Danish home happiness in Munich – Lasse and Sarah renovated their home with a Nordic flair
Lasse and Sarah pictured on their balcony with a fig tree and cherry-red metal bench from Fermob.
Residents:
Lasse Lund Lauridsen, the founder and CEO of the Danish brand Form & Refine, lives in Munich’s Haidhausen district, Germany, with his wife Sarah and children Freja (b. 2017) and Luca (b. 2019). Their almost 80-square-meter apartment has two bedrooms.
The third-floor apartment is located in an old building in Munich.
LASSE LUND LAURIDSEN’S love of wood is no accident. His father was a master carpenter in West Jutland on the Danish North Sea coast. In his father’s workshop, there was always a slightly spicy smell of wood and resin, which he liked already back then.
As a teenager, every once in a while Lasse helped to build the summer houses so typical of Denmark. The experience with the “most sustainable material in the world” never left him. After training as a marketing economist in Aarhus, he studied international management at Cambridge. He then worked as an international director for the Danish furniture brand Skagerak. He met his wife Sarah in Munich, and both lived in London for several years.
In 2015, the couple quit their jobs, traveled around the world for half a year, and then moved to Munich into a rented apartment so that they could take their time to look for a domicile of their own. Sarah was born in Munich, and Lasse loves the southern flair in the Bavarian capital.
Lasse with the family’s oldest child Freja.
In the hallway renovation, the pine floorboards and faceted door were preserved in their original state. The family’s son Luca explores the result.
At the end of 2016, it all worked out. At six o’clock in the evening on a Friday, Sarah went to see an almost 80-square-meter apartment on the third floor of an old building in a traffic-calmed street.
“I gave her the go-ahead without having seen the apartment,” Lasse recalls. Just three hours later, the sales contract was signed and sealed.
The two were determined to live in Munich’s sought-after Haidhausen district. It’s only a few minutes walk to the Isar river. Not everything here is gentrified yet. It’s more of a family atmosphere. Butchers, bakers, restaurants, vintage stores and interior stores are just around the corner, and Sarah’s company is easy to reach by bike.
A stone grey color was chosen for the hallway walls. The Hang it all coat rack is from Vitra.
The sleek Georg console table is produced by Skagerak.
The condition of the rooms, however, was catastrophic. Woodchip wallpaper was stuck to all the walls, the pipes were laid in front of them, and there was carpeting everywhere. The renovation work took more than seven months. Sarah’s parents, who live nearby, lent a helping hand. A sustainable interior and a healthy, atmospheric environment were at the top of the priority list.
A sustainable interior and a healthy, atmospheric environment were at the top of the priority list.
The linchpin of the renovation work became the hallway. Over two meters wide, it appears particularly spacious and offers plenty of room. The long pine floorboards are the eye-catcher – the solid wood planks were only sanded down and treated with white pigmented oil. Lasse was glad that they could be preserved.
Under the stove are decorative stoneware tiles from Brandenburg-based ceramic company Golem.
The 1950s Ercol Studio sofa bed is from London.
Lasse and Sarah discovered the paintings by Danish artist Leif Sylvester in a gallery. At the couple’s request, their relatives did not buy any gifts for five years, but deposited money in a savings account – the paintings were purchased with these savings. The Stilk table is from Form & Refine.
The living and dining area features oak floorboards in a herringbone pattern. The antique doors were found after a long search in Leipzig.
In the living-dining room facing the street, Sarah and Lasse laid classic oak floorboards in a herringbone pattern. From the very beginning, it was clear that double-leaf doors were to be installed in the living and dining areas and in the adjacent children’s room.
“Preferably French ones with coffered fronts. They take up less space when opening and closing,” explains Lasse.
Since the historical models were only available in widths of one meter or more, the couple searched for narrower doors throughout Germany and finally found what they were looking for in Leipzig. The models from the Wilhelminian period – the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries – were a bit too narrow for the door frame, so they had a carpenter add strips of wood. Then the door leaves were elaborately sanded and painted several times.
Miniature versions of Shoemaker Chairs were custom-made for Freja and Luca. The original Shoemaker Chair from 1936 and is now produced by Form & Refine. The loft bed was designed by Form & Refine’s Helle and Jonas.
Freja loves to snuggle up in the recliner with her soft alpaca toy that her parents brought back from their trip. Aymara blankets are also made from alpaca wool.
The children’s room furnishings include ferm LIVING’s Little Architect chair and table. Aino-Maija Metsola’s Borneo and Kamerun posters are from an older Marimekko collection.
Most of the furniture in the apartment is from Form & Refine. Lasse founded the Danish interior brand in 2018 together with designers Helle Herman Mortensen and Jonas Herman Pedersen from Herman Studio. They had a clear vision: with their brand, they want to help preserve the world’s raw materials and traditional craft techniques. The label sources wood only from sustainable forestry.
“We want to tell the story about the material and not about designers who have long since died,” says Lasse. Form & Refine founders believe that sustainable natural beauties with their sensual aesthetics should be unmistakable – and the planet should be spared during production.
“We want to tell the story about the material and not about designers who have long since died.”
Their soft spot for wood is visible and tangible in every detail. And their success proves them right: the company was nominated for the Danish Design Award 2019 and named “upcoming brand of the year”. Later, the Blueprint chair won the Gold category of the German Design Award 2022.
Travels to South America have also left their mark in the Form & Refine catalog. The high-quality alpaca wool and the handicraft skills of the indigenous Andean people inspired Lasse so much that he now has pillows and plaids made in Bolivia.
• Read the story: Form & Refine relies on the power of authenticity, origin and alpacas >
The double bed was designed by Mogens Lassen in the fifties, and the wardrobe was custom-made from solid oak.
The light-filled bedroom is facing the courtyard. The foldable Angle stool is from Form & Refine, the Keep chest of drawers from Montana Furniture and the Flip mirror from Normann Copenhagen.
To match the coffered fronts of the doors, Lasse and Sarah opted for classic metro tiles, out of respect for the old.
Brass details add a touch of luxury to the guest toilet.
For the bathroom, the owners had the wall to the kitchen torn down and replaced with a thinner plasterboard wall. Thanks to the new round window, the small shower room now benefits from natural daylight. Despite the small dimensions, it looks bright and friendly.
A narrow corridor leads to the guest toilet. Here, brass sets the tone. Lasse and Sarah liked an arched single-hole faucet made of chrome so much that they had the model coated with brass.
To have as much freedom of movement as possible while cooking, folding tall cabinets were the ideal solution. The recessed aluminum handles were powder-coated in light grey.
The wooden countertop is made of oak, matching the organically shaped cutting board and bowl from Form & Refine’s Section collection.
The dining chairs include Form & Refine’s Motif armchair and the Shoemaker Chair.
Sarah planned the adjoining kitchen according to her own wishes. With the small footprint, she insisted on an L-shape so that the portafilter espresso machine wouldn’t occupy valuable workspace next to the stove or sink.
The kitchen is light and bright, thanks to a floor-to-ceiling glass door that leads to the balcony. The balcony is now the kids’ outdoor playroom and has a lovely view of the leafy backyards. The fig tree in the pot next to it is already bearing its first fruit.
As the apartment is rather small, who knows where the couple will end up as the children grow bigger.
See also:
• Form & Refine products at Finnish Design Shop >
Text and styling: Claudia Durian Photos: Christoph Theurer
Published on 20 Feb, 2023
