Bedwear brand Magniberg is celebrating artist couple Carl and Karin Larsson in a new project with architectural photographer Mikael Olsson.
The Larssons created the ultimate artist residence at their home in Sundborn, Sweden, in the 1880s, converting their classic timber cottage into a space rich in colour and textiles. Their home life with their eight children and their work – both Carl’s paintings and Karin’s rich interior design – have long inspired Magniberg founders Bengt Thornefors and Nina Norgren. Now, Thornefors and Norgren, together with Olsson, have taken a selection of the brand’s blanket, furniture and bedding to the Larssons’ house, recreating the original vibrancy.
‘We find a lot of inspiration from Carl and Karin Larsson, the latter often referred to as an interior decorator ahead of her time,’ says Thornefors. ‘The well-known publication A Home was released in 1889 and includes beautifully documented aquarelles of their home in the village Sundborn in Dalarna, Sweden. If you study these images you can spot a resemblance with the Magniberg aesthetic. They created a home where their children were allowed to take space, where colours and styles were mixed. There is a certain energy we are fascinated by. In my own childhood, my mother would instinctively make up our beds in odd colours and patterns. Besides being a childhood memory, it has turned into a design direction.’
For Norgren, it was the connection the couple cultivated with their children that fascinates. ‘What I love about the Larssons is how they shook off the formality and stuffiness of the time, in their home and in their family life. They were relaxed about raising children, they let the kids take up space, didn’t worry about things getting broken. They let the children run around, play, explore. I like that as a philosophy for a home. That feeling is what we try to achieve both in our home and with Magniberg. Magniberg is about exploring and we are on a journey.’
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