Jenny Mustard - Simple Matters: A Scandinavian’s Approach to Work, Home, and Style

Simple Matters

A Scandinavian's Approach to Work, Home, and Style

Jenny Mustard

Photographs by Jenny and David Mustard

Simple Matters

A Scandinavian's Approach to Work, Home, and Style

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2018 Jenny Mustard

Photographs 2018 Jenny and David Mustard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

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www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-1-4236-4964-9

For David and Sara.

My two biggest fans.

Casa Solo Pezo (through Boutique Homes)Cretas, Aragon, Spain

Simplicity: a word with such boring connotations. Going simple might bring to mind a life full of sacrifice, self-control, and sound shopping behavior. Not very sexy sounding, is it? Although Im aware that this take on the word is widespread, my perception of simplicity is another. As a born and raised Swede, moderation was included in the mothers milk. Our population is small, our language is small, and our wish for extravagances even smaller. We find beauty and calm in the understated, as youre probably well aware if youve ever picked up a Scandi interior design magazine.

My love for the simple matters isnt only because of my Swedish upbringing, though. Sure, my apartment is sparse and clean, and my wardrobe free from flamboyances such as primary colors, but my simplicity vein runs redder than that. Often less to do with my physical surroundings, and more with the weird and wondrous place of the mind. Less to do with the number of possessions I have, or the monochrome level of my wardrobe, and more with getting into a frame of mind I enjoy spending time in, no matter the size and shape of that particular frame.

I believe that getting to know ourselvesour preferences, dreams, and needsand then having the guts to go after them, is a pursuit worthy of our increasingly hard-to-capture attention. Asking what we want for ourselves, and listening intently to the answer. To do this we need to give our minds some space: a space full of energy and time, and free from chatter and distractions. Not to mention being free from the demands of society, from leading a life someone else has told us we want.

Now were moving into my territory, of seeing simplicity as freedom from rather than sacrifice of. A word describing laser-focus: paying attention to ourselves, instead of to the myriad things were indifferent to or find unnecessary. This way of living has, for me at least, proven to be utterly enjoyable. Not an ascetic experience void of emotions or wishes, but one of everyday pleasures, of feeling like Im being true to myself. Of giving a bit of a damn, and prioritizing what matters. Of throwing out the cookie cutter and going freehand.

I dont know about you, but I find the freehand kind of attention level hard to reach without some serious noise reduction. My hope is that this book might offer you some of those mental earplugs, and help create a space with the luxurious kind of simplicity, and everyday pleasures aplenty. Few things are as enjoyable as the flipping of pages after all.

So enjoy. Simply put, its my pleasure.

Pinacoteca di BreraMilan, Italy

Sentimentality (noun): having or arousing feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia, typically in an exaggerated and self-indulgent way, according to the OED. Also, perhaps, the most frequently stated reason for not letting go, whether concerning material things, physical places, or previous relationships. Me, Im an unsentimental person. Passionate, but not mushy. My man, on the other hand, loves the sentimental stuff. Upon moving in together, David packed four boxes filled with memorabilia. It was our first mini-crisis. Although he no longer carries around knickknacks (moving to a new city every three years or so tends to put an end to that kind of behavior), he still loves a good tearjerker movie, and gets misty-eyed when witnessing old couples in love or unexpected acts of kindness on the street. Its one of his most charming qualities.

I believe in letting go. Theres relief, peace of mind, and progress to be found here. Not to mention practicality. It comes easy to me, and always has. Too easily, some might say. David, however, is quite the opposite. Whenever I want to rid myself of some possession, hed prefer to keep it in the householdlike his winter coat, for example. Apparently he needs it for something.

When we left Sweden the first time, we moved from a standard-size, two-bedroom apartment in a small town, to a hotel-roomsized studio flat in London. We never even considered shipping furniture or other possessions abroadwe were going to start afresh! Our two-bedroom apartment had to be reduced to fit into a Volvo 460, which would take us to Stockholm, our first pit stop. The reduction took some time: going through the seven built-in wardrobes, the walk-in closet, and the storage room in the cellar to decide which possessions had enough meaning to be brought along to the new land (a.k.a. a strip clubsatiated Rupert Street in Soho).

A large van from the local charity shop came and picked up all the furniture, unwanted books, negligible kitchenware, and clothes no longer en vogue. Things even more useless (items broken, torn, or stained) went to the recycle waste station found in even the smallest Swedish towns. It was March. The worst kind of March. Snowstorms, windstorms, rainstorms for weeks. Sleet coming at you from the side in gushes, shoes soaking wet from stepping into grey, slushy puddles. Still, we packed the Volvo numerous times, going to that waste station, with cold feet and wet socks. Picking out the good bits to offer to the poor staff members hiding in a drafty shed, electric heater at full capacity, coffee thermoses covering all empty surfaces. The harshness of the conditions aside, I was excited. Bags and boxes of things no longer mine, to be recycled as the county saw fit. Possessions I didnt have to worry about anymore, carry around with me, or care for... the apartment getting emptier with each trip. Was there even a slight echo, just barely detectable?

Das Schwarze Haus (through Urlaubsarchitektur)Gerswalde, Germany

We couldnt afford a two-bedroom apartment in London. We could hardly even afford the fifty-square-foot studio we ended up with. But I surprised myself by not expecting the downsizing to be an issue. In fact, going through the built-in wardrobes and storage spaces, I was eagerly anticipating not having much room to fill. Our small town home had always felt too big for me, with too many kitchen cabinets and wardrobe shelves. If you have space, you tend to fill it with something, anything.

On our final trip to the waste station, we let go of the things in the maybe pilethe things we, until that point, were undecided about. The things wed been carrying around since childhood, so unimportant to everyday life as to not get removed from one moving box before it was time to move again: the eternally packed possessions. If it were up to David, we would have just left them in their boxes and taken them with us to Stockholm. Most of