Courtesy of Halm
With home (or temporary lockdown lodgings), now at the center of our everyday existence, designers are finding new ways to stay happy and inspired. Currently separated from her family and navigating the Covid-19 pandemic in Verbier, Hanna Ransjö – founder and creative director of Dubai-based luxury leather handbag label, Halm – shares some of her experiences of the Alpine village and the items that are inspiring her busy mind…
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“Skiing and mountains are important sources of energy and a big reality check. Constant changes from the seasons – colors, light and mood – challenge you both physically and mentally but your core always stays the same…it’s a soulful experience.”
“I’ve spent all my time here since the end of February due to a severe skiing accident and then locked down due to the pandemic. Separated from my family, I feel surreally isolated in a cosy old chalet, 1,700 meters above a ghost town where virtually everything is closed. I have no neighbors but one, whom I hardly know and yet she went out of her way to look after me until she fell very ill herself with Covid-19. The experience has reinforced my belief in unconditional kindness and care.”
“I saw this Swedish made-to-order chair by Dandy by Gärsnäs (below left), in an interior magazine a few years back and wanted a good reason to buy it – I am so glad I did. It was my savior during the past four weeks when I needed to sleep sitting up due to the accident…the epitome of beautiful and useful.”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“Old traditional artisan furniture and objects that are built and made to last are things we now treasure as inspirational ‘objet d’art’ – an idea and message that is in fact at the core of Halm. I brought some items with me from Sweden but I also spent time online during the confinement to find new and interesting pieces in Switzerland.”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“I’ve been baking; not banana cake but everything from seed and nut crackers to traditional Swedish cakes that have admittedly challenged my physical rehab but have become an outlet for creativity. With no one around, the dilemma has been in not being able to share it with anyone…aside from the tame squirrel and birds on my veranda who have subsequently gained a lot of weight!”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“With my family so far away, unconditional love has been hard to come by and an uncertainty remains on when we will be reunited again…so I found the perfect excuse to buy a dog. This gorgeous King Poodle Alaska made me start walking again so that I could rediscover the chlorophyll forests with the crisp cool air in my lungs. I feel inspired to create and feel good about the process again.”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“Music is always super important to me and my team – I create and curate the Halm Spotify playlists (song by song. To make a quarantine playlist was a really good way of lifting my mood.”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
“All of this eventually led me to being able to draw and to feel mentally inspired to create again. Now more than ever, I believe in sustainable slow fashion and a curated lifestyle: beautiful with a long-lasting, useful purpose – that is luxury to me.”
Courtesy of Hanna Ransjö
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