Words by Camille Okhio Photography by Line Klein Styling by Mille Collin Flaherty
Born and raised just outside of Copenhagen—one of the more minimal realms in the world of design—Céline Hallas is as rebellious as Danes come. “My bedroom was very colorful as a child,” she shares. “My parents did not understand! As soon as I moved away, they were like, now we are going to paint Céline’s room white.”
She treats her own prismatic family apartment as a laboratory, and works out her ideas and aesthetic experiments in real time. With her husband, Daniel (a web designer whom she met at a local disco almost 20 years ago), Hallas improvises as she goes, dreaming up new wall colors pretty much as soon as the paint on their most recent project dries. It’s their catharsis; it’s their fun. Even more so because the historic space is located in Copenhagen’s central and traditionally touristy neighborhood of Nyhavn (which translates to “new harbor”). “Our building is from 1840, and we are right across from a row of 17th-century homes,” says Hallas. As a listed property, there is very little that can be changed structurally—a challenge that perfectly suits the creative-minded problem solver (who toggles between work as an art director and a photographer, crafting a “visual universe” whether through events or images).
Opening image: I Never Promised You a Pink Garden Paint, File Under Pop; Pax Wardrobes with Tyssedal Doors, IKEA. Above, from left: Hill House 1 Chair by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Cassina; Haze Sideboard, Ferm Living.
Floating Drawer System, Montana Furniture; Framed Art by Richard Mortensen, Birgitte Vad, Emma Kohlmann, and Céline Hallas.
Below, from top: Hampshire Desk, Rattan Chair, Pastel Shag Rug, Jenny Lind Daybed, Modern Dome Touch Table Light, Crate&kids; Duvet Cover and Mini Gingham Pillows, Heather Taylor Home; Model 63A Bench by Møller, Design Within Reach; Sierra Rug, Armadillo.
Above: Rattan Twin Daybed, Modern Floral Rug, Victorian Dollhouse, Nesting Play Table and Chairs Set, Rattan Rocking Horse, Butterfly Mobile by Baby Jives, Beaumont White Wall Rack, Crate&kids; Sunflower Gingham Duvet Cover, Heather Taylor Home.
“I love a hodgepodge of colors and shapes...it has something
to do with growing up in
New York.”
Dreamcoat
Technicolor
Through CEline Hallas’s kaleidoscope, even bubblegum pink starts to look like a neutral.
She treats her own prismatic family apartment as a laboratory, and works out her ideas and aesthetic experiments in real time. With her husband, Daniel (a web designer whom she met at a local disco almost 20 years ago), Hallas improvises as she goes, dreaming up new wall colors pretty much as soon as the paint on their most recent project dries. It’s their catharsis; it’s their fun. Even more so because the historic space is located in Copenhagen’s central and traditionally touristy neighborhood of Nyhavn (which translates to “new harbor”). “Our building is from 1840, and we are right across from a row of 17th-century homes,” says Hallas. As a listed property, there is very little that can be changed structurally—a challenge that perfectly suits the creative-minded problem solver (who toggles between work as an art director and a photographer, crafting a “visual universe” whether through events or images).
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