Hearth & Hollow

— Vol. VIII Issue 04 · April MMXXVI

Studio · Berlin · Stockholm Est. 2014

— Featured · Halvorsen residence · Stockholm

Slow rooms, quiet light, long lives.

An interior design & architecture studio creating purpose-driven spaces — one apartment, one restaurant, one private home at a time. Twelve projects a year, never more.

Scroll to enter the studio

Halvorsen residence · Östermalm · Photo by Mikkel Bække · Pp. 02

We believe a room should ask less and offer more — surfaces that age into themselves, light that arrives quietly, furniture that earns its place over years rather than seasons. Our work is residential, commercial, and bespoke furniture, made slowly and on purpose for clients who care about what their guests touch.

— Lena Sjögren, Founder · Principal

Quiet Scandinavian living room with cream sofa, oak furniture and filtered morning light — HEARTH & HOLLOW / Architecture

— Sjögren residence · Östermalm · 2025

— 01 / Selected work

A pre-war apartment, refused into stillness.

Two hundred and twenty square metres in central Stockholm, returned to itself across nineteen months. We removed seven walls, then put two back. The floor came from a barn near Lake Mälaren that hadn't been opened in forty years.

Every surface in the apartment was sample-tested for a season before specification. The kitchen took longer than the bedrooms put together.

Read the case study →

"A room is not finished when there is nothing left to add — it is finished when there is nothing left to remove and still feel at home."

Studio philosophy · taped to the wall since 2014

— 02 / Commercial

A tea room you can hear yourself think in.

Brunow & Daughters opened on a quiet street in Mitte last spring. The brief was a single line: "make it feel like a Sunday morning at 8am, even on a Friday at 7pm."

We worked with the family for fourteen months. Almost everything in the room — the tea table, the linen drapes, the wood stools — was designed for them, and exists nowhere else.

Read the case study →

— Brunow & Daughters · Berlin · 2025

[ 02 ] Services

Four practices.
One slow approach.

Whether a single chair or a whole building, we work the same way — quietly, with material samples, with sketches first, with the client in the room.

[ 01 ]

Residential

Apartments, townhouses, and weekend retreats. We see the project through from first survey to the moving truck.

↗

[ 02 ]

Commercial

Restaurants, tea rooms, and hotels for owners who care about what their guests touch. We turn down most of what we're offered.

↗

[ 03 ]

Custom furniture

One-of-a-kind pieces designed for specific rooms, built by hand in our Berlin workshop. Solid timbers, traditional joinery, no shortcuts.

↗

[ 04 ]

Art direction

Visual identity and material curation for hospitality projects. We extend the room into the brand — and the brand back into the room.

↗

[ 03 ] The team

Eight people.
Two studios.

Lena founded the studio in Stockholm in 2014. Mathias opened the Berlin studio in 2019. Today we are a practice of eight — and we plan to stay that way.

[ 01 ]

Lena Sjögren

Founder · Principal

LinkedIn →

[ 02 ]

Mathias Brunow

Architect

LinkedIn →

[ 03 ]

Ines Halvorsen

Interior lead

LinkedIn →

[ 04 ]

Paolo Reyes

Furniture design

LinkedIn →

[ 04 ] Recognition

Awards & press.

A small selection — we don't enter most awards anymore, but the work occasionally finds a jury that does.

'24

Dezeen Awards

Interior of the year · Halvorsen residence

'23

Wallpaper* Design

Best use of material · Brunow tea room

'22

Frame Awards

Sustainable interior · Sjögren residence

'21

Architizer A+

Residential · finalist

'20

Sight Unseen

Featured studio · published Aug 2020

'19

Wallpaper*

The Wallpaper* 100 · profile

[ 05 ] — Newsletter · Four issues a year

Four times a year we send fieldnotes from the studio.

— No spam · One thoughtful issue per season · Unsubscribe whenever

A closer look / HEARTH & HOLLOW

The details that make a room last.

Tell us how you live, what you love and what the room needs to do.

Start with your space

From the first sketch

A considered path from idea to place.

Understand the site

Light, context, daily routines and the constraints of the property shape the brief.

Explore the possibilities

Review layouts, materials and priorities together before committing to a direction.

Resolve the details

Agree the scope, the next decisions and the responsibilities that carry the work forward.

Good to know

A few things
you might ask.

What should I bring to the first conversation?

A location, a few photographs and a sense of your priorities are a useful start. Drawings and surveys help when available.

Can we discuss an early-stage idea?

Yes. An initial brief can explore feasibility, priorities and the questions to resolve before a detailed design begins.

How are budgets and timelines established?

They depend on the site, scope and approvals. Request a project-specific proposal before making commitments.

The next step

Start with your space.

Tell us how you live, what you love and what the room needs to do.

Call +212 663 545 330 ↗WhatsApp RAIN DESIGN STUDIO ↗

A pre-war apartment, refused into stillness.

A tea room you can hear yourself think in.

Four practices.One slow approach.

Residential

Commercial

Custom furniture

Art direction

Eight people.Two studios.

Lena Sjögren

Mathias Brunow

Ines Halvorsen

Paolo Reyes

Awards & press.

Dezeen Awards

Wallpaper* Design

Frame Awards

Architizer A+

Sight Unseen

Wallpaper*

Four times a year we send fieldnotes from the studio.

The details that make a room last.

A considered path from idea to place.

Understand the site

Explore the possibilities

Resolve the details

A few thingsyou might ask.

Start with your space.

Four practices.
One slow approach.

Eight people.
Two studios.

A few things
you might ask.