00:05
Kristina Haslund
The painting I've chosen is by Harald Giersing, Landevej ved Fåborg on Funen. It's from 1920.

00:15
Kristina Haslund
I love this painting. A beautiful countryside road, it speaks to me in a textual form because I love oil on canvas and I think it's painted with a palette knife.

00:30
Kristina Haslund
The road itself made me think about driving in Denmark, obviously, but also the English countryside. And I drive these roads in LA. It makes me feel quite free. And I love the colors, the greens.

00:46
Kristina Haslund
This impressionist feel — he went to Paris in his early '20s and he met Manet and Gauguin and he became very inspired by them.

00:56
Kristina Haslund
I always think, what will look great in a beautiful room, probably with white walls, because that's very Danish. A strong abstract type of artwork image. And I really loved this.

01:16
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
My name is Tina Jøhnk Christensen, and I'm the host of Danish Originals, a podcast series created in partnership with the American Friends of the National Gallery of Denmark and the National Gallery of Denmark. Our goal is to celebrate Danish creatives who have made a significant mark in the US.

01:34
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Today, our guest is Kristina Haslund, a British-Danish design expert. Welcome, Kristina.

01:41
Kristina Haslund
Hi, Tina. Thanks for having me.

01:42
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
No, thank you for having us in your house. First of all, I present you as a design expert, but that is probably not right. Which title would you give yourself?

01:54
Kristina Haslund
I would say I am an interior designer and stylist specializing in Danish design. That's my passion and that's my area.

02:06
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Thank you for clarifying that. As I mentioned, we are at your home in Los Angeles. Where in LA are we? I sound as if I got here with blindfolds on, but it's for the listeners that I'm asking the question.

02:20
Kristina Haslund
So we are in the hills on the west of LA in Bel-Air, which is, I find, a very central place, in a way, in Los Angeles, because you have 20 minutes from the ocean — well, this is all without traffic — it's also around that time to the east to West Hollywood. So it's a very central part of Los Angeles, but on the west side.

02:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You say "Loss Anne-jell-eez" like the British do. You don't say "Los Angel-ess."

02:47
Kristina Haslund
Yeah. "Los Angel-ess." Oh, yeah. "Loss Anne-jell-eez." I sound British. Yeah.

02:51
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Yes, you do! Your house shows signs of the business you are in. What is important for you in terms of your own home environment?

03:01
Kristina Haslund
The most important thing when you come home is to obviously feel you can fully relax, be in the comfort of your family or your partner or alone. And so the way that I design the house is made to feel very calm. I think it's very important that you can open the door and feel, oh, okay, I'm home and I'm calm. So there's a sense of coziness, hyggeligt, which is always a feeling I want to create when I'm in the home.

03:36
Kristina Haslund
The furniture around the home — I always try to create pockets in areas where you can sit. It may sound a little crazy, but even if you are in a small apartment, you want to be able to find a corner where you can sit and maybe that's where you, oh, I just sit here and maybe write a quick email or read your book, or you have a bar stool by the kitchen.

04:02
Kristina Haslund
The seating element of stopping throughout a home in an interior goes back to my love of chairs. A very Danish thing, a Danish part of me. So the home should feel very inviting and warm, but also functional.

04:18
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How would you describe the house and how did you pick the house? And when you saw the house the first time, how did you envision what you were going to do with it? Because I imagine you enter a house and you go, oh, I could do this and that.

04:32
Kristina Haslund
Very much. Actually, what we love about this house from a design perspective, but also, my husband and I loved, is it's a mid-century home. It was built in 1964. And that is not very old for the Europeans, but here in California that's classed as very much that mid-century period. And I love that about LA and California, the mid-century aspect to architecture here. It's a big part of what I love.

05:04
Kristina Haslund
So it's mid-century bones, single story. One aspect to the far west has a double story, which is where we are now. That was one thing that I loved, having that single layout, just to be able to walk on one story. I love that, living in an open space, everything's extremely open in the house. There's not a lot of doors downstairs as you know when you came in the front door.

05:27
Kristina Haslund
There's a very indoor-outdoor aspect to the home that we love. I knew when I saw it that you could create this simplicity around the type of flooring. I changed out some of the stone and put wood flooring in to soften it. But then, we have quite high ceilings here, so it has a lot of light. So for me, if a space has the optimum light, then you're done, you're in good hands. So we saw that, and then the open plan element, being able to make spaces within a large space.

05:59
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You mentioned the outdoor area. There's a pool. It's LA.

06:03
Kristina Haslund
I know. I was thinking about the art side of this conversation and David Hockney, he used to talk about the pools and flying over LA and —

06:11
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And paint them.

06:13
Kristina Haslund
Exactly. And paint them. We have a swimming pool, which is amazing, and you pinch yourself when you move from Central London to a home with a swimming pool. So that's very nice. And the garden, it has amazing vegetation. There's a lot of tropical plants and cacti, the bloom. So that's very special. It's actually more of the cacti and some of the California oak trees around rather than lots of palm trees, which other places have, of course.

06:44
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You often have events at your house because it works as a great showroom too. What kind of events do you do here?

06:52
Kristina Haslund
We've had some great events here and I know you've been to some of them.

06:56
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And they're lovely.

06:57
Kristina Haslund
So nice. The idea began, actually, because of this landscape of being in a home that is indoor-outdoor and you can rely on the weather here in LA. Events at home is not something I did before we moved here. But I wanted to take advantage of the space, realizing that in LA that is something people do here quite a lot.

07:16
Kristina Haslund
My family in Denmark and England were, oh, okay, so you are gonna have an event and have people over, a lot of people you don't know, that's quite strange. I feel it's something people do here. The first time felt a little strange, but then you realize everybody's just having a good time.

07:33
Kristina Haslund
So it began with showing an artist that I represent, 'coz I only really work with furniture designs and brands. She is called Nina and we wanted to show some of her work. She's Norwegian, based in Northern California. So I curated a space in the house close to the outside that we could show pieces of art. And it began with that really. That was the first one.

08:00
Kristina Haslund
They're fairly curated and small, I would say. The biggest event that we had was last October, which was a Danish furniture company called Audo Copenhagen, and Louis Poulsen, the Danish lighting brand. And that was architects, designers coming to be introduced to the collection. So it's a very creative group of people that come. It's been really nice to do that.

08:26
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's exciting. And we also had a Danish Originals event here.

08:29
Kristina Haslund
The Danish Originals event was —

08:31
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
A lot of fun.

08:32
Kristina Haslund
That was great. That was a year ago. So June 1st, I remember, last year. And that was also a collaboration of design and obviously the gallery and the podcast. And just to have so many Danes here! I didn't realize there were so many.

08:50
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
We had Ole Henriksen, Henrik Fisker, and Mads Refslund speak about them being Danish American and their experiences, which was a lot of fun. Let's turn to why you are part of Danish Originals for a second. Your accent is British. You say "Loss Anne-jell-eez."

09:08
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Your mother was Danish. Unfortunately, she passed away, but I am sure that she's still very much alive in your memory. Tell us about your Danish mother, where she was from and how did she end up in the UK?

09:23
Kristina Haslund
Min mor, her name was Kirsten Haslund. She grew up in Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, and she met my father, British. I have a brother and we moved to London and grew up there, really, all educated, spent all our life there. And she had a very strong relationship with her two sisters and her parents. And my father had a smaller family. I have a half-sister and half-brother, but no one else. So our summers were going back to Copenhagen, and they were just magical.

09:56
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How did she end up in the UK?

09:58
Kristina Haslund
So she married my dad.

10:00
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How did she meet him?

10:02
Kristina Haslund
So she met my dad. Actually, he was dating her friend. She was working for Swiss Air at the time.

10:10
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
In the UK?

10:11
Kristina Haslund
In Denmark. In Denmark. He would've been in Copenhagen with this date, and then they met and I think they very quickly decided to be together. And she would move to London. That's the story. So she moved there and she couldn't really speak English much at the time. Now it's so normal to be bilingual and raise your kids in Danish. It's one of the reasons why I don't speak fluent Danish. I wasn't raised in Danish. But now I'm getting better.

10:40
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Where in London did you grow up and what was your upbringing like? Were you brought up in a particularly Danish way?

10:48
Kristina Haslund
I think she definitely kept the traditions going, for sure, around Christmas times and birthdays and things that felt aligned with Danish tradition. She definitely did. We had a very nice upbringing. We lived in a nice house in southwest London.

11:09
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Where in southwest London?

11:11
Kristina Haslund
Wimbledon. So really close to Wimbledon Tennis, actually. It's quite suburban, I would say. And I went to school in Putney, so that was close. We had a good upbringing. My parents ended up splitting up, so there were some interesting moments as well. But in terms of the younger childhood, it was very happy. We had kids playing in the street and it was a nice part to grow up in.

11:39
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Did your mother at all speak Danish at home? Did you learn any part of the language? You said that you're picking it up now.

11:46
Kristina Haslund
So, it would be like, she'd tell us off to be quiet by saying så!, and we'd say tak for mad, and velbekomme, this kind of thing. And she was always on the phone to her mom, my mormor, and I could hear her speaking Danish. And I think it was hard because my father didn't speak it.

12:04
Kristina Haslund
Now I feel parents are maybe, oh, I'm gonna speak in that, and you speak in that. And I think she was trying to adjust to, I've got babies. And when we'd go to Copenhagen, I would hear it. I feel I've always understood it pretty well. And you have phrases that you can say. But she was more talking to her family in Danish. But then as I got older and I would go to Denmark myself, I would often try to practice with my cousins and my family when we were there.

12:33
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
I know you've traveled a lot around Denmark, especially Copenhagen and Northern Zealand. What are your childhood memories from Denmark? What do you remember if you envision it and picture it?

12:47
Kristina Haslund
My grandparents' home was in Frederiksberg, and it's beautiful parks near there.

12:52
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's in the middle of Copenhagen, but a little community of its own.

12:56
Kristina Haslund
The road was called Ålstrupvej, and it was right by the train line. So my mom used to actually tell the story of when, in the second World War, she remembers when it ended and it was on the radio and her father, he cheered and then the Germans were being walked out of the city along this train line. So that was interesting. But as far as our summers, very warm, cozy —

13:20
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Warm weather?

13:21
Kristina Haslund
Actually, yes. Really hot summers. Strangely, I remember feeling like they were hot summers at the time. I have three cousins, similar age, and then my brother and I, and it felt like a big family there, bigger than in London where we were living.

13:38
Kristina Haslund
And they had a lovely house. And my mormor would make really nice food when we arrived. And Danish sweets and the little chocolate frogs with the mint cream. And you would get those, all the tortoises, when you arrive, and licorice. And it was just a lovely feeling when you arrived at your grandparents' home.

13:58
Kristina Haslund
And then my godparents had a summer house near Gilleleje, which is the fishing village. And we would go and spend maybe a couple of nights up there. And then as I was older and my kids were born, I would go and stay there with my kids as well. And that was a really little tiny mid-century, beautiful wood summer house.

14:17
Kristina Haslund
It was like a museum inside with interior accessories that I think now would be in a museum, that sort of '50s, '60s, and just very outdoors, nature. And we would go on the sea quite a lot. My mom's cousin had a small boat and we would go out on that and he was always trying to get to Sweden, but we never quite made it. So it was very cozy and nice.

14:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Sounds lovely. What did you dream of becoming as a child? Were you creative?

14:50
Kristina Haslund
I worked hard at school — I wonder what my parents would say about that? — but I think I worked hard at school. I wanted to do well, but I was definitely creative. I was more than really studious and sort of reading books. I wanted to be able to do well in what I worked on.

15:05
Kristina Haslund
I actually studied the history of art at school and was so enamored with it at the time. So I was, oh, maybe I'll study at university, but I never did. And I just wanted to get out and be creative and work.

15:20
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Did you wear a school uniform?

15:23
Kristina Haslund
Yes. Yes. It was purple and gray. It was horrible.

15:26
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
I always wonder about that.

15:28
Kristina Haslund
I know. It's so strange, isn't it?

15:31
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's very interesting from a Danish point of view to see you British kids running around —

15:36
Kristina Haslund
In uniform.

15:37
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Yes.

15:37
Kristina Haslund
When we moved to LA it was the same for my kids. They thought it was fantastic they didn't have to wear a uniform. My son had a little tie in London.

15:45
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You graduated from the University of the Arts London. How did you decide that this would be your career path?

15:53
Kristina Haslund
So when I left school, I fell into a job, which was in a small advertising agency. So I just applied, and I worked there and had a really fun time. It was in Chelsea Harbour and I lived with a friend in a flat and we just had a good time. We were 19 years old.

16:09
Kristina Haslund
And then from there I went into more the music industry. I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to be in a creative industry, and a job came up in a music publishing company. So I worked as an assistant in that and then really worked my way up, for probably ten years in that industry.

16:30
Kristina Haslund
And then all the while going back to Denmark, enjoying Danish design, living and breathing it somewhat. I had continued working more in the music industry with my son. When I had my second child, I decided to pivot fully and study.

16:51
Kristina Haslund
I wanted to really understand spatial design and be able to draw a room or draw an elevation and learn that. And I found it really hard at first, but I got the hang of it. And so I decided to pivot and do that and learn it, because I knew that I wanted to focus on Danish design, and learn about how I could place that within a space as well.

17:15
Kristina Haslund
So that's where that came from. I didn't know necessarily that I was going to leave and do it as a job. I just wanted to learn the craft of interior design. So —

17:28
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Passion.

17:29
Kristina Haslund
Totally.

17:31
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You created Studio Haslund in 2012, but you had several jobs before this. You had one at a music company where you would travel to Copenhagen with artists, for instance. Tell us about all these adventures and what led to Studio Haslund.

17:49
Kristina Haslund
So yes, I started my work advertising their music. And one of the reasons I would go to Copenhagen is for the breakfast show. I don't know if it's still running there, but it used to be at the main station, the morning show. And there was a studio when you came in. So I would bring artists to European countries and do promotion.

18:09
Kristina Haslund
And it sounds very glamorous, by the way. It's not always, but it was a lot of fun. So that was just an addition, if I got to go to Copenhagen, I could go and visit my family as well. And my mom's passion for Danish design, growing up around that, I always had that in my side view.

18:31
Kristina Haslund
When I would visit, I would maybe buy anything from a Normann Copenhagen egg whisk or something, but just be, this is so cool, the way it's designed, it's so different. Now there's so much Danish design, and design showrooms all around, particularly in London, for example, even in the last ten years, so many stores have opened up, but at the time, it wasn't like that. So I was always discovering really interesting accessories.

19:00
Kristina Haslund
And also seeing this mid-century furniture and lighting and design and spaces that was so just inspirational. So I always had that on my radar. And then when I had my second child, I realized that I wanted to turn this into my career, and be able to juggle kids, work. It was then that I decided to really study interior design. And then when I graduated, I wanted to call it Studio Haslund, Haslund being my mom's maiden name, and created that as my business.

19:43
Kristina Haslund
And I think it's a really strong name and it's a very Danish name. People, especially when you live in America and they tap into that, oh, where are you from? And that's really the story of how it came about, studying first and then really drawing on some of the contacts I'd made through the years and then creating a little studio.

20:04
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You have several names. Tell us your full name.

20:07
Kristina Haslund
Oh, right. I do have a lot of names. It's a bit of a running joke and the email addresses as well. I'm Kristina Karen Sabine, and then Haslund. So I use Kristina Haslund for work and then my father's name was Palmer. So you'd take two names, Haslund and then Palmer, and then my married name is Moot.

20:30
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Fantastic. That's a collection right there. Talk a little bit more about the path that led you to Los Angeles and you have opened an American version of Studio Haslund. What made you move across the pond to do this too?

20:45
Kristina Haslund
About moving across the pond? So actually that was something to do primarily with my husband's work. He was asked to run the company here. We moved here in 2019, and it was a conscious decision to try something completely crazy in some ways, but it was an opportunity. And at the time our kids were 11 and 15, so our son was a little older to move, but he was very open to the idea of outdoor life in California. It's not so bad —

21:21
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It doesn't —

21:21
Kristina Haslund
There's pros and cons! And I knew that this was a place that appreciated design going back to some of the architects and designers from the movement here — Frank Lloyd Wright, and you've got the Eames House. And I knew there was a respect for especially mid-century design, more than probably New York, in a way.

21:48
Kristina Haslund
I love New York, but in terms of almost the landscape and design and mid-century, this is more akin to that. So I was excited actually very much about bringing my business here and bringing Danish design and more awareness of it to LA and to California. It felt really right.

22:09
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What were the challenges?

22:11
Kristina Haslund
I think that when other people have relocated, and I know you've had a lot of people on the podcast that have relocated and have moved back, and I've loved listening to their answers actually. When I moved here, the main concern was obviously that our kids were okay and that they settled. And I knew that's gonna take two, three months maybe, and then I'll get into the business.

22:37
Kristina Haslund
And I was very connected still to Icons of Denmark, which is a company that I worked with in London a lot on more contract hospitality design. So the idea was, I would maybe collaborate with them on some things and we just had a loose plan. I was like, give myself three to six months.

22:57
Kristina Haslund
And then the main challenge was COVID, because that came at the end of February 2020. I was halfway through my visa application. So those presented real challenges. Everybody went through so many challenges, so I can't really single one out specifically, but that it delayed a lot for me.

23:16
Kristina Haslund
I think actually when I look at living in LA and starting a business here, I think it's a great place actually, because everybody's very open here to supporting, connecting. As long as you're out there and you're networking, I think that things come back to you very much. And that's been a real positive about being here.

23:41
Kristina Haslund
The challenge just comes from being in lots of different places and I'm good at throwing the net wide. A lot of things have come back. But you have to push yourself when it's your own business. You have to keep putting yourself out there. But a lot of good karma has come back.

23:57
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you recall the day that you landed at LAX with your suitcases and LA life was in front of you? Do you remember what the feeling was like when you stood there? Huge airport, craziness, chaos.

24:12
Kristina Haslund
It's crazy, LAX, it's always crazy, even at two in the morning. I remember being — actually traveling just with Alana, our daughter. Guy, my husband, and Theo, had already arrived two days before. And then the dog in between. LAX is definitely very busy, very overwhelming. It was hot. The palm trees. And then getting on the freeway. It's just crazy freeways.

24:39
Kristina Haslund
It's traffic, but there's also this feeling of this openness and expanse. And something I always say to people back in England and Denmark, oh, the freeways really do make you feel free, even though there's a lot of them and you can be in traffic. I always feel a sense of, I don't know —

24:56
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
They also make you crazy because there's so many cars.

25:00
Kristina Haslund
But yeah, I remember feeling excited, nervous, thinking it's not too far. I always used to say I can get back overnight if I need to, for any reason. And trying to realize that even though we are a very long way away, being on the west coast from Europe, but excited, and what an opportunity ultimately to be able to do this, is very lucky, I think.

25:28
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
COVID reminded us how far it was, because at some point there were no flights. So I usually say it's only ten hours' flight away, but if there are no flights going…

25:39
Kristina Haslund
Where we live, we're very close to Canyon hikes and we like to hike our dogs a lot. And I remember standing on the top of these mountains, and there's just no flights in there. I did actually take a flight back to London. I had to get back for something. And it took a lot of administration to get the approval to go, but I do remember being on a plane and it being literally empty and it was bizarre. They just apparently took a lot of cargo and used the passenger planes for some other things.

26:11
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It was an interesting time. Which companies do you as Studio Haslund represent and would you say that there is an appetite for their products here in the US?

26:25
Kristina Haslund
So I'm particularly close to two companies in America that are called Carl Hansen, who I think most people here will know, and Audo Copenhagen. And I worked a lot with Carl Hansen when I was in London.

26:42
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
I'm sitting on their chair.

26:43
Kristina Haslund
You're sitting on their chair, absolutely, that's the CH24, the Wishbone. And Audo Copenhagen, another company that have an umbrella of more recent contemporary and also the rights to original chairs and other pieces, which is also in this room. So they're the main two because they have a good presence in America, and you have to be conscious of shipping here and warehousing.

27:10
Kristina Haslund
So Carl Hansen is a very heritage brand, and they're just amazing. They're very inspiring for me to work with. And similarly, Audo Copenhagen. When I lived in London, I worked with a lot of brands because I was so close to Copenhagen. It was a very different structure, so you have to be conscious of that, shipping, lead times, that kind of thing before placing furniture into projects.

27:35
Kristina Haslund
Those two. And then there's another company called New Works, that I also have through Studio Haslund here. I'm always looking out for new designers and emerging design ideas and love going back to Copenhagen to keep a pulse, touch point, on that. There's always so much happening there that's not reached this side of the world yet.

28:00
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And I'm looking at you, and just above you is a Louis Poulsen lamp too.

28:06
Kristina Haslund
The PH 5.

28:08
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
The PH 5. I thought I wouldn't mention that to the listeners. What do Angelenos know about Danish design in general? Is it you are reminding them of the brands, do they know them already, or do you have to introduce them?

28:21
Kristina Haslund
I think it depends who you talk to, really. I suppose, the key players, Carl Hansen, Fritz Hansen, Louis Poulsen — these are brands that are very known in America. There are showrooms and people know of them. But you'll still meet people that need to understand much more layers to what that is. So I feel it's a mix.

28:45
Kristina Haslund
I think the principles behind Danish design and what that actually means, I think people are very interested in. And I feel the history behind Danish modern and post-war, the movement behind furniture and what happened, and the connection to America, people don't know too much about that. So I feel it's really interesting to be able to share stories and there's so much storytelling behind Danish design.

29:13
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What is it that you personally like about Danish design?

29:17
Kristina Haslund
Gosh, that's quite a hard question, because there's so much I love about Danish design. But I think it's the beauty, first and foremost, the beauty behind a form. I think there's a lot of words to connect to Danish design — organic curves and craftsmanship and functionality.

29:43
Kristina Haslund
When I was studying interior design, I remember using Arne Jacobsen as one of my examples. I was doing a whole concept about the back of a chair and how, actually, it should look as good as the front. It's the beauty, but merged with this craftsmanship and this intelligence behind what they create. I just find it amazing.

30:04
Kristina Haslund
And there's an airiness to it, there's a lightness to how it looks and feels, which I find very calming. So, I think that there's so much history behind how Danish furniture has been produced. And I think over the years, it's never really gone away, people's love of Danish design, but I also think it's more prevalent today than ever.

30:36
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
A tagline on your website says, Scandinavian style meets California living. What does this actually mean? And how well do these two elements go together?

30:50
Kristina Haslund
Oh my gosh. Scandinavian style, California living, it came from, I suppose, me wanting to blend these two ideas, these concepts. The California lifestyle is very outdoor living. That's the big ticket, right? That you can rely for the most part on the weather. And bringing this sense of form and function in Danish design to the outside. I really like that idea, the flow.

31:28
Kristina Haslund
I've done that in our own house. Even you can use interior furniture outside, which is very lucky. I think that because a lot of design actually here in LA and California is, to your point, your question before, do people know about it, and teaching people about it. I think there is so much that I want to share with and bring to people's attention, like the Hans Wegner chair that you're on now, most people know of.

31:57
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's in many tv shows.

31:58
Kristina Haslund
It's in many tv shows. So I think it's about expanding people's knowledge. Scandinavian style is very predominantly a lot of light oaks and beautiful forms and structures that can sit in this very open light landscape. I see that, the glass structures and it just works really well together that you could have that backdrop and then a beautiful piece of furniture or a chair in that space.

32:32
Kristina Haslund
The homes in Denmark, apartments have these incredible pieces of furniture, and they also stand out, but sometimes, it's a lot of months are very cold or it gets darker early, so it's a very different environment to have your furniture. But here it's Californian living and being able to blend the two.

32:53
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
The houses are also bigger in Los Angeles and California. There are of course big houses in Denmark in general.

33:00
Kristina Haslund
I think it's less of the apartment living, isn't it? I have friends that live in apartments, but yeah.

33:07
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
There are different spaces.

33:08
Kristina Haslund
Different. Very much so.

33:10
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You just went to Palm Springs. What was your job there outside of Los Angeles?

33:15
Kristina Haslund
I just did a fantastic event in Palm Springs. I have a bit of a love affair with Palm Springs.

33:20
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Desert outside of LA, two hours away from LA.

33:23
Kristina Haslund
Ever since we first got here, I think it was one of the first places we drove to, and Joshua Tree. And it's all amazing for anyone that comes out here, they should definitely visit. It's very iconic for mid-century architecture. And they have twice a year something called Modernism Week, which highlights all of the mid-century architecture and what went on out there with the Hollywood set. It's very cool.

33:48
Kristina Haslund
And there's a beautiful hotel in downtown Palm Springs, small, boutique, and they asked me to come and style the space.

33:58
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What's it called?

33:59
Kristina Haslund
It's called L'Horizon. And they built, about two years ago, an addition to the hotel, which is called the Hermann Bungalows. It's ten mid-century style rooms all around a swimming pool, a little bit like The Roosevelt, where the Hockney pool is. You know how you have the cabanas around, but it's beautiful materials, and has the mountains of Palm Springs around you.

34:23
Kristina Haslund
It's really incredible. And I did a lot of the flower arranging and brought the Danish vases and did the photo shoot there and styled with a champagne brand. It was all very, very nice. And it was through Coachella weekends, which is a big mark in the calendar here.

34:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And Palm Springs is, I said, in the desert. So people who don't know Palm Springs, imagine this desert city, but it's a hedonistic celebration of life out there with pools and palm trees and as you say, style and architecture.

34:57
Kristina Haslund
Everything is single-story though. Maybe there's a hotel that has a little bit more, but generally speaking, it's a big area of the desert that's built up.

35:06
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you think living in California has changed your sense of style?

35:12
Kristina Haslund
No, I don't think it's changed it. No. I love the plantation and the vegetation and that sort of is a different aspect to play with in terms of styling the home. But no, I think I'm exactly as I was before, same aesthetic, same feeling that I want to create in a space or styling. It's almost bringing that more and more here.

35:38
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And there's also something about Danish design and I'm looking at the lamp now. It seems they pass through time. A chair that was made in the '60s is still as relevant and as new today.

35:51
Kristina Haslund
I think so. And you take it for granted. I was listening to another podcast, actually, with the person behind all the exhibitions at the Danish Design Museum. And I think there's such a timeless quality to Danish design.

36:05
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Timeless, that's the word.

36:07
Kristina Haslund
And it just will never fade. It's always going to look good. With this lamp in particular, I do think it's a very Danish thing to have a low hanging lamp over a table. That's definitely something I've educated quite a lot of people here. Why is your lamp so low? Why do you not have it higher up? And it's oh, it's the kind of thing over where you eat. It's quite funny.

36:29
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
I didn't think about that. You're right. Where do you yourself go to get inspired?

36:34
Kristina Haslund
In LA, it probably links to maybe a little bit more of a challenge, because you're not walking as much, you have to drive somewhere more to find the inspiration. But they do have some great galleries here. So, the Getty being one, which we live very close to. I definitely go there for inspiration. I was there just last Friday. It's an incredible place, architecturally and their collection of art. So, museums.

37:00
Kristina Haslund
I really enjoy going to art galleries, through travel. I think new places like Palm Springs, for example, I find it so inspiring to go there. I'd have a very different relationship, I think, with California and LA, if there was no Palm Springs. And then I think, again, the difference between living here and somewhere like London, such a bustling city where I could just drop into a gallery or a museum at any corner, almost.

37:29
Kristina Haslund
Here it's more about, sometimes, the nature. I get it from being really out by the ocean or in the canyons and I think that's something inspiring out here.

37:38
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
California is beautiful. Vast, beautiful, and interchanging with mountains and with snow on them and the ocean.

37:48
Kristina Haslund
It's amazing in that sense.

37:51
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you feel like a British Danish person in Los Angeles, or are you a bit American too now? Which passports do you have now?

37:59
Kristina Haslund
I only have a British passport. So there's a rule, actually, when my mom left Denmark and married my father, she had to relinquish her Danish passport. You're not allowed to have two nationalities. I don't know if there's anywhere else in the world like that, but definitely Denmark.

38:16
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Now we have dual.

38:18
Kristina Haslund
So like around five years ago, four or five years ago, I was trying to get my mom to apply, but I was living here. I think if I was there I would've made it happen. But yes, I would still hope to get a Danish passport and American citizenship. We are green card holders. I think it's interesting to see what happens, depending on our kids and all sorts.

38:42
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And my final question to you, what do you still dream of achieving and where would you like to end up when you retire, you think? The US, the UK, Denmark, or maybe somewhere completely different.

38:55
Kristina Haslund
I think I'd like to be able to, hopefully for as long as physically allows, travel between two places, or maybe even three. But I think in terms of being really old and not traveling, somewhere with a warmer climate would be nice. I do like that about here. At the moment, I'm not entirely sure. I think it is a bit of a split life.

39:20
Kristina Haslund
We have our life here, but we have, like many people that relocated, have family elsewhere. So, somewhere with a view. Sunsets would be nice and a warm climate, but I'm not exactly sure. So probably leaning maybe towards, maybe Palm Springs. I don't know. Yeah. Let's see.

39:40
Kristina Haslund
But also equally, I love being back in London. I love being in Denmark. I'm going back for 3daysofdesign. And I love walking in the city, so that also brings a pulse. So when you are a lot older and have more time, then it's good to also be in a city. So in answer to your question, not completely sure.

40:03
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You're confused like the rest of us.

40:03
Kristina Haslund
Yeah.

40:05
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
On that note, confusion, thank you so much, Kristina, for having us in your home. And thank you for not laughing out loud, when you look at me, I'm wearing reading glasses, which are big and square —

40:18
Kristina Haslund
Very chic.

40:20
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
— and I look very eccentric at the moment. So we were giggling before.

40:22
Kristina Haslund
Thank you so much. Thank you.

40:26
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
For today's episode, Kristina Haslund chose Harald Giersing's Landevej ved Fåborg or Road near Fåborg on Funen from 1920 from the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark.