Given his enthusiasm for online culture, it’s unsurprising that Jonathan has become synonymous with fashion in the post-Tumblr world – a place where inspirational images are posted, shared and regrammed without respect or care for their provenance. An age where one curates one’s life in clicks and posts using borrowed thoughts and work. He is comfortable with this. Like young people who use Google like an encyclopaedia, and Instagram like a bedroom wall of posters of things they love, he has a grab-and-mix mentality.

His debut campaign for Loewe provoked much comment, with its use of an archive Vogue Italia editorial by Steven Meisel from 1997 starring Maggie Rizer and Amber Valletta. But that advert merely did what every teen Tumblr in the world does: finding a great iconic image and reposting it. It was the smartest advertising campaign of the season, if only for the simplicity of the concept, and the fact that it was bang on the zeitgeist. Today, new feels old and old feels new. Nostalgia is fashionable.

“Ultimately, fashion is about reverting and aborting and creating things at the same time,” Jonathan argues. He is referring to his passion for referencing, the way he pulls details from the past hits of others: a Yohji top, a look from an old Versus catalogue, a detail by an admired artist. Like many of this generation’s greats, most notably Phoebe Philo – a designer he admires – his skill isn’t cut or a way with cloth, but a talent for amalgamation.

That’s why he plans on making Loewe a brand that captures “a cultural landscape”, and a hub for all the things he loves in craft, art, architecture and design. Think of it like an Instagram page that others can buy into.

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Most fashion insiders I interview talk about the pace of the industry – the constant online noise, the many collections a year – as something that kills creativity. But it seems you enjoy that pressure, and that it informs how you work at Loewe.

You cannot avoid it. Fundamentally, fashion is a reference to culture. So you can’t say “I want to slow things down”, because the world isn’t going to slow down. Things change, and you’ve got to work with it. And I don’t necessarily believe in the idea of luxury any more. It’s a very dated concept. It’s very “airport life”.

Talk to me about the idea of making Loewe a “cultured” brand. To me, it’s an idea spawned by internet culture, this idea of “curating” your life.

It is about curating. Whatever looks good, we’ll use it. I’m really into arts and crafts, so I’m going to take that, promote it and sell it to people, because I believe it is a medium that represents me. I live it. And I feel that Loewe needs that – I think it gives it an edge. I like the idea that you can go into a store and you can see a Rennie Mackintosh chair. You can touch it and sit on it. It’s not in a museum. I think we have to think of stores as not just shops. They are places to go and meet.

I think now, because fashion is everywhere, it feels as though it’s easy to buy stuff, but it’s not easy to be cool or have taste or style. Being cool is a luxury now, because it’s intangible. Do you agree?

I think it’s about not educating taste, but toying with it. The person I admire most is Karl Lagerfeld because, ultimately, he is able to articulate fashion in a way that conjures youth in all age demographics and celebrates women, but can toy with media. It’s very smart.

Lagerfeld? I see your work as very different.

I admire him for the sheer integrity that he’s never really faulted on. It’s one vision. It is a Karl Lagerfeld world. You can’t get any better. To do that amount of work and to keep it going in the same direction for that many years – I don’t think people realise how difficult that is.

Do you want to be working when you’re that old?

The way I see it is this: the minute I’m not excited by it any more, I will stop. No matter what age I am. Recently, I turned 30 and I thought, “If I’m not going to enjoy this, I’m not getting out of bed for it.” We’re doing ten, twelve, 13 collections a year. And I could do more. I feel like I have built the most incredible teams. And I feel like I’m addicted to the process of working.

Is it hard to maintain that passion when you’re working for a luxury, heritage brand, rather than your own label? The Loewe shopper might just be that “airport woman” you mentioned before, who just wants a nice bag.

But it’s fine to challenge them. I’ve just got to keep winning them, one by one. Each one that I get – that I can sell one of my bags to – great. It’s the only way to do it. I believe in it for as long as I [need to] believe in it. I just need half a million people to believe in it, and you’ve got a brand. Yes, [Loewe] is 168 years old, but it cannot become a museum. It needs energy put into it. I want to put it on the map. I want the company to grow. It might sound like a very odd thing coming from a designer, and even the people at LVMH probably find it a bit confusing, but I do think like that. It’s not arrogance – I just have to have a goal. I want the vision to be crystal clear, and I want another million people to be able to pronounce the word “Loewe”.

Want to read the full version of this interview? Check out the S/S 2015 issue of Bon, available in select newsagents.

Photography Johan Sandberg (LundLund), Styling Marcus Söder (LinkDetails), Model Matilda Lowther (Women Management NY), Casting Jenny Friedberg (Creative Chaos), Hair Gio Campora (The Wall Group), Make up Stephen Dimmick (Atelier Management), Photography assistant
Justin Meron, Styling assistants Malin Gustafsson and Maria Rocha, Production KF Production, Equipment Milk Studios LA.