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Muuto’s Marie Hesseldahl Reimagines a 1969 Summer House in Denmark

07.19.21 | By
Muuto’s Marie Hesseldahl Reimagines a 1969 Summer House in Denmark

After discovering this summerhouse while on a walk about an hour outside of Copenhagen in 2017, Marie Hesseldahl fell in love with the architecture and the way it blended with the natural environment. The one-story, wooden “type house” was designed by renowned Danish architects Knud Friis & Elmar Moltke Nielsen of Friis & Moltke in the mid 60s. The original owner saw the design in an architectural magazine and had it built in 1969 in a pine plantation in North Zealand, Denmark. While simple, the house is dotted with special original details and materials, including pine veneer wall paneling, black ceiling beams and built-in furniture. Not everyone would appreciate this mid-century gem the way Hesseldahl did, but as a designer and Design Manager for Danish brand Muuto, it fell into the right hands.

The main living space has uninterrupted views of the landscape through floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors and windows. When opened, the indoor and outdoor spaces become one making the house appear larger.

Spotted throughout are carefully selected pieces from Muuto, like the Ambit Pendant Lamp over the dining table, and the Outline Chair in the living room.

While Muuto plays a part in the home’s furnishings, Hesseldahl mixed in pieces from other brands, including the portable Mayday light (below), by Konstantin Grcic for Flos.

The Muuto Ambit Wall Lamp is the ideal bedside light for reading a book or magazine.

The Muuto Linear Steel Table, Linear Bench, and two Linear Steel Armchairs in Dark Green create an additional dining area on the deck. “When Muuto was entering the outdoor furniture market with the Linear Steel Series, we needed to identify a color range speaking this language. In this process, I drew a lot of inspiration from the natural environment surrounding my house; the prevailing pine tree plantation, the seasonal leaf change, and the warmth from the sun,” says Hesseldahl. “We ended up with four colors, whereas two of them stem directly from this inspirational foundation–a deep and natural Dark Green that leads the mind towards nature, and a bright, yet calm Burnt Orange mimicking autumn leaves and the burning summer sun. The two characteristic colors are supported, strengthened, and developing in the context of their surrounding environment. Eventually, both were tested in my summerhouse garden, before being finally selected for the Linear Steel Series color palette.”

Marie Hesseldahl

Hesseldahl’s summer residence, with its traditional Scandinavian design heritage, is the perfect backdrop and inspiration during the design process of new Muuto products as the brand wishes to “preserve and expand” on that heritage.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.