Kristina Tjäder

With Hyfer Objects, she wants to challenge our view of luxury and what design can be. By challenging conventions, production processes and materials, they transform scrap into treasures — or, as Vogue wrote about Hyfer, “Hyfer Objects are turning waste into interior treasures”. Kristina has dressed her dining room in the Toile de Jouy wallpaper, which takes her on a journey back to the time she spent newly in love in Paris.

It was through her grandmother Dagmar, who shares her name with the sisters’ company House of Dagmar, that Kristina found an outlet for her creativity from a young age. Dagmar taught Kristina how to sew, and together they made clothes and accessories for all her dolls.

“As soon as I could sew, Grandma began teaching me how to create patterns, and I started making my own clothes. They probably looked quite strange back then — my style stood out a lot from that of other young people at the time. I made blazers and dresses from coarse upholstery fabrics and really let my creativity flow. I just wanted to create something, and I loved sketching out what I wanted to sew.”

It was Kristina’s mother who suggested that she apply to a design school in Paris, and even though she had never dared hope that her interest in fashion would lead to anything in the future, she mailed in her application.

“I got in, and in the autumn I moved to Paris. The entire course was in French and my French was very poor, but I learned quickly and completely fell in love with Paris.”

Kristina looks back on the years in Paris as some of the most defining of her life. The city embraced her, and her studies led to both exciting encounters and access to the most exclusive fashion circles. It was also here that her love of quality began to grow.

“Paris really can consume you — you love it and hate it at the same time. But there and then, a little Frenchwoman moved into me and never really left. There is something about that city: it is love and drama, heated discussions and romance all at once. French culture adds a golden touch to everything — the wine tastes a little better, the cheeses are a little creamier, and they speak with their whole body; it suits me.”

Love found Kristina’s postal address while she was in Paris, and together with her future husband she stayed on in Paris and worked before Stockholm awaited further north in Europe. But Paris will always be their city, and they travel back as often as they can to walk along the avenue of memories.

“Turn of the millennium was an exciting time in Stockholm’s fashion world. Acne Studios had just launched, and with them came a number of other brands that quickly made a name for themselves. My sisters and I, who at the time were in different parts of the industry, felt that something was missing. The idea was to focus on quality and, as always for me, inspiration begins with materials. I had just been to a few yarn fairs and was completely obsessed, so we started with knitwear.”

There is no doubt that materials are the spark that lights Kristina’s fire. During her time as head designer at House of Dagmar, she introduced a range of innovative and sustainable materials and ways of working, something Dagmar was very early in embracing. Working towards a more circular fashion world became Kristina’s true passion.

But over time, her interest in interiors and furniture design began to grow stronger, and when she stepped away from the head designer’s chair a few years ago, the move into the design industry felt natural. The question she had asked herself so many times at Dagmar — “what can we create that is beautiful from what already exists” — took on a whole new meaning, and the brand Hyfer Objects was born.

“To create, for me, is really about giving form to your thoughts and ideas, whether the purpose is commercial or creative. But when I design, I always think in silhouettes, and I see myself as having one foot in fashion and one foot in design. My way of working probably has a lot to do with my education, as in Paris we did a lot of draping on a mannequin using a cotton fabric called ‘toile’. It becomes very craft-based, and the material is allowed to lead the way. That is exactly how it began with Hyfer — we found different materials, including old fishing nets and waste materials from the forestry industry, things that would otherwise have been burned. What they have in common is that they are incredibly malleable through innovative techniques such as 3D printing. All our furniture is circular — it has been something before, and it can become something else afterwards. We want to challenge the traditional way of looking at luxury.”

The interior, much like Kristina’s design philosophy, is rooted in a deep love of quality and history. When it comes to Kristina’s own home, feeling and purpose have been allowed to lead the way entirely. The many intense years spent on the fast-spinning carousel of the fashion industry created a need for a place to land — somewhere to recharge and spend time with family.

“It was the house’s straight lines and challenging cubist dimensions, together with the lush plot, that decided it. I come from Gothenburg and thought I wanted the sea on my doorstep, but I truly found my home in the little forest of oak trees that our plot is. We took the house and made it our own, creating a new layout and new flow. I find it very easy to visualise, and I mainly think in images. The interior becomes a cross between what makes me feel good and what I find beautiful. The mix becomes eclectic, a blend of old and new, designer furniture and finds. I find trends in themselves rather uninteresting and always have, but what I do find interesting is what creates a trend.”

Kristina describes her house as “mostly walls”, a cubist home with lots of different angles and levels. The windows are placed both high and low, and even in the ceiling, creating many interesting flows of light.

“You almost don’t need any art on the walls, because the architecture itself is so interesting and the light becomes so expressive. But since the walls are like the house’s own skin, it would be a shame to leave them bare. The wallpaper Toile de Jouy awakened that Frenchwoman who moved into me during my time in Paris. So when Toile de Jouy, which to me represents French culture, the way of living and the way of loving, came into contrast with the graphic black-and-white and the modern architecture of our house, it almost became a description of my life.”

The walls dressed in Toile de Jouy in Kristina’s home bring a French ambience in contrast to the Scandinavian minimalist architecture, a mix that creates a distinctive whole that then continues as a common thread throughout the house.

“I love how the oak trees in the wallpaper echo the oak trees in our garden. But above all, I see the story unfolding before me on the wall. It’s a bit like a film playing out — perhaps it’s a love triangle, or perhaps it’s a ménage à trois? In France, everyone has a lover. During my first year in Paris, I rented a room from a Frenchwoman, and I wasn’t allowed to be at home on Friday evenings because that was when her lover would come over. It was lucky after all that I fell in love with a Swedish man in Paris.”