The house of the glass artist Gunnel Salin in the province of Södermanland south of Stockholm is an example of true harmony between the interior and nature, in which color plays an important role

Artist and designer Gunnel Salin with his beloved cat on the stairs at the back doors of the house facing the garden.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Gunnel Sahlin is a famous glass artist. For almost twenty years now she has been working at Kosta Boda, also collaborated a lot with IKEA, and in the mid-1980s she was a textile artist at the Swedish firm Katja in New York (and, by the way, still dreams of sitting down at the loom again, getting a sewing machine out of the pantry and sew colorful carpets and bedding for your favorite home).

Terra magica vase, designed by Gunnel Salin for Kosta Boda, 1990s. White ceramic vases are the work of designer Stig Lindberg. Cast-iron batteries were installed six years ago, when water heating was carried out in the house.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Her business card is color. She loves and knows how to work with him and is always particularly attentive to the choice and use of shades. In her glass objects, color plays an even greater role than form, becoming the main protagonist of the collections.

“Glass conveys color in an incredible way. There is no other material that gives color such a life as glass”

The spacious classroom of the old school was one of the main reasons for buying this house. “There are nine windows here, and I just love this room. It’s bright in any weather.” The tables are the work of a local carpenter. A high stool from the old dentist’s office, now Gunnel sits on it when he draws his sketches.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Gunnel used the same careful approach to color and filigree work with shades when decorating her own house on the shore of a lake in the province of Södermanland south of Stockholm. Once there was a school here, which then closed, and in the 1990s Gunnel’s husband bought an old building with an area of 150 square meters.

For a long time, the family used it mainly as a summer house and lived with simple white walls in all rooms, as is customary in most Scandinavian houses. But the pace of the big city began to tire, and they gradually began to spend more and more time here, until they completely moved out of town to permanent residence.

Living room and library. For this room, the designer chose a calm range. Sofa Great Ash, Eilersen. Pillows, Anna O. Coffee table of the 1970s, a family heirloom. The oak desk was bought in Smaland. The table lamp in the form of a drop is a prototype, the work of Gunnel. The carpet, Kasthall, is also designed by Gunnel Salin. Vintage armchair in new upholstery.

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JOHAN SELLEN

That’s when the experiments with color began. One day Gunnel carefully tried a warm gray shade on the wall in the living room and felt that it would be great to add more color to the interior and repaint everything.

The bedroom once served as a school teacher’s room. A chair and a table from an old dentist’s office were bought at a flea market. The color of the walls is a unique mix of different shades from purple to turquoise, it turned out darker and redder than the color of the walls in the living room. “I had a lot of trial cans, but I never found a suitable one, so I just mixed different paints, and that’s what came out of it,” says the designer.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Just as Gunnel often allows color to “rule” an object and play a major role in it in her vases, so in working on interiors she allows color to take over the entire space. But choosing paint for walls is not an easy task. “Everything here works completely differently than with glass, and there is never a ready—made jar on sale that says: “For the living room Gunnel”,” she laughs. The color has to be created for a long time and carefully, experimenting with different lighting, mixing shades and making special paints on the walls.

“The house itself speaks when it needs changes — I just listen and do”

The furniture in the dining room is a mixture of vintage and modern. Glass vase on the table, IKEA PS 2008 — Gunnel Salin’s work for IKEA.

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JOHAN SELLEN

It may seem that this house is often repainted and redone, but it is not. “The house itself says when it needs changes, I just listen and do it,” says Gunnel. “It’s always important to respect the place you live in and listen to its ‘voice’.”

For all the time that the Gunnel family has lived here, they have changed only the old door leading to the garden to a glass one, redeveloped the main hall to free up more space for the bathroom, and repainted the kitchen in a new, bolder color.

Kitchen. The color of the walls is borrowed from an old school bench, which can be seen at the wall behind the table. A table with an oak top will be found at the flea market in Sermland. The sofa, Gemla, was discovered at a flea market in Uppland. Black chair, Thonet.

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JOHAN SELLEN

With the painting of the kitchen, everything turned out easier than with other rooms: the old bench, which has remained here since school days, set the color scheme. The remnants of the peeling pale blue paint were taken as the basis for the kitchen. We managed to get the desired color by mixing two different shades from the Farrow & Ball palette. When Gunnel painted the walls, the antique sideboard and the facades of the new kitchen set in blue, the room literally sparkled with new colors and came to life! Now it is a favorite place of the hostess of the house.

Kitchen with doors VEDDING, IKEA, repainted in the same blue shade as the walls. In order for the upper cabinets not to take up a lot of space in a small kitchen, Gunnel reduced their depth to 20 cm, independently cutting them off from the back side.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Kitchen. To the left of the wall is an old sideboard, which was painted in the same color as the walls. An old bench can be seen from the edge, which became a source of inspiration when choosing a color for the kitchen.

But in general, Gunnel does not like to interfere rudely in the life of the house. “Of course, I’m constantly changing something a little here, tweaking and adding, but I’m not too keen on the process itself, I’m not a big fan of change,” she says. — I still have things that were dear to me as a child, and some of what I collected as a teenager or student. My house is the imprint of my whole life. He means a lot to me, this is my nest and refuge in this world.”

The bathroom is located in the former school locker room. A long bench against the wall remained from those times: children sat on it when they changed clothes.

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JOHAN SELLEN

An entrance hall, from where you immediately get into a bright, spacious study with nine windows, which once served as a classroom in an old school.

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JOHAN SELLEN

Bathroom. The shelf on the wall is original and once hung in the school locker room.

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JOHAN SELLEN

A hall with pearl-colored walls, over which Gunnel struggled for so long. The 1930s armchair in modern upholstery was bought by Gunnel when she was still studying to be a textile designer. On the wall is one of Gunnel’s sketches, next to her on the table is her Trigonella vase for Kosta Boda 2018.

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JOHAN SELLEN

The house and the garden that surrounded the old school, we will add from ourselves. In recent years, the garden and its plants have served as a constant source of inspiration for Gunnel and her glass objects. She loves to dig in the garden, draws new strength and ideas from this: “The garden gives me a sense of peace, I am fascinated by its beauty. There is nothing better than natural shapes and colors! The change of seasons also inspires me and encourages me to start new projects. Nature influences me, and I like it!”

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JOHAN SELLEN

“The garden gives me a sense of peace, I am fascinated by its beauty. There is nothing better than natural shapes and colors!”

The gazebo was built by Gunnel. The windows and doors for her were given to them by neighbors when they were doing repairs and changing everything to a new one. “The gazebo is our little treasure, and it is often used. Here you are free from mosquitoes and can safely admire the scenery, nature and the lake.”

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JOHAN SELLEN

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