Pernille Vest

Pernille and I connected via email, as she had just begun her holiday. She had already selected the objects you see in these pages, and I imagined a chatty interview would fill out this space. But when I received her thoughtful responses to some initial questions, I decided to quietly disappear. Here, Pernille talks about senses and seduction, what guides her choices, objects she dreams about, the animating interconnectivity of her workspace, and the endlessly recombinant dynamics and ever-expanding perimetries of her personal design universe.

Working as an interior stylist means that you create images that stimulate people’s senses and invoke their interest.

You can think of this process as making a composition that gently seduces the viewer, making them fall in love with a single object, or the holistic experience of the image. In either case, every single element, and its composition is chosen to tempt the viewer.

It’s always a puzzle, and with an infinite number of pieces that have to fit together – even though it may sound easy, it’s actually very difficult as with infinite pieces comes infinite solutions, and there is no correct solution. Nothing is right, and nothing is wrong; it is up to me to create a beautiful image from the pieces that I find, that is considered perfect in its own sense.

Each image starts with a blank piece of paper and is followed by many sketches – often you are able to see the basic lines from the sketch in the final image – but it is always a creative process, and I am always open to new ideas. It is therefore important to have an interaction between me and my assistants – as well as the photographer, and the client. However, it is also important that I am allowed to complete the image.

There is a huge amount of preparatory work for each image – it is important for me to include my feelings in every image such that every image contains some personality.  All the images have to radiate a universe where you are inspired, want to discover and even better, want to be a part of. Every time it’s a new challenge and this is what keeps me engaged, and the final picture is what gives me the satisfaction. The day where I get to be creative, create, and style, makes all the preparation and post-work worthwhile.

On the days where I’m not on a shoot, I am working from my home – here I meet with my two assistants Henriette Schou and Liv Hochmuth. We are always sitting in the kitchen, because the room dedicated as my studio is always filled with new props and objects.  Every table, daybed, chairs, etc. are filled with books, sculptures and other objects that will be included in the next shootings. I would like to be minimalist in my style at home, but the fascination for furniture, art and beautiful objects means that there is always more than there should be in our home.

Most of the objects I have selected here for you are furniture and art – objects that I normally cannot get hold of in Denmark, but dream of, and should I succeed in finding one of those objects, I am sure it will be in my next case. The next step would be to own one of these objects, adding it not only to my universe, but also to my personal home, and inspiration.

Nearly every object I have sent to you can be defined as a part of my universe, or my ocean; they can all be paired together and are part of my creative imagination. Of course, I would need to add some other objects. It is difficult to define the concrete composition of my universe, in a sense it is ever expanding. If I had to describe it, it would be an organized chaos, every object doesn’t have to have a concrete purpose, but together the objects create the purpose and style. This universe very much comes to life in my own home and hopefully in my work, where different styles are matched in such a way, that they are bound together.