Seasonal simplicity

This cool Copenhagen apartment proves that less is more when capturing the spirit of Christmas

No one does winter living quite like the Danes. Their love of cosiness is such that they have a dedicated word for the warm sense of wellbeing it creates: hygge (pronounced ‘hue-gah’). And, at Christmas time, this feeling is evoked in even the most minimalist of abodes, such as the Copenhagen apartment of Niels Strøyer Christophersen, co-founder of Danish furniture brand Frama.

Located on the ground floor of a five- storey, early 20th-century apartment block in the city’s Østerbro district, Niels’s home was a watch store before he purchased it and began his renovation project. ‘I moved in during 2012, when I was developing my first furniture collection,’ says Niels. ‘It was a hectic period in my life – all of my energy was devoted to the collection and restoring the house.’

‘My initial plan was to paint the walls white, as we do in Denmark,’ he says. ‘But when I stripped the wallpaper away, I liked the look of the bare plaster walls so kept them as I found them.’ Elsewhere, colour pervades the space: Niels applied a vibrant green pigment to the plaster in his dining room and painted his living room ‘St. Pauls Blue’ – a strong statement shade that was developed by Frama in collaboration with Norwegian paint brand Jotun.

At the beginning of December, in time for the first Sunday of Advent, Niels prepares simple Christmas decorations that reflect the minimalist, relaxed style of his home. Pine sprigs, ivy, fir cones and star-shaped decorations made from silver birch bark are scattered across the dining table, while an arrangement of foliage and branches, gathered in a metal container, serves as a tree. ‘You could call my aesthetic sparse,’ he says. ‘I like to use natural materials and simple shapes. I don’t have a box of Christmas decorations that I open each year. I craft new ones every time.’

The result is restrained yet wild: ‘It’s about letting nature speak for itself and not adding too many fussy layers,’ says Niels. For him, the essentials of Christmas are crisp tablelinen, the smell of fresh pine in the air and, as darkness falls, the soft glow of flickering candlelight. framacph.com

'My initial plan was to paint the walls white, as we do in Denmark. But when I stripped the wallpaper away I liked the bare plaster walls'