The man behind Acne's womenswear collection, and founder of the creative empire that the company has become, Jonny Johansson, presented his vision for Spring Sumer 2011 as a minimal and pared down, but still super modern, one. Block colours of dusty orange, military green and black in clean, over sized shapes with simple detailing, somehow managed to be both classic and edgy. Bringing together minimalist ideas with the occasional punk or military influence, studded jackets and parkas, for example, teamed with straight cut, almost Jil Sander inspired pieces, gave the collection a strong, tough yet still very feminine, feel.

Dazed Digital: Where did the idea of paring down the collection come from?
Jonny Johansson: I really didn’t want to anything that was retro or too historic, or too literal. I wanted to play with something that was very current and known to people.

DD: There was embossing on the leather, that really stood out amongst the simplicity of the pieces. Where did that come from?
Jonny Johansson: I decided to work with tattoos, and that is where the embossing detail comes from. They are designs taken form tribal Samoan imagery. I worked with an amazing female tattoo artist on this, and meeting her and seeing the way she worked had an impact on this collection. It made me want to add this in to what I was doing and give it a toughness.

DD: Were there any other inspirations for the show?
Jonny Johansson: I was really interested in the painter Elizabeth Peyton. To me she feels very much like someone is sums up the idea of being 'a sign of our times'.

DD: Were her paintings the starting point for the collection?
Jonny Johansson: No, not in that way. It was more her way of painting, and who she paints and the style that she does it in, seemed to be so modern that I found it really influential. I wanted to push what we were doing forwards and her work seemed, to me, to sum that up.

As part of the The Meet The Designers series, Dazed & Confused co-founder Jefferson Hack interviews Jonny Johansson today at 7.30pm GMT the Covent Garden Apple Store in London. Check out the podcast here: Meet the Designer: Jefferson Hack interviews Johnny Johansson