcrum Technology was developed to create as efficient and secure ride for runners as possible. The basis of the invention was to create a shoe that makes your energy flow horizontally, not vertically. Simply put, to make you move forward.

The “Gyro Gearloose” of Karhu, Mr. Antti-Jussi Tiitola was the main man behind the midsole solution called Fulcrum. The triangular, hard compressed part allowed the foot to roll effectively through the stand phase. Fulcrum component was engineered to allow your feet to move through natural path as fast and as safe as possible.

This invention proved to be the smartest way to pack a pair of running shoes. Fulcrum Technology is still the heart of our performance running shoe line in 2011.

This time up we wanted to give you an indepth interview with Herkules and Bongo Rhino, the duo that goes by the name of Bongo Rock. They are moving the masses touring around the Nordics and are hosting the jam packed monthly club at Siltanen in Helsinki. We sat down on one of the Siltanen’s table, had a tasty dinner and covered some interesting topics, before Herkules and Rhino rushed on in to stage to give the crowd another banging night.

Karhu Originals: Hi fellas how’s it hanging?

Bongo Rock: All good all good!

Karhu Originals: Can you guys tell us little bit about your background and how you hooked up back in the days?

Bongo Rock: Well we know each other from elementary school and have hung out at the same circles. The musical collaboration started slowly around 1999 and later continued with Helsinki based Komposti Sound.

Karhu Originals: The famous Komposti Sound.

Bongo Rock: Yah man! First years touring and doing shows together we always wanted to go on stage first and do the warm up because we didn’t have any songs released or finished. Our live act was a mix of juggling music and singing on top of instrumentals which were mostly reggae. To be honest we still like that approach! Bongo Rock was born in the clubs and can be defined as modern club music with a jamaican twist.

Karhu Originals: For the readers who haven’t seen you performing yet, how would you describe your set?

Bongo Rock: It can be anything really! We definitely have the roots in reggae and early dancehall sounds but our set might consist of soul, hip hop, disco, AOR..  You name it!

Karhu Originals: Your music has been described as “Ladies Music”. Is that correct?

Bongo Rock: There are definitely lot of ladies at our gigs! We think though that love is the best message in our music.

Karhu Originals: Tell us little bit about your future plans?

Bongo Rock: We are going to release an album this year and before that our second mixtape.

Karhu Originals: Your first mixtape really set the bar up high!

Bongo Rock: Definitely. We record our mixtapes live so you can never quite predict the outcome! We are using Siltanen as our laboratory. We often experiment new things here and see if it works or not…

Karhu Originals: Ok let’s change the topic a little shall we? Do you still remember how you discovered Karhu the first time?

Bongo Rhino: I remember the bear logo being my first touch to graphic world. The logo is damn dope! Of course in terms of first products, I remember the Karhu skis and ski boots.

Herkules: I remember my aunt’s husband had a pair of the freaking nicest Karhu trainers in the 80s! I was pissed off because they were too big for me to borrow them! I also remember the Finnish baseball bats and gloves…

Karhu Originals: How about your all time favorite Karhus?

Herkules: I love the “Super White” runner from the 80s and have to give it up for “Trampas” as well!

Bongo Rhino: I’m more in to classic looks of “Olympic Trainer” and definitely have to bring up the “Magic” from the early 80s.

Karhu Originals: Nice picks! Ok fellas. Any last comments or shout outs?

Bongo Rock: We’d like to give a shout out to Bar Siltanen, Brother Louie, Komposti Sound and of course to the nice guys at Karhu!

Karhu Originals: Thanks guys! Until next time!

Bongo Rock – Mixtape Volume 1 by Bongo Rock

Bongo Rock Homepage
Bongo Rock on Soundcloud

Project is a bi-annual fashion tradeshow held in Las Vegas and New York. Karhu Originals will lighten the space with some Scandinavian look and feel. The tradeshow takes place from January 16 to January 18 at: 82 Mercer Street, New York, NY. Come and visit our booth #817 !

Follow the event here

The good fellas of Stockholm’s Sneakersnstuff joined the Karhu team in Barcelona for one day. We showed them around the Spanish office and revealed some future designs in the planning. Check the 1 minute video diary below. Shot and edited by Johan Unden. Thanks again guys for coming over!

24 hours in Barcelona with Karhu from Sneakersnstuff on Vimeo.

Celebrating the 95th birthday this year, Finland’s legendary running brand
reveals its Holiday 2011 Lookbook… It showcases the most recent
collection alongside hand picked items from the archives such as the Karhu bicycle from 1982.

Cruel Age in Helsinki pimped their wall and houses the most gorgeous in store installation we’ve seen in long time! Be sure to check the store in the department store Kamppi in the center of Helsinki.

This buff shot putter won three indoor European Championships and still holds the Finnish record at 21,69m. Mr. Ståhlberg is the chairman of the exclusive “20m Club” for shot putters. All of his best achievements were done with Karhu RS shoe, which was named after… Yeah, you guessed it.

bElles stands for “Baskets for Elles” and just as the name says, they provide the nicest kicks for the ladies in Helsinki. The shop opened in 2010 in Southern Helsinki and this year bElles relocated to the center. The girls of bElles deserved to be heard because they are one of the only sneaker shops in the planet strictly for the ladies.

Karhu Originals: Hi girls! Can you give us a little background of bElles and the people behind it?

bElles: Hello there! Well just like Karhu, bElles is from the streets of Helsinki. We are a collective owning strong expertise from different fields, for example photographing, event producing, make up and hair dressing, web designing and of course running a sneaker store! This enables us to keep a handle on all things nice and easy. For example to set up a photoshoot, run the webstore or throw a party with little to no external help needed.

Karhu Originals: How many are you now in total?

bElles: Our troops is almost 10 people strong. Sumi, Martina, Katariina, Martin, Leena & Mikko are behind the business and Marika & Kaisa are helping us almost daily.

Photo by Kai Kuusisto

Karhu Originals: What were the first sneakers you got?

Sumi: My first one was a pair of L.A Gears. Then I saw one girl rocking Filas and I had to get ‘em. On a trip to Paris I finally found one, but it was a size too small. It couldn’t stop me from buying them though!

Katariina: I remember those multicolored “disco trainers”. I wonder what the brand was?

Marika: Our dance crew back in the days won a competition and we received a grand prize of 1000 Finnish Markkas (160€). We bought a pair of Superstars to all crew members and pimped them with fat laces!

Karhu Originals: Classic! Can you share us your very first Karhu memories?

Sumi: My first memories are from the 80′s… Karhu was THE outdoor brand. Everybody wore them.

Katariina: I remember the orange trainers from my childhood. The model must’ve been the Champion!

Karhu Originals: No doubt about it. One of our best selling models ever! By the way what is your all time favorite model from Karhu?

bElles: Definitely the Trampas! You should re-release that one soon!

Karhu Trampas from the 1970s

Karhu Originals: Can you give us little insight on what is it like to be a sneaker dealer in Finland?

bElles: Well, Finland is a small country influenced heavily by rock music. This is not the best starting point for a sneaker dealer. The mind set of the mass can be pretty old fashioned and many people simply don’t understand why on earth anybody would open up a specialized sneaker store for ladies. Then again, the positive feedback we’ve received from our customers and the media is really positive. It is great to spread the positive lady energy out and meet new interesting people. Our store has become a hot spot for like minded people, girls and boys.

Karhu Originals: You have some guys coming in as well?

bElles: Definitely. Many guys come in and buy presents for their girlfriends and if they have small enough size, why not cop a pair for themselves?

Karhu Originals: What brands are you stocking at the moment?

bElles: Karhu Originals, Asics, Puma, Jeremy Scott Adidas and Kangaroos to name a few. We also got some cool Finnish accessory and clothing labels like Badass Style, Kaksitvå and Poola Kataryna.

Close up of a Badass Style Custom Denim Jacket

Poola Kataryna jewellery

Karhu Originals: What is hot at bElles at the moment?

bElles: The kids sneakers are selling really well! There are also signs of the running inspired stuff coming back…

Karhu Originals: How about the next big thing?

bElles: Über retro stuff and especially the fat 90s things will be the thing!

Karhu Originals: We’ll keep that in mind! What you girls have in plans for the future?

bElles: We’ll open up a shop for boys… Haha just kidding! We’ll keep on doing the do. Spreading and supporting the street culture and try to convert more and more people in to sneakers. We’re also always interested in new collaborations.

Karhu Originals: Any last words?

bElles: Fix up, look sharp!

bElles can be found at: Lasipalatsin Aukio, Mannerheimintie 22-24, 00100 Helsinki, Finland
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 12-20, Sat 11-18
Important links: www.b-elles.fi, http://badassstyle.blogspot.com

Karhu travelled to London and is now settled in the heart of Soho. The home base is a trendy sneaker mecca also known as Footpatrol on Berwick Street. To celebrate the occasion we brought the dopest items from the Karhu archives and the exhibition runs for some days in store. Here are some shots from the launch evening last Wednesday. Come and say hello if you’re around!