A selection from Daniel Östmans renowned and internationally acclaimed interior designs.

Interview with Daniel Östman, Interior Designer

Daniel Östman, one of Swedens most prominent interior designers, internationally acclaimed and award-winning for his inspiring home interiors. Daniels Östmans work is characterized by quality, continuity and a preference for wood, folding walls, and lampshades. In the interview below, Daniel talks about his early appreciation for Jean-Michel Franks work and how you find courage to stay where you are and do the same thing over and over again.

What relationship do you have to vintage design and how do you use it in your work?
Furniture has a great importance to me; it was my entry to this profession. My education was actually in furniture design and furniture craft but I fell in love more often with a single piece of furniture rather than the whole interior. Today, it’s the opposite. I often try to mix vintage furniture into my decor, it´s better than when everything is brand new. But the biggest advantage of vintage design objects is that they are often of supreme quality compared to what we find in most furniture produced today, in the design as well as execution and to draw furniture is not easy. Craftsmanship skills in selection of material, design, construction and finishing have unfortunately been lost today since labour hours have become more expensive than gold, and profits have become more important than the product. I'm not wishing to go back in time, but we have to be honest and acknowledge that we have lost something on the way. Bodil Malmsten expressed it so well: "It was not better before, but this is worse" (She talked about the Mail).

Is there something that has influenced you and your view of form and interior design? How does it visualize in your interiors?
I remember that, shortly after finishing school, I got hold of a book about Jean-Michel Frank that changed my view of furniture, but mostly my view of interior design. From the traditionally grubby worship we have on furniture classics such as Malmsten, Jacobsen, Mogensen, Mathsson and the others. They pose or wave with pointers, strict sitting curves, optimized production or theoretical chromatics. Here was someone whom with impeccable precision, undressed and stripped elements of a room down to the bare essentials. And then rebuilt everything with impeccable taste, excellent craftsmanship and curiosity in choice of material and feeling. He had a sense for the composition of a room as a whole, without any parts disturbing. In Jean-Michel Frank's world it seemed like it was okay that it was only very striking and beautiful. For me that was an important piece of the puzzle. I wanted to be there. It's luxury for real, and something that I'm constantly looking for and trying to find in my work.

What trademarks do you have, and what materials do you favour?
I love wood, I think I am pretty colourful, I love folding screens, fitted carpets, arrangements and big gestures; and yes, I love lamps with a lampshade. But I also like things that chafe. To deliberately do something that is wrong can often be very right. I live by the motto “If it’s nice, it is nice, even if it's ugly”. Placing a folding screen that partially covers a window with amazing views might add something to both the view and the folding screen. What happens if you paint a dark corridor in an even darker colour, or put a big sofa in a small room? At home, for example, I have a grand piano in my library, which makes no other furniture fit in there, and I can not even play the piano. But it makes a great library table.

How do you successfully maintain such a rigorous and significant style in your work of creating highly personal and unique homes?
In the relationship with the customer, it is all about trust. I am creating their home, not mine. But their dreams and ideas pass through a filter that is me. That filter is the core of what I believe in, my approach and my values. It takes a long time to become good at what you do. In the rear-view mirror I would say at least 10 years. It's about finding the peace and the courage to stay where you are and do the same thing over and over again. In the past, I may have tried to renew myself more than needed, like an itch or restlessness. It's about gut feeling, and you can’t learn it in school or by anyone else. It develops by itself and is refined through time and through your mistakes.
Interior design can be many things. But for me, it is about creating a dream about who you are or what you want your home to be. It doesn’t have to be completely truthful; it's a dream, an idea. Then you follow that dream with a great self-esteem and gut feeling, exquisite materials and precision craft. Forget about trends and what others think, it's your dream, and if you do not like it then change it. It is just decor.

Daniel Östman's personal favorites from this spring’s Modern Art + Design auction: