Here's How to Make Warm Minimalism Work in Your Home

“I have always had an issue with the general perception of Scandinavian interiors as being non-material, minimalistic spaces with pale wooden floors and white walls, because I have never lived like that; I grew up surrounded by massive materiality,” says award-winning designer and architect David Thulstrup in the introduction to A Sense of Place, Sophie Lovell’s new monograph on his work. Raised in an old farmhouse on Denmark’s Øresund coast, he remembers strong colors, massive exposed wooden beams and eclectic furnishings, and his sense of that home’s soul helps him pare his designs back to their most dynamic, essential elements. Minimalism, you see, should make you feel alive. Here’s how David makes it work.

Does Scandinavian design gives you the shivers? David — whose "modern simplicity" has created unforgettable, humanistic spaces in projects ranging from intimate residences to Noma (the Copenhagen restaurant repeatedly named the world's best) — invites you to consider his work. Is it minimalistic? Certainly. Is it cold? Far from it.

Guests moving through Noma’s main entrance space encounter Conscious Compass, a massive hanging sculpture by the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Created with driftwood and raw earth magnets, the boldly-colored piece points due north — and serves as an apt introduction to Noma’s culinary exploration of the natural world. David's design for this vestibule is unquestionably simple, but it sets the stage for everything that follows.

For a long, transitional lounge space that integrates Noma’s greenhouses with its entrance, David commissioned custom-made pine furniture with thick wool cushions. Overhead, a metal and hemp shade filters sunlight, and on each side of the corridor, floor-to-ceiling curtain dividers constructed from potato-sack fabric create a unique backdrop. The look is both neutral and unexpectedly rustic, and it demonstrates that simple things can still be surprising.