Emily Bratt & Joel Karlsson

This is also where gardener Emily Bratt and industrial designer Joel Karlsson have found their place on earth. At the end of the gravel road, their house rises into view, with a weathered grey facade that almost seamlessly blends into the surrounding landscape. But the fact that this was where the family would settle was never something they had planned.
– It was pure chance that led us here. When we found the plot, there was only a small summer cottage here, and there wasn’t even a proper road leading to it, says Joel.

Even so, they both fell for the location, the natural surroundings and not least – the possibilities for growing.
– I immediately felt there was something magical about this place. It has everything: the forest, the coastal meadows and then the sea. But it was the opportunity to have a garden of my own that was decisive, says Emily.

The plan to build their own road began to take shape, and quite soon it became clear that the little summer cottage needed to be demolished to make room for something new.

– We tried sleeping one night in that cute little cottage, but we woke up because we could hear movement inside the walls. I spotted a hole where a pair of antennae was sticking out. It turned out the entire walls were full of carpenter ants, says Emily, laughing.

After looking at different solutions, they ultimately chose a catalogue house, which Joel could redesign to suit their wishes. Among other things, the foundation was adapted to make room for Joel’s vintage car.
– Our idea was to build as large as possible so we wouldn’t have to extend it later. But of course that has come with challenges, with some of the rooms remaining unfinished for quite a long time. But to us, it’s not the end of the world, says Joel.
– Other people might get stressed by that, but it has been a strength that we’re not bothered by living like that. I think we’re both quite used to a bit of chaos, says Emily.

The move to Tjörn became a turning point in Emily’s life. After mainly working with public garden environments, a longing for a more sustainable life began to grow, both personally and professionally.
– We had just started building the house and wanted to live more closely with our interests, which we couldn’t really do in the same way when we lived in an apartment in the city, says Emily.

During artist Olle Ljungström’s final tour, where Emily sang backing vocals, her interest in the Slow Flower movement also began to grow in parallel. Since then, she has published the book “A Different Kind of Garden”, in which the reader is invited into her flourishing world and can learn more about how to grow cut flowers year-round in a sustainable way in their own garden.

She is one of the initiators of “Blomsteruppropet”, which encourages people to choose climate-smart, locally grown seasonal flowers; she was previously vice chair of the association “Snittblomsodlare i Sverige” and has launched Sweden’s first Slow Flower education programme at Gunnebo Castle.

Through workshops and on Instagram, she also shares stunning centerpieces and personal floral arrangements.
– I started working with gardening 24 years ago and have always been fascinated by plants. My interest in cut flowers specifically, and in arranging flowers, came later. When I discovered the Slow Flower movement, I immediately felt that it was something important and interesting. During this time, many people had begun to embrace growing their own seasonal vegetables, but locally grown seasonal cut flowers practically didn’t exist. In dag I give lectures and hold workshops, I also do garden consultations, and in November my second book will be published, says Emily.

If Emily’s creativity is given free rein in the garden, Joel’s is given free rein at the architecture firm Krook & Tjäder, where he works as Head of Design and industrial designer. He recently won the competition to develop a new design for Stockholm’s bus shelters, but he is best known for the lamp and modern design classic Streck, created for Örsjö Belysning.
– Of all the products I’ve created, that lamp has become something of a national celebrity, Joel explains.

Joel describes himself as a collector, and although neither of them finds it easy to place their home within a specific interior style, there are several things that tie the décor together.
– We may not have a clearly defined interior style, but every piece of furniture and every object in the house has a provenance. Whether it’s an antique item, a piece of craftsmanship or an Italian sofa. Everything has a story, and is in our home for a reason. To us, that makes it more interesting, says Joel.

One example is the homemade diving helmet in the bookcase, which Joel’s mother used for diving many years ago. There is also a clear idea behind every room – such as the green-painted office or the blue hallway that leads up to the wallpapered poppy library.
– We’ve always called the room the library, and after the poppies went up on the walls, it became our poppy library, says Joel.

For both of them, it felt completely natural that Vallmo would dress the walls of the library.
– One of our first dogs was called Vallmo, and if we’d had a daughter, her name would have been Poppy, so it felt lovely to bring vallmo into our home, says Joel.

But that wasn’t the only reason they both fell for the large-scale wallpaper. The modernist feel was important, but so was its connection to the garden.
– When I first saw this wallpaper, I just felt: Yes! This is the wallpaper we’re going to have. It felt so incredibly wonderful with the giant poppies, that they really get to take up space in the room, says Emily.

She explains that vallmo is a flower that, in different ways, has followed her through life.
– In ninth grade, I did a project on the corn poppy, and I remember the first time I read about the coveted blue Himalayan poppy in my favourite book, “Your Garden” by Karin Berglund. It was the most beautiful flower I had ever seen! Different species of annual vallmo were also among the first flowers I sowed here in the garden, says Emily.

The importance of beauty is something Emily often returns to:
– As a gardener, you’re site-oriented, which means the right plant in the right place. That’s why there is something so beautiful about picking flowers that have grown in different parts of the garden, in completely different growing environments. When you place them in a centerpiece, flowers that would never meet out in the wild have their very first love encounter. And that, that is something truly extraordinary!