In Elena and Lasse’s home, beauty engages all the senses
The layout of this period apartment provides an ideal setting for living and working. A separate nook with a window has been carved out between the ends of the living and bedroom, serving as Elena’s workspace.
THE GENTLE, sophisticated scent of Nag Champa incense lingers in the air. Burning incense and lighting candles is a daily ritual in the serene, atmospheric home of Elena Palomo and Lasse Pietiläinen.
Their instinctive approach to their interior is grounded in earthy tones and natural materials, a touch of ruggedness, timeworn pieces and one-off objects that blur the line between art and craft.
Lasse, Elena, and Jimmy the dog. The soft, white Ribbon rug is by Woven Works.
These intuitive principles extend beyond their home, shaping both their wardrobe and overall way of life. As Elena puts it, they dress the same way they’ve slowly put together their home: mixing styles piece by piece, guided by instinct.
“Home is the feeling of belonging naturally, without having to adjust.”
The rental home of their dreams in an Art Nouveau building in Helsinki’s Kruununhaka district offers the perfect backdrop for blending life and work – something essential for the couple, who both balance ambitious artistic careers with their day jobs and often work from home.
The living room table is surrounded by a collection of intriguing vintage chairs. The pale-colored chairs, discovered via Franckly, turned out to be part of the 10-Unit System series designed by architect Shigeru Ban.
The home is filled with small, visually pleasing vignettes. A wooden sculpture titled Etruscan by Heli Juuti sits on a dresser stacked with books.
The sculpture Laila, created by Elena, is displayed on a wooden podium.
The couple’s characterful pieces are mainly well-loved flea market finds, artworks and one-of-a-kind objects, like the sculptural seat by Eemeli Sahimaa, which Lasse fell for during a visit to the artist’s studio. The painting was discovered by Elena last summer in Marseille.
Elena is known for her organic ceramic sculptures, often inspired by movement and a search for balance and harmony. Alongside her artistic work, she enjoys her marketing role at the traditional Finnish jewelry brand Kalevala Koru. Lasse blends his work as a cybersecurity consultant with his creative pursuits as a musician and sound designer.
The spacious one-bedroom apartment with its soaring ceilings features a kitchen, two generous rooms, a lobby and a roomy mezzanine above the bathroom. A peaceful nook with bay windows extends from the living room, which Elena claimed as her workspace. The tiled floors in the lobby and corridor along with the lattice cupboard doors in the entryway whisk to Elena’s second home country, Spain.
The apartment strikes the perfect balance between beautiful patina and signs of life. The color palette and decorative touches right down to the curtains may have been chosen by someone else, yet the apartment feels like home to the couple. They sense a familiarity about it, their belongings slotting effortlessly into place and the home carrying their unique mark.
The living room features a harmonious blend of new, vintage and unique pieces. In the couple’s previous home, the Art Nouveau-style screen behind the sofa separated Elena’s workspace from the rest of the room. A dark sculpture with a metallic sheen by Elena hangs above the Puffy lounge chair designed by Faye Toogood.
The Lampampe paper lamp by Ingo Maurer is one of the few objects the couple bought new for the home.
The spacious two-room apartment stretches through the length of the building, centred around a generous lobby with a mezzanine above.
THE NEW TENANTS were able to move their belongings straight into the character-filled apartment without any renovations or major adjustments. The bedroom’s green walls were the only detail that gave them pause at first, but after a moment’s consideration, the color has proven to be a calm and grounding backdrop for their own furniture. Otherwise, everything fell naturally into place, and the result feels unmistakably like Elena and Lasse’s home.
“Naturally, the apartment’s original, stunning details inject the space with soul and atmosphere,” Elena reflects when asked why it so quickly began to feel like home. “The history, layers and passage of time remain visible as important parts of the whole. The space itself has plenty of character.”
Elena’s compact workspace bathes in light streaming through the street-facing windows. The space forms a direct continuum with the rest of the living room, subtly separated by a glass partition.
Elena’s free-flowing sculptures are characterised by movement, forms inspired by the human body and the fluidity of dance, combined with the natural textures and earthy tones of clay.
Elena’s work has been exhibited not only in Helsinki but also in cities such as Copenhagen, Berlin, and Paris.
The open shelves in the workspace hold studies, artworks, and books that trace the careers of artists who inspire Elena.
The couple don’t see themselves as actively decorating their home, but instead it evolves organically, one piece and object at a time. Each addition is guided by feeling, objects need to speak to them and stir thoughts. Over time, these furnishings, finds and unique treasures come together to form a whole.
Perhaps it’s the couple’s personal, intuitive preferences that make the space look so distinctively theirs, characterful and one-of-a-kind.
“We’ve both always wanted to surround ourselves with evocative pieces, beauty and tranquillity, whether it’s in our home or the clothes we wear.”
The atmosphere of a home is also shaped by the way it’s lived in, how objects relate to one another and how they are used. Elena and Lasse arrange everyday items into small vignettes here and there: books are artfully grouped on the shelves; an incense holder and box of matches form a simple arrangement on top of a chest of drawers; elsewhere, an oil bottle, pepper mill and bowl come together as a quiet trio. In this carefully considered home, there’s no place for anything unnecessary.
The spacious kitchen overlooking the courtyard reflects the same effortless blend of beauty and function as in the rest of the home.
An eclectic mix of chairs sits around the dining table. The wooden Vaarnii 001 chair had been on the couple’s wish list for quite some time before they found it on the pre-owned design platform Franckly. The wooden fish relief is by Carlo Raymann.
WHILE THE COUPLE keep a keen eye on design, flea markets and auctions, they feel no need to fill their home with more furnishings. It’s important to leave enough room to breathe. They might still add some artworks, one-off pieces and carefully chosen smaller items, tough – like a beautiful chessboard once the right one turns up.
“We’ve both always wanted to surround ourselves with evocative pieces, beauty and tranquillity, whether it’s in our home or the clothes we wear,” Elena reflects.
The bedroom offers plenty of space in both square metres and volume. Lasse’s workstation, with his many gadgets, takes centre stage by the window.
For her, home is a sanctuary for creativity and a place to retreat into one’s thoughts, uninterrupted, to draw fresh ideas. It’s a personally shaped space with a sense of permanence.
“To me, home is a space of safety, peace and freedom, where I can be completely at ease and myself. It’s the feeling of belonging naturally, without having to adjust,” Lasse reflects on the meaning of home.
See also:
• Asun Homes vol 8 >
• Elena Palomo's website >
The story was originally published in issue 51 of Asun magazine. Featured designs may not be available worldwide.
Published on 8 Jan, 2026
