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Nov 01, 2024

Inside a Stylish Stockholm Apartment With a Dose of Parisian Flair | Architectural Digest

All products featured on Architectural Digest are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Sparse rooms,

All products featured on Architectural Digest are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Sparse rooms, dotted with hand-hewn wood furniture, is the image that may come to mind when thinking of Swedish design. But that trope is what architect and designer Andreas Martin-Löf and his client, fashion journalist Sofi Fahrman, were trying to avoid when designing the 4,800-square-foot Stockholm flat for her and her husband, businessman Filip Engelbert. “Our mood board was very Parisian,” says Fahrman. For Martin-Löf, however, his primary mission was embracing the building’s past. “In Sweden, people are a little bit afraid of things that look old,” he says. “But my architecture relates to both a building’s history and its future.”

The architect Andreas Martin-Löf and Sofi Fahrman, a fashion journalist.

The property, originally built in 1917, possessed no shortage of historical intrigue. It was once home to Ivar Kreuger, the disgraced matchstick mogul known as the Leonardo of Larcenists for his Ponzi scheme business dealings. Unfortunately for Fahrman and Engelbert, their unit, located directly below Kreuger’s one-time abode, had been marred by a gut renovation in the 2000s, which had stripped out most of the original details. But a fortuitous meeting with the elderly current tenant of Kreuger’s former apartment allowed them to understand precisely what was missing. “I went there with my measuring tape,” Martin-Löf recalls of his visit to the domestic time capsule, which he describes as “Rothschild-style” for its dark-stained wood-paneled walls, carved door frames, and grand staircase reminiscent of those in Gilded Age Manhattan mansions.

Such drama may seem like a far cry from Martin-Löf’s work—the Swedish architect is best known for his minimalist houses wrought in noble materials and luxe custom yachts—but his skills lie in an innate ability to gracefully layer styles and eras. For instance, in the living room, sheer curtains flood the cream-colored room with light, bouncing off a pair of amoeba-shaped brass coffee tables and a spiral Murano glass chandelier. A custom curving sofa upholstered with Pierre Frey velvet echoes the shape of the rounded bay windows and is balanced by two cross-hatched Croisillon armchairs by Jean Royère and a vintage Italian sideboard. In the sprawling primary suite, the dark-stained boiserie recalls the home’s original wooden paneling, while on the walls and ceiling, cornices and carved door frames create texture. “The patterns are based on ones I found upstairs,” Martin-Löf says. “We brought the house to life by having a strong connection to its history.”

While much of the kitchen echoes the white and gray hues of the marble countertops, including the dove gray cabinets and white pendant lamps by Apparatus, it is the caramel-hued wood—in the form of oak parquet floors, Pierre Jeanneret dining chairs, and stained oak bistro tables by Hanna Wessman—that really adds a sense of warmth to the space. An abstract glass sculpture by Rina Eide Løvaasen sits on a plinth by the window.

In the kitchen, the designer even recreated the original marquetry wood floor, though there were also structural reasons for ripping up and replacing the parquet. The solid marble countertop—a heavily veined white stone from Portugal that matches the dove gray cabinets—required Martin-Löf to install reinforcements to support its weight. (A similar procedure was required to accommodate the capacious freestanding marble tub in wood-lined the primary ensuite.)

For Fahrman, it was important to get the kitchen just right. She and Engelbert have a large, blended family, and they wanted to make sure there was space to keep everyone close. “Filip has three kids, I have a daughter, and we have one son together,” she explains. On weeknights, between the kitchen island and built-in benches with scalloped-edge tables by Hanna Wessman, there is room for everyone to pull up a chair. But for holidays—when both of their extended families are over—they needed to get creative to fit everyone in at once. In the dining room, a grand salon with a custom bar cabinet, pendant lights from Apparatus, and hand-painted de Gournay wall covering depicting climbing vines and perched birds, their solution was to eschew a single long table in favor of a series of small ones. The circular pedestal tables, complete with cozy loveseats and wire chairs by Warren Platner, are scattered around the room like a Parisian bistro. “It’s quite Swedish, you know,” reflects Martin-Löf on the decision. “We’re not super formal people.”

Maria Miesenberger’s sculpture, Leap of Faith, basks in the sun in front of the living room window.

Soft curves and luxe materials set the tone in the living room, where a custom sofa upholstered with velvet Pierre Frey fabric dialogues with a pair of bespoke tables in brass and a vintage Murano glass chandelier.

Martin-Löf layered contemporary and vintage pieces in the peaceful, light-filled living room. That included custom furniture like a softly curving sofa, amoeba-shaped brass coffee tables, and spotlights from his own lighting brand, Untitled—as well as impressive auction finds like a pair of Croisillon armchairs by French master Jean Royère, a vintage Italian sideboard, and a spiral Murano glass chandelier.

Martin-Löf was forced to rip up the kitchen floors to install reinforcements able to support the massive Estremoz marble countertops.

“One of my best friends, Hanna Wessman, makes amazing bespoke furniture,” says Fahrman. “I love knowing that she made these tables in our kitchen.” Above, they hung a dainty pendant lamp from New York lighting studio Apparatus.

The view from the dining room—decorated with a hand-painted wall covering from de Gournay—into the home’s main foyer, whose floor is composed of a custom-made stone pattern of Swedish, Belgian, and Portuguese limestone.

Instead of a single long table, Fahrman and her family opted for clusters of smaller, glossy wooden bistro-style tables by Hanna Wessman in the dining room, which they matched with custom sofas upholstered in mohair velvet by Pierre Frey and wire stools by Warren Platner. Above each table is an Apparatus pendant lamp.

Martin-Löf designed a bespoke bar cabinet in a cool shade of dove gray for the dining room, whose walls are covered in hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper.

In the tranquil primary suite, a bespoke upholstered bed and side table by Hanna Wessman. Above hangs an abstract painting by the contemporary artist Karl Norin.

Light floods into the primary suite through tripartite curved windows, illuminating a vintage vanity and 969 chair by Gio Ponti. On the right, a floor lamp by Gubi.

The chocolate-toned stained elm walls in the walk-in closet were designed to evoke the apartment’s original 1917 aesthetic, which was inspired by grand Manhattan mansions of the early 20th century.

“From the beginning, Sofi wanted a big freestanding bathtub,” reveals Martin-Löf, who commissioned the massive soaker tub, floors, and freestanding sink out of white Estremoz marble.

“For me, storage is the most important thing in a kid’s room,” says Fahrman. “But we also wanted them to be fun.” A custom bunk bed, set inside an arched casing, is flanked by two floor-to-ceiling shelves holding books and toys. A butter yellow Jean Prouvé chair from Vitra sits next to the window.