Stina Lönnkvist
So who does live here?
– Stina Lönnkvist, I’m 29 years old and live with my boyfriend Albin. I’m a co-founder and marketing director at Mantle, which I started with Josefin Landgård. Mantle is a wellness and beauty brand dedicated to CBD. We’re the first one in Scandinavia, which is fun. CBD is an active, natural ingredient from the cannabis plant – not the part that is known to make you high, but the one that has balancing properties. What’s so great is that our skin care products are incredibly popular and that we have broken through the noise in this competitive industry.
Where are we?
– We’re in my living room on Hornsgatan in Stockholm. I love this apartment, high up and still close to the city life. The house is from the 1880’s and at that time the apartments at the top were a little simpler, that’s where the servants lived. Everything is crooked here, which became a bit of a challenge when we assembled the Portal shelf!
I think it’s fun to think about history, what has happened here before. This autumn I’ll move to London, in this job things happen quickly. But I’m not that sentimental, we moved 15 times when I was growing up.
Your Portal shelf must be record long, how did that happen?
– We have a lot of books and the living room is quite narrow so I tried to figure out how it would look nice. In the end, I took help from the gang at Esteriör here in Stockholm; ”I have a lot of ideas, I know what I want – or above all how I do not want it – can you help me?”. They came back with a proposal that was 100 percent spot on. A long, low bookshelf covering the living room wall, like a clear and confident gesture.
I started looking for shelves but couldn’t find one. At one point I even went to the hardware store looking to build one myself, but I became so overwhelmed. Finally, I got my eyes on TÔNN via friends who have the Portal shelf and when I saw that it was founded by a Swedish woman it felt perfect! Josefine and I had a coffee in her showroom, which is literally a stone’s throw away from my apartment, and she was lovely.
Another thing is that the off-white color fits perfectly with my walls, which are painted in Antique white from Klint, another new Swedish business.
What do you have in your shelf?
– Mostly books. Both me and my boyfriend are big readers. And it’s really a crazy mix, I don’t think you could guess who lives here from the titles. And then there’s a collection of personal stuff. The jar by Helle Mardahl, the lamp with dots by a girl I happened to find via Marketplace, the poster from Wall of Art by Lisa Wirenfeldt, who is the marketing director at Steamery. The big yellow pot on the floor was made by Saskia Cort.
Describe your interior design style?
– I find it difficult to talk about my style. I buy things I like, no theme, but a mix. I like happy things and a lot of color, a spontaneous and welcoming feeling. If I have guests over, I want them to throw themselves on the sofa and not be afraid to put their glass on the coffee table.
I also think you should follow your craziest ideas. Two of the best things I’ve done is to paint the bathroom ceiling red and to put wallpaper in hallway ceiling, one I designed with Perswall. I also find old kitchens charming, with chafed doors and open shelves. There is such a rush to replace and renovate today.
Best styling tips?
– I decorate with books in the living room and wine in the kitchen, things I use in my everyday life. We had the books on the floor until a few months ago. Books are good in that way, if you had your ski equipment lying around it would look a bit messy. So use your prettiest stuff!
I also don’t think you should be afraid to make a long shelf and use the whole room, it just makes it feel bigger and better. It’s really smart to put in these cabinets, for everything that belongs to the famous rubbish or odd box. That’s probably the only thing I would like to change – one more cabinet. And that’s easily fixed, which is so good. I like that Josefine keeps it simple.
