A Scandi Furniture Designer at Home in Paris - Remodelista
Photography by Nathalie Mohadjer. Gesa Hansen grew up in a Scandinavian family of carpenters, designers, and architects. The daughter of a German mother and Danish father (both of them furniture designers), she studied graphics at the Bauhaus University in Weimar... ...Germany, and worked in design studios in Tokyo (NDC) and Paris (Jean Nouvel) before heeding the family calling and starting her own furniture line, The Hansen Family. Hansen furnishes her living room with key pieces from the Hansen Family Remix Collection: a pair of Night Couches and a Coffee Table. A Bubble Lamp by George Nelson hangs above a bold black-and-white carpet by Suki Cheema, a former pattern designer who worked for Diane von Furstenberg. Before focusing on design, Hansen contemplated a career as a singer. On the fireplace mantel she displays a cover sheet from Beck’s album Song Reader. In the kitchen, Hansen built a backsplash of black slate that carries over onto a section of the floor. Hansen supplied the Remix Table with built-in boxes that can be used to either display or store things out of sight. Hansen’s award-winning Remix Desk is an updated version of a classic Davenport. The Tivoli Remix Sideboard incorporates the Tivoli Radio Combo System; Hansen created it for the audio brand. A set of simple white shelves display favorite everyday objects... ...including Hansen’s Rooibos tea, a vase from her friend Milia Seyppel, Mast Brother’s chocolate (she’s an admirer of the company’s packaging), and a copy of the Rose Bakery cookbook. Hansen brings greenery into the master bedroom with wallpaper by Arte-International that hangs over a Hansen wooden headboard with geometric shapes in relief. The pendant lights came from an auction: “I like low lights in the bedroom because they’re cosy,” says Hansen. In her daughter’s bedroom, Hansen introduces a sophisticated whimsy with a Ball Clock by George Nelson, a Pendant Light by Danish designer (and friend) Tom Rossau, and cushions from Danish housewares company Ferm Living. The living room doubles as a guest room, thanks to two Remix Night Couches, each of which is a sofa bed. “I wanted to design a sleeping couch that was comfortable without losing sight of its overall aesthetic integrity,” says Hansen of the Remix Night Couch. The couch extends simply by pulling out the base. The Remix Coffee Table, a Hansen Family classic, comes in three sizes. Woodworking tools and carvings from The Hansen Family studio workshop in Möhnesee, Germany, where Hansen grew up. Have a look at it on Freunde von Freunden. And over on Gardenista, see Castor Design Creates a Sauna in a Shipping Container.