Carrière James - Hygge & West home: design for a cozy life

For our parents.

Text copyright 2018 by Christiana Coop and Aimee Lagos.

Photographs copyright 2018 by Hygge & West.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Coop, Christiana, author. | Lagos, Aimee (Aimee Beth), author.
Title: Hygge & west home / Christiana Coop and Aimee Lagos of Hygge & West.
Description: San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017051571 | ISBN 9781452164328 (hardcover : alk. paper), ISBN 9781452164380 (epub, mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Interior decorationHuman factors. | Interior decorationThemes, motives.
Classification: LCC NK2113 .C655 2018 | DDC 747dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017051571

Design by Vanessa Dina
Typeset by Howie Severson

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The idea for this book was born out of our respect for and connection to the Danish concept of hygge, which loosely translates to cozy but means so much more. Weve often used hygge as a north star for interior design inspiration, since we think that its important to create spaces that foster an easy reverence for small moments and elevate the every day. Hygge is different for each person, and we love that its not a formally dictated thing or feeling, rather it invites you to consider what is comforting and meaningful in your own life and how to accommodate and nurture that with your interior design choices.

While hygge is deeply individual, there are some things that are consistently considered essential to achieving it, and weve used those things to organize the homes weve featured on the pages of this book. Enjoying nature, creating cozy spaces, spending time with family, and finding unique ways to experience contentment are all commonly cited as hygge, and we agree. Weve featured people who truly embrace living in and appreciating the moment and showcased all the different ways in which their homes embody this commitment to living with purpose. We hope that weve demonstrated that creating a warm, welcoming, personal space is something everyone can do. We also hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed creating it. We are deeply grateful to everyone who let us spend time in their home, and we will always treasure this as one of our most wonderfuland wonderfully hyggeexperiences.

We grew up together in Los Alamos, New Mexicoa small town in the mountains north of Santa Fe. We first met in preschool, but didnt become close friends until second grade, when we bonded over our mutual love of ballet. We both still remember our first official playdatewe created an elaborate Smurf village in the sandbox of Christianas backyard.

Our entrepreneurial instincts first became evident in the very early years of our friendship. We had dreamed up an imaginary boutique wed own together one day called the Denver, because Denver was the biggest city either of us had ever visited at that age. Sadly, it was also not an especially original name, as there actually was a department store called the Denver at the time. Nonetheless, wed spend hours drawing full catalogs of clothing and accessories with detailed descriptions. One of our biggest regrets is that neither of us know what happened to that catalog; we sure would love to flip through its pages today.

We were joined at the hip for the better part of elementary, middle, and high school. We spent our summers together at the neighborhood pool or riding bikes around our scenic hometown.

We double-dated at almost every high school dance we attended, and when we werent invited to a dance, we spent the evening commiserating together, watching movies, and highlighting our hair. Always like-minded, we both became deeply obsessed with Top Gun, and continue to speak in Top Gun quotes (much to the chagrin of those closest to us). There are few memories from our collective adolescence that do not include the other.

Following high school, we went our separate ways, with Aimee heading off to North Carolina and Christiana to Colorado. Aimee went straight to law school after college, while Christiana was able to finagle a much cooler life, living in Aspen, Colorado, for two years before she eventually also attended law school. We ended up at the same huge law firm in Chicago, though our overlap was short. Aimee had quickly determined that being a big firm litigation associate was not the right fit for her, and left to start a family. Christiana eventually transferred from Chicago to the San Francisco branch of her firm and settled in the Bay Area, and Aimee moved to Minneapolis with her young family and started a new career in marketing.

After a while, we were both looking for some change in our lives, which, for both of us, ended up being precipitated by a change in decor. Aimee was searching for new bedroom furniture, and as always, it was a mutual project as we constantly emailed ideas back and forth, discussing the pros and cons of different potential interior schemes. During this hunt, Aimee came across a Danish wallpaper company, ferm LIVING, and both of us fell in love with their unique designs. When we tried to place an order, we discovered that they did not have a U.S. distributor, and so a plan was hatched. The next time we were together, we built a detailed marketing and distribution plan (perhaps exaggerating our expertise in both areas) and then reached out to ferm LIVING. To our surprise and delight, they agreed to our plan, and in the spring of 2007, we became their first U.S. distributor.

Wed been working with ferm LIVING for a little over a year when the economy started to sputter, and it became increasingly difficult to run the distributorship profitably. Wed also realized that the work wasnt as creative as wed initially hoped it would bewe were essentially salespeople, and the majority of our time was spent dealing with overseas shipping companies and figuring out how long shipments would be stuck in customs. We started to discuss what our next step might look like. Our time with ferm LIVING had taught us so much and had also given us solid connections within the interior design industry. Wed fallen in love with wallpaper during this time, and we saw an unexplored niche in the industry. Wallpaper was just starting to see a resurgence as a design trend. As a product, it was neither very accessible nor affordable. We thought that we could offer a high-quality, well-designed, and reasonably priced product direct to the consumer, and the idea of starting our own wallpaper company was born.