You immediately sense that Hans Martin is passionate about the things he involves himself with; he has many interests and really enjoys high quality and design.
"I am a whisky enthusiast and have collected whisky since the end of 90’s – I know a lot about the industry, about the brands and have tasted hundreds of different single malts. It’s the most important reason why I entered the whisky industry when we founded Stauning Whisky in 2005. Meanwhile I had the urge to both create and drive a business and it’s an interesting business to enter, it gives you so many great experiences. "
It’s fun to work with whisky, which was underlined at Nimb, where we met up with bartender Terkel Miguel Vestbirk. He served us a great Bobby Burns on Stauning Peated (a smoked whisky), while we just went on talking…
"Several things appeal to me in regard to quality products. I like to surround myself with things where the creators have gone far, to carefully design and produce great and durable products."
Within clothing and shoes his favourite brands are: Big John, Merz B. Schwanen, SNS Herning, Red Wing, PF Flyers, Organic Basics, Tanner Goods, Livid, Filson, Brooks Brothers and of course LOOW.
He really likes watches as well, often models from the 70’s or 80’s which has aged with class. On the day Hans Martin wore a nice Rolex Submariner 5513 from 1988.
“Good quality means a lot, but it's not that everything must be solely branded or high quality. I can easily eat a can of mock turtle soup and a bag “Øffer” (pork crackling) together with a can of beer from Netto (Discount supermarket). I just appreciate the good things too.”
"It’s my experience, that thought through products last longer and that’s the reason why the value of resale or exchange is high. It’s not just products you throw away”
We moved on to Lidkoeb's whisky lounge, where we talked about merino wool and of course we were served Stauning whisky - a single cask, distillery casking from 1st fill sherry barrel.
"I really like wool. I wear woollen socks and a singlet almost every day – also in the summer, where I wear a thinner edition. It feels very comfortable, and the sweaters or T-shirts don’t need to be washed and cleaned as much as cotton products.”
“I discovered LOOW, when a post turned up in my news stream at Facebook. I have been looking for woolen T-shirts for a long time, so I ordered two right away – they are so comfortable that ever since I received them I have worn them almost daily."
"A pair of good boots, chinos or selvedge jeans, a T-¬shirt (without print) and a great watch! It’s pretty universal and practical, but that’s what I look like the most of the time."
Hans Martin is born in 1977 and raised in Ringkøbing. He is the father of 3 girls, Johanne, Ingrid and Karen, stepfather to Anders married to Caroline, who is an archaeologist and works at Trap Danmark. He was educated as a teacher in 2005 and has worked as one ever since. Today he works with young kids with different diagnoses primarily within the autism spectrum and attention deficit at Sputnik STU in Copenhagen northwest.
He has also developed the app DayTimer, which is a tool for planning your schedule for people with a need for structure and visual support.
You can follow Hans Martin and his interests at instagram.com/hankmagic and read more about Stauning whisky at www.stauningwhisky.dk and facebook.com/stauningwhisky.
Photos by Henning Hjorth
Hans Martin is wearing a LOOW prototype in Peated Brown - Large (198cm/83kg)
