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image courtesy of Design House Stockholm

Design House Stockholm's New Home
Written by Fashion Tales
Design House Stockholm has found the perfect location for its showroom, event space and head office at the very heart of Stockholm. At Götgatan 14, once the home for Record-Teatern, one of Stockholm’s oldest and most spacious cinemas, they have landed right by the reborn Slussen that links the Old Town with the vibrant creative Södermalm, the South isle of the Scandinavian design capital. They say that they will have their love for design on permanent display here, and all true Scandinavian design aficionados are invited to come along and share their passion.
Some sixty designers has seen their ideas been brought to life with the keen expertise of Design House Stockholm for some 28 years. The storefront’s generous window display will bring to life this ever-changing selection of design classics and novelties, an unending series of creative innovations that continues to imagine new possibilities in both contract and home settings. Do step inside to browse a floral installation by a local flower shop showcasing eco-designs such as Atelier 2’s indoor greenhouse. Or meet a minimalistic stage-set with Carina Seth Andersson’s low-key tableware for Nationalmuseum along with Lena Bergström’s wool and leather-rimmed rugs. Behold Alexander Lervik’s Luna hailed as the ultimate globe pendant, and Tatu Laakso's Olivia Chair that offers balance lightness, sturdiness, and comfort: slender in appearance yet comfortable to sit on. The interior will change with every exhibition and will also offer the possibility to meet with both famous designers as well as aspiring newcomers right here in the middle of Stockholm. Step down the old cinema’s well-trodden marble stairs to visit their creative workspaces where their unique publishing house of design continues to assemble the very best design talents. Participate in their discussions with designers, and go right into every detail in some of their most famous designs. Delve into their choice of materials, designs, and workmanship. Learn more about 15 producers around the world and their code of conduct. Challenge them and their designers on bespoke designs for architectural projects. And Partake in their quest for the best ergonomics and a truly sustainable slow-design that creates new archetypes for modern living. Their space will of course be as easily visited virtually through their soon to be reborn website.
Götgatan 14, in the very centre of Stockholm, is our new home after many years in different locations. And Södermalm is spot on as the very apex of their Stockholm based design. Right here Götgatsbacken rises in a steep slope almost up to Mosebacke where August Strindberg situated his radical satire The Red Room that brought the young novelist immediate fame, and where one enjoys a wide view of Stockholm cityscape distributed on a multitude of islets. Greta Garbo was born just a block away some decades later, as well as much earlier on the poet and musician Carl Michael Bellman. And do not forget the philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg, who had his summer house here in the 18th century, or Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, which is acted out here. Today quite a pedestrian Södermalm is full of fashion and vintage shops, cosy restaurants and beer gardens, while at the same time hosting a major part of Sweden’s architecture offices. Slussen is a new meeting spot in the city with a newly renovated City Museum, and with a new Nobel Museum about to be built. Another treat is Fotografiska showing photography from all around the world with an acclaimed restaurant. Södermalm is without doubt the very birthplace of a large part of a Swedish design sporting that unmistakable energy and easy-going attitude that characterise Design House Stockholm. Not surprisingly, a lot of their designers have their workshops in this former working class neighbourhood, and they surely aim to bring along and show their diversity, expertise and standing at Götgatan 14.
Link to website here!

image courtesy of Design House Stockholm

image courtesy of Design House Stockholm
- CREDITS
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photography Sandra Myhrberg
special thanks to CFHILL

Everything I Do, Every Step I Take, Has to Be Connected to Reality. A Conversation With Ylva Snöfrid.
Written by Astrid Birnbaum by Sandra Myhrberg
Known for her innovative blend of painting and performance, Ylva Snöfrid has captivated audiences worldwide with her unique exploration of existential themes. Her works are deeply introspective, often drawing on historical motifs to delve into the human experience. Her current exhibition, part of the Cosmos Vanitas series, is titled Jungfraujoch – High Altitude Paintings and is showcased at CFHILL in Stockholm. It takes us to Jungfraujoch, the second-highest viewing point in Europe, where Snöfrid’s artistry melds with the breathtaking elevation. The resulting celestial maps chart the intimate terrains of human existence. Central to Ylva’s work is the theme of ‘Vanitas’, reflecting on life's transience. Her paintings don't just depict this; they embody it, with each brushstroke and color choice resonating with the vibrancy of life amidst change.
Ylva, I would like to begin at the beginning. Looking back, what first inspired you to pursue a career in art?
I think I understood very early that I was an artist. My parents were also making art, even though they had ordinary jobs. They lived like artists. Even though my childhood was a struggle in many ways, they were very supportive of me making things. There are specific moments from my childhood when I realized I was an artist. One was when I was around six and I made some drawings of the queen from Elsa Beskow's Midsummer tale. The queen was helping the wild weeds and the flowers to get together to have a party. The tale is about a girl who falls asleep and sees the world of these plants. I tried to make a portrait of her, but I couldn't manage to draw her like Elsa Beskow. I was so disappointed with myself. It was such a struggle, and I could not stop. It was more important than many other things in my life at that moment.

Part of my life as an artist began during my childhood. I had a mirror twin who lived behind the mirrors, named Snöfrid, while I was Ylva. I wrote a poem about her as a child, and she gradually became more real, embodying my artwork. Once, I created her as an alcoholic beverage that I distilled on paintings for an installation, inviting people to 'drink' her. During interviews, she accompanied me and even answered questions. Consequently, some interviews featured Ylva, Snöfrid, and the interviewer. Unable to rid myself of her presence, I eventually created a life-sized doll with my proportions. When my family and I moved to Athens, I felt the need to take the next step in my artistic practice, necessitating a transmutation. This eight-hour ritual, performed through a mirror, was part of a show in Montpellier curated by Nicolas Bourriaud. I sat on paintings, inviting the audience to participate. In a small tent, I conducted the actual ritual, meeting Snöfrid in the mirror. I painted my vagina on small paintings and invited people to sit down, serving her—us—on these paintings.

Through this process, I abandoned my surname and became Ylva Snöfrid, uniting us as one. We are now physically connected all the time. I wear gold joints—gold jewelry around my waist, wrists, neck, and fingers—gradually covering my entire body. These joints symbolize our connection and frequently appear in my paintings. The use of gold has multiple reasons. In my childhood, within an anthroposophic environment, I received gold injections to strengthen my sense of self and create a boundary between the outer and inner worlds. I administered these injections myself into my belly.
Your current exhibition, 'Jungfraujoch – High Altitude Paintings,' shown at CFHILL, takes us to the heights of the Swiss Alps. What drew you to this remote location?
In my artistic practice, I have always worked with my own life and body as the foundation for my artwork. My approach is highly subjective and intuitive, building on my personal experiences. I have explored themes from my own childhood to motherhood, including significant events like giving birth. For instance, my father was a heroin addict during my childhood, and this profoundly influenced my paintings and overall artistic practice. For me, art must be as real and tangible as the ordinary reality I perceive.

In the five years before starting the project that culminated in this exhibition, I lived in Athens with my family. In Athens, I created a secluded artwork that was essentially a home, complete with furniture and paintings. We slept on paintings, we ate on paintings. This immersive experience prompted me to look beyond the confines of this project and explore the external world in a more existential manner, recognizing that I live on Earth, a planet that offers a broader, planetary experience. This exploration extended to the cosmos and my connection to the world on a larger scale. As part of this study, I created three monumental paintings, “Cosmos and Vanitas,” each 7x6 meters high, which are installed in Lund. This project involved visiting various places to explore the connection between mass and atmosphere. My husband, Rodrigo, discovered the Jungfraujoch research station, situated at an altitude of 3,500 meters. It is one of the highest research stations globally, attracting researchers from around the world. Rodrigo applied on my behalf for the opportunity to stay there. Therefore, I went up this high mountain.
How did the environment of Jungfraujoch affect your creative process?
I went there thinking I was going to do a study on the atmosphere and mass. But I didn't really think that it could affect me physically. When I arrived, a whole other process started within myself, inside my body. The first thing I felt was this very high pressure on my brain. Later, my eyesight improved dramatically because my eyeballs actually adjusted to the pressure. I felt very bad physically. I started to get high altitude sickness, and I was just in that feeling somehow. I got worse and worse, hour by hour. The nights were the worst. Visually, things were very strong. I am not sure if I was hallucinating, but I saw snakes coming out of the sky. I saw everything moving. Either it was because I had such a clear view and it was reality, or it was hallucinations. I became more and more affected. The second night I had a very hard time sleeping. I slept a little, but I woke up because of the pressure on my brain. The brain actually gets bigger. I understood I couldn't fall asleep too deeply. I felt I was losing it a little bit, but at the same time, I was drawing and painting up there.
I know you have a strong connection to rituals in your work and life. Can you tell me about that?
Every task or habit, everything I have to do, has to be a ritual. Life is sacred somehow. For me to make it necessary to live, I have to make everything important. As a ritual, it is necessary. It's the same with my artwork. I want it to be necessary—it cannot just be an illustration. It has to be needed for me; it's a personal thing. In my personal life, I have probably taken it to an extreme. I have developed it through the years. The family also agrees on this way of living—and I understand if they would not, but they do. Everyone sleeps on paintings, everyone eats on paintings, even the sofa is paintings. It's for the sake of the artwork. It's a bit like when Edvard Munch had this outdoor studio in the snow, and the snow was hardening the paintings. The soul of the painting might be there or not. For the paintings to be a part of daily life and rituals is toughening them up a little bit. We become connected somehow. In my case, this is my path. And I totally understand there are other ways. This is what makes it worth living for me: to make life necessary.
How did your rituals look up in Jungfraujoch?
The same, actually. I don't have many things, but they always conduct everything equally. I have these different objects with me and I do the same rituals. Maybe it's less or more hard to execute things. For instance, at the end of my time up there, I couldn't even really walk. I had to lean against the wall. I was in such bad shape, but it didn't stop me from my rituals.
I forgot to ask: How long were you actually up there?
In my drawing, you can see it starts from day 1 to 3. I came on a Friday and left on Sunday morning.
What do you hope viewers feel, think, or learn when they view your work?
I don't hope for anything. My question for myself is always: Does this artwork have the right to exist in the universe? I ask that question for every work I make. If I see that it adds something that is not a burden, I let it continue to live in the world. Otherwise, I burn it or destroy it. People can think or experience whatever they want. I am happy that people see them; that is enough for me.
- CREDITS
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jewellery Ole Lynggaard

caftan dress Sidenkompaniet

stockings Swedish Stockings

shoes Anny Nord

photography Peter Gehrke

fashion Jahwanna Berglund

Fragments: An Interview with Alicia Agneson

Written by Natalia Muntean by Filippa Finn

“People keep saying I was brave, but I think I was just precocious,” says Alicia Agneson. Her story is one of determination and courage. Growing up on a farm in Eskilstuna, Agneson was always passionate about the stage - and as a child, she remembers seeing her dance teachers more than her parents at one point. They were the ones who inspired her to seek a more international career. At just fifteen years old, she moved to London to pursue her acting dreams and chase after bigger stages. It was not an easy path for her, but she never gave up. Her breakthrough role came several years later when she played Freydis, a queen in the hit TV show Vikings. Since then, she has starred in various TV and film projects, such as Little Kingdom, Clark, and The Courier, venturing into different genres and subjects.

Beyond her acting career, Agneson is deeply committed to making a difference. She actively works with Hope for Justice, an organisation that fights human trafficking and assists victims of modern slavery. She also wears another hat as Breitling's Scandinavian Ambassador, bringing her passion for storytelling and dedication to the brand. Whether on screen or off, Agneson continues to inspire.

“I believe that I always keep something from all the characters I play, locked away somewhere,” she reflects on the characters she has portrayed and the projects she has been involved in. While her recent focus has been more on acting in front of the camera, Agneson thinks that she will go back to her first love - the stage. As she playfully says, “they’ll have to drag me off it!”

Natalia Muntean: What inspired you to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?
Alicia Agneson: I think it wasn't that much of a choice. I was just drawn towards that like there was nothing else. And I started doing ballet when I was three, and then I think my parents kind of tried to stop me from going into it so much. By the age of nine, I was probably taking as many dance, singing and stage lessons as I could. Then I started doing musical theatre, moved to London, got into TV and film and onwards.

NM: You moved to London when you were 15. How do you think this experience changed your path?
AA: At that point, I'd done a lot of shows already across Sweden, so I was already working, which was probably quite unusual for a lot of people my age. I think I would be in a completely different place if I wouldn't have done that. In this industry, it's very much learning by doing, at least that’s how I developed. And it can take a while, you have to work. So for me, it's the greatest gift I've ever been given, first of all, to get the allowance to move away so young, and start working so early. But there were, of course, challenges. I think, in my head, I was very driven and I didn't understand that I was that young. Moving to London was a big change for me, as I had to adjust to a different way of life. My parents drove me all the way to London, and I'll never forget taking the tube to Piccadilly Circus, coming up and seeing the lights, the West End and Shaftesbury Avenue. I remember standing there and feeling more than ever that I was in the right place!

NM: Was there a specific moment when you realised “Oh, I want to be an actress?”
AA: I always wanted to be in musical theatre, I had always loved it and that is what I worked towards. When I came to London, I got the opportunity to perform in a show called Cinderella where I played the lead role. I became very close to a fellow cast member who suggested that I should try my hand at TV and film. I thought it sounded like fun and decided to give it a go. I started doing more TV and film work, including commercials, with my agent at the time. However, I quickly realised that acting on the screen was very different from what I was used to. It was a more introverted style of acting, with a greater focus on emotions and drama. I found this fascinating and decided to pursue TV and film further. When I approached my musical theatre agent about my interest in TV and film, they said I had no experience or education in that area and they could not help me. It wasn’t that long ago, but back then we used to post our CVs, so I sent letters to every agent in London and one out of a hundred, probably, picked me up. I was still very young at that point, probably 18 when he started sending me to castings. After a couple of months, I signed Vikings.

NM: What was it like being part of such a popular show?
AA: We had an amazing time on the set of Vikings. It was an incredible journey for me, as I started with a very small role and had no prior experience in TV and film. I wasn't supposed to come back, but the writer felt that I had amazing chemistry with my screen partner and wanted to bring me back as a queen. It was a surprise, but I was excited to learn and grow. On my first day on set, I had to learn basic industry terms by doing. It was a challenging but fun experience from the first day until the last. I was very shocked when they called me and told me that they wanted to make me queen. I think many people often overlook the fact that I was still very young at the time, even if I had been working incredibly hard for many years in London, trying to get that one chance. I remember calling my father because Vikings was a show we loved watching together back then, and it felt surreal to tell him.

NM: Do you prepare differently for when you’re on stage and when you’re in front of the camera because you mentioned the difference in acting?
AA: Massively! Doing stage, first of all, you and your ensemble will do lots of rehearsals together. Usually, you would do rehearsals for months, up to six months. And on stage, you act throughout what you're doing, what you're saying, what you're singing, your dance moves. In comparison, acting in front of the camera is completely different. And often in the productions that I've been in, I don't meet my co-stars until the day I'm on set and that can be impactful, as you act differently in regards to who you act with. So it's a whole different process, especially doing the character work. In the recent Netflix series I was part of, Clark, I portrayed a woman who's still alive. So obviously, this required me to learn the appropriate accent, movement, and behaviour of people from that era. It's a whole different mindset. So that's sort of just me being isolated for weeks somewhere, preparing for the role. I always feel a responsibility towards the characters I portray, whether they are real or not. It's important to me to do justice to their story and struggles by portraying them in the most realistic way possible.

NM: How do you choose the characters you're going to portray?
AA: I wouldn't say that I have a definite preference when it comes to acting roles. It usually depends on my current mindset. I work very closely with my agent who helps me select interesting roles to audition for. I used to play a lot of queens and princesses, but now I'm exploring more complex and darker characters. It's really fun to play characters that are completely different from what you're used to. I'm starting my next feature film in just two months, which is a romantic comedy - a genre that I have never worked in before. That's the exciting part of my job - getting to explore new characters and genres.

NM: Is there something that you learnt about yourself with each role?
AA: For sure! I believe that subconsciously, you tend to pick up things about yourself, even if you try not to. You may make comparisons or memories may pop up or situations that you've been in before, and that's how you learn things about yourself that you didn't remember or didn't know. So I think with each character, you always learn something about yourself and keep something from all the characters you play, locked away somewhere. For instance, in Vikings, I had many scenes where I was pregnant and lost my child. I had to scream and cry to get over the loss, and that stayed with me for a while. I think your brain is aware that what you're doing is not real, but you are pushing your body to extreme emotional boundaries. I believe every project I've been a part of has had an impact on me. Different characters in different projects have also challenged me to find different aspects of myself.

NM: How do you prepare for such intense scenes? And then how do you unwind and separate yourself?
AA: I like to prepare myself by researching and learning about the historical context of the character I'm playing. For instance, if I were playing a woman from the Viking era, I would try to find out what it was like for a woman to give birth during that time. Did she have any support? Would she be at home, or would she be out and about up until the due date? This helps me get into character and understand the challenges my character might have faced. One of the most emotionally challenging roles I have played was in a feature film called Little Kingdom. I portrayed a woman who lived during the Second World War and lost many children due to stillbirth. It was tough emotionally, but I spoke to many elderly women, including my grandmother, to learn about what it was like to give birth during that period. It was devastating to hear their stories about the lack of medication and support during childbirth. However, this research helped me build my character, and I was able to bring her to life on the screen. During the filming of Little Kingdom, I cried nonstop for three months. It was emotionally draining, and it took me a long time to come out of that headspace. But I felt grateful to be a part of telling these untold stories of women and bringing these characters to life. It was a humbling experience, and it gave me a greater appreciation for the challenges that women faced during that period.

NM: Sounds like a privilege and a responsibility to bring those stories onto the screen! Do you have any tricks that help you snap out of character and become Alicia again?
AA: When I step into my dressing room, I take off my character’s clothes and do a little ritual. I hang her clothes and take off my wig and my makeup, so I have a completely clean slate. Then I put on my clothes, rings and other things that make me me. I try not to overthink and bring it home with me. But that’s easier said than done.

NM: Was there any moment in your career up until now when you felt you made it?
AA: I would say it was when I was part of the cast of Vikings, which was a really big show. I remember feeling like things had changed when someone recognised me on the street and said, “Oh my God, you're Alicia Agneson!” It was a new experience for me to have fans, extras, and crew wanting to take pictures with me on set. Another big change was when I started travelling abroad and being recognised in a different country. It was surreal to realise that people from a completely different part of the world knew who I was. This all happened quite early on in my career, so it was a big deal for me. It’s a strange experience, but also really cool.

NM: What do you do when you’re not acting?
AA: I've always been a farm girl at heart, and I quite enjoy being on my own with my family on my farm. That's where I'm happy and where I thrive. I try to be at the farm as much as possible. I love building, driving my tractor, planting and growing herbs and carrots. I love farming. So I try to do that as much as possible because I need the contrast between farm life and London.

NM: But if you weren't an actress what what do you think you would have become?
AA: I would be digging bones somewhere out in the desert and doing archaeology. I love history, treasures, and adventures, I love nature in general. And I like being alone. So I think I would be out there somewhere with a little brush, finding old birds and bones.

NM: What advice would you give to younger people trying to make a career in this area?
AA: I think first of all, I don't have a plan B. Once you have a plan B you've accepted that plan A won't work. And in this industry, you have to love it, you have to want to put in the work! You have to be mentally strong to handle the rejections. There are very few jobs in the world where you can face thousands of rejections, a normal thing in our industry, and still believe that you are meant for it. Loving it and wanting to work for it makes it all or nothing!

NM: Looking ahead, what do you hope for yourself? The actress and Alicia, the person?
AA: Acting-wise, I'm looking forward to a challenge, there's so much this year that I'm so excited to explore. Something to really sink my teeth into. And for myself… I'm very happy. I'm just very content right now, and I hope that I'll be able to stay that way for a little while.