Monday, 4 August 2014

A Taste of Sweden - Millesgarden, Stockholm

Scandinavian design was the theme of the second day of our city break and we set off across Stockholm to the outskirts of the city and the wonderful house and garden of Carl Milles, sculptor and garden designer, and his artist wife Olga. So much contemporary design has been influenced by their work, which flourished in the first half of the 20th century and has some parallels to the English interior and garden design movement inspired by the Bloomsbury Group both at Charleston and Monks House in East Sussex and at Sissinghurst in Kent.





Continuing the design theme, we ended the day back in central Stockholm at the hugely influential and equally expensive design store, Svenskt Tenn and I made the discovery that my own interior design philosophy of mixing old and new, different styles, colours and patterns actually originated here with Estrid Ericson and Josef Frank, who, incidentally, designed the furniture in the room above at Anne's house in Millesgarden.

With many thanks for her inspiration and advice to Lucille at usefulorbeautiful.blogspot.co.uk who was in Stockholm shortly before me.
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13 comments:

  1. Pondside4 August 2014 at 16:32

    Beautiful - all of it. Somehow the Scandinavian version of public art, no matter what the age, seems so much more exuberant than other versions. I love the the room pictured at the end of this post!

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    1. Catherine4 August 2014 at 17:15

      I love it all, but that room is just amazing and so contemporary!. Eat your heart out Ikea! And congratulations on the sale of your house... watching this space.

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  2. materfamilias4 August 2014 at 18:09

    Magical! I love the sculptures, especially!

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    1. Catherine5 August 2014 at 10:23

      It was one of the highlights of the holiday!

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  3. Jane and Lance Hattatt5 August 2014 at 13:59

    Hello Marianne,

    How we should have loved to have seen all of this.

    We had not heard of Carl Milles but the parallels with the Bloomsbury a Group are so intriguing. The house does indeed look fabulous and contemporary. The seemingly effortless mix of pattern, colour, texture, old and new shows a highly creative and also talented mind at work.

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    1. Starting Over, Accepting Changes - Maybe5 August 2014 at 14:35

      Oh, how I love that room!

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    2. Catherine5 August 2014 at 14:49

      Hello Lance and Jane. So glad you enjoyed the tour and I do hope you will visit Stockholm and Millesgarden one day. There was so much innovation in design of houses and gardens in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so many creative minds still influencing how we live now and it is interesting to see where it evolved.

      I used to live near Sissinghurst and spent many happy hours in the garden, which is so emulated now. Charleston is so inspirational too and I love bringing touches of these influences into my own home and garden.

      And I do agree, SO, AC-M, that room is divine!

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  4. flowers on my table5 August 2014 at 15:01

    Oh what a lovely post, and I agree with everyone, the room is amazing and so very now. I love the dresser with the blue and white painting also. The statues are so very joyful. Certainly a place I would love to see if ever in Sweden. Thank you for sharing! Linda x

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    1. Catherine5 August 2014 at 15:58

      Thank you! And I do hope you have the chance to visit Millesgarden one day. Stockholm has long been on my (rather long) mental list of places I wish to visit and somehow it has come into my life by a series of twists and turns. It was an amazing place and we so enjoyed the time we spent there and, now, the images we captured.

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  5. Connie8 August 2014 at 16:46

    Hello Marianne, first of all thank you for your sweet visit to my blog. It bought me here and I am enjoying tagging along on your trip to Sweden. It is always wonderful to see the world through the eyes of another blogging sister. There is so much to see that the travel brochures never show us. I love those windows of the Music Museum they are so old world. We do not have that world old charm here in America. Especially in our area, which was not inhabited other than Native Americans before the late 1800's. Therefore are architecture is quit modern compared to the rest of the world and even more modern than most of America. Your little bungalow was built in 1905, which makes it one of the oldest homes in our town. In fact our house was moved here from what now is own as a western ghost town. Most off the older homes in our town were built in the 1940's. So, you can see why I love old world charm:)
    Well, I better stop this comment before it turns into a full fledged letter.
    Have a wonderful day, and thank you again for visiting.
    Your blogging sister,
    Connie :)

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    1. Catherine29 August 2014 at 10:26

      Glad you enjoyed your virtual visit Connie!

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  6. Lucille28 August 2014 at 19:15

    Thank you so much for this chance to revisit Stockholm. How wonderfully glamorous to arrive by yacht. I hope the holiday obliterated all that you suffered before hand.

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    1. Catherine29 August 2014 at 10:28

      It was certainly a different way to experience Stockholm Lucille, and yes, it did obliterate all the ongoing unpleasant dental and oral surgery that has taken over my life recently. Many thanks for your help and advice - very useful!

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