13 Questions to Designer Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm

Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm is a Copenhagen-based designer. She is well known for her beautiful GEORG collection for Skagerak, among others. She established her studio in 2007 after graduating from The Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen with prior studies in Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin, Germany. She is also part of the duo Included Middle together with textile designer Margarethe Odgaard.

I believe Chris is one of the most promising young designers of Scandinavia at the moment. Her designs are simple and functional, and always innovative and truly beautiful.

I wanted to know more about this talented designer, and she kindly agreed to answer my questions.

 

1. Tell us more about yourself. Where/How did it all started?
A: Since I was a kid I liked drawing and building stuff. My grandfather started making outdoor furniture when he retired and he would always build some funny toy for me, when I spend my summers in Sweden with him and my grandmother. I was never told by my parents that what I did was silly or not important, on the contrary, so I was allowed to nurture my interest and do what I felt I did best. I guess that´s how it all started.

 

 

2. Best thing about being a designer:
I very much enjoy being in control of a design process and even though it gets very busy at times, I´m still the one deciding everything.

 

 

3. What inspires you?
Work inspires me. The more I get into a project, the more it opens up.

 

 

4. What is your design philosophy?
I work with neutrality and familiarity. The user should intuitively know what my objects are for and how they work. And that makes my work everything but intuitive. I like to read and write a lot in my process in order to find the best arguments for why I do what I do.

 

 

5. Any special projects at the moment?
I am getting ready for an exhibition in Copenhagen where I am making a small bench with a cup and jug. It is the Carpenters Autumn Exhibition (Snedkernes Eftterårsudstilling) which is a yearly furniture show in Denmark.

 

 

6. You, in three words:
Slow worker, late sleeper, chocolate lover

 

 

7. What advice would you tell your younger self if you could?
Listen to others, but remember to figure out what you think yourself before acting on advice.

 

 

8. Dream subject/assignment/collaboration?
The dream projects are the ones where I have loads of time and good people around me. Luckily I have had a few of them already.

 

 

9. What can’t you live without?
Apart from all the important stuff, chocolate seems to take up a lot of my thoughts. And diet.

 

 

10. If you could invite somebody for dinner, famous, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I would like to invite someone from the future. Hopefully telling me that everything is ok, people like each other no matter what, and maybe give me the numbers for a winning lottery ticket.

 

 

11. Best Scandinavian city and why:
Copenhagen. It is a pretty good combination between beautiful Stockholm and messy and vibrant Berlin. And it´s where my family is, so that kind of settles it.

 

 

12. Something on your bucket list:
Japan. I have spend five weeks in total there this last year and it only makes me want to see more and get to know even more people there.

 

13. What is your all-time favourite design piece(s)?
I like watches. They are functional and decorative at the same time. I would love a classic Ole Mathiesen watch with a tanned leather band.
Sori Yanagi´s Butterfly stool is also a favourite and has been since I was very young.

 

 

See more of Chris’s beautiful work here.

For more interviews with talented designers, photographers, stylists and entrepreneurs from Scandinavia and beyond, visit our “Inspiring People” section.

 

Photos: All from Chris’ portfolio, portait by Andreas Omvik

 

---