Here's How to Make Warm Minimalism Work in Your Home

In his first monograph, A Sense of Place, Danish designer David Thulstrup sets the record straight on Scandinavian style. His version is pared-back, personal and organic — and he’d love to expand on just how it’s done.

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May 24, 2023

By: Lauren Oster

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Photo By: Studio David Thulstrup

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Photo By: Studio David Thulstrup

Photo By: Irina Boersma Cesar Machado

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Photo By: Peter Krasilnikoff

Photo By: Irina Boersma Cesar Machado

Photo By: Studio David Thulstrup

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Photo By: Studio David Thulstrup

Photo By: Peter Krasilnikoff

How to Get Personal With Materials

“I have always had an issue with the general perception of Scandinavian interiors as being non-material, minimalistic spaces with pale wooden floors and white walls, because I have never lived like that; I grew up surrounded by massive materiality,” says award-winning designer and architect David Thulstrup in the introduction to A Sense of Place, Sophie Lovell’s new monograph on his work. Raised in an old farmhouse on Denmark’s Øresund coast, he remembers strong colors, massive exposed wooden beams and eclectic furnishings, and his sense of that home’s soul helps him pare his designs back to their most dynamic, essential elements. Minimalism, you see, should make you feel alive. Here’s how David makes it work.

Turning the Page on Minimalism’s Chilly Reputation

Does Scandinavian design gives you the shivers? David — whose "modern simplicity" has created unforgettable, humanistic spaces in projects ranging from intimate residences to Noma (the Copenhagen restaurant repeatedly named the world's best) — invites you to consider his work. Is it minimalistic? Certainly. Is it cold? Far from it.

SEE MORE: Can Cozy + Modern Mix? Top Designers Weigh In

Open With a Bold Thesis Statement

Guests moving through Noma’s main entrance space encounter Conscious Compass, a massive hanging sculpture by the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Created with driftwood and raw earth magnets, the boldly-colored piece points due north — and serves as an apt introduction to Noma’s culinary exploration of the natural world. David's design for this vestibule is unquestionably simple, but it sets the stage for everything that follows.

Incorporate Unexpected Materials for a Neo-Farmhouse Vibe

For a long, transitional lounge space that integrates Noma’s greenhouses with its entrance, David commissioned custom-made pine furniture with thick wool cushions. Overhead, a metal and hemp shade filters sunlight, and on each side of the corridor, floor-to-ceiling curtain dividers constructed from potato-sack fabric create a unique backdrop. The look is both neutral and unexpectedly rustic, and it demonstrates that simple things can still be surprising.

SEE MORE: Tour a Minimalist, Rustic Farmhouse for Major Style Inspiration

Try End-Cut Wood As a Wall Treatment

Noma’s main dining room features walls clad with stacked planks of end-grain oak, a treatment that complements both the wide planks underfoot and the narrow battens that line the vaulted ceiling. It’s a sophisticated look that also conveys a sense of organic ease — and it’s an excellent candidate for a feature wall (or four walls) in a residential setting. Using light-colored wood throughout your home is a way to bring warmth even when the design trends toward minimalist.

SEE MORE: 12 Wood-Paneled Walls That Are Anything But Dated

Choose Furniture That Draws on Design Traditions

David designed the Arv (meaning “heritage” in Danish) collection featuring this graceful chair especially for Noma. Like generations of Danish design classics before it, it features "branching" joinery that seamlessly connects its limbs. Its hand-woven, natural "paper cord" seat and backrest harken back to World War II, when sisal wasn’t readily available and Swedish artisans developed a way to mimic it. You can get a similar look with Shaker, midcentury and other classic design styles.

SEE MORE: Mid-Mod Style Guide: 15 Iconic Scandinavian Chairs

Collect Stories (and Endow Character) With Reclaimed Materials

David custom-designed monolithic dining tables for Noma using reclaimed pine; the massive, darkened slabs contrast beautifully with the smooth lines and pale tone of his Arv chairs. Salvaged materials like this are both simple and resonant — and in combination with new pieces, they add up to streamlined design that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

Reach for Textural Stone

Why hone away stone’s character when you can celebrate a great slab of it? For a lounging area at Noma, David paired a custom rug featuring subtle linear texture with custom coffee tables made of monolithic black Swedish granite. Smooth on top and fantastically rough on their sides, the tables feel contemporary and prehistoric all at once.

SEE MORE: Minimalist Living Room Designs We Love

Favor Furnishings With Rounded Shapes

When David developed designs at Donum Home, a wine tasting, dining and entertainment space in California’s Sonoma Valley, he found that his clients’ affinity for feng shui (and aversion to cold materials and sharp corners) dovetailed handily with his own design sensibilities. He chose E15’s Ashida table — a graceful piece that pairs beautifully with his Arv dining chairs — to anchor this space. The lighting here is softened as well: He chose Poul Henningsen’s iconic Artichoke Lamp, a fixture that employs concentric rows of "leaves" to provide soft, indirect illumination.

SEE MORE: 20 Gorgeous Dining Room Lighting Ideas

Let Natural, Imperfect Wood Become a Central Character in Your Space

Converted from a former factory and garage, this Copenhagen home still has the industrial feel its new owner requested. But it also has a new, warmer spirit, thanks to additions like the massive natural heart oak slabs that serve as wall panels and floorboards. With knots and natural cracks that are celebrated rather than concealed, minimally manipulated wood like this evokes the massive old trees from which it’s sourced when it’s presented in long, wide segments.

Consider Raw Brick and Terrazzo and Mixing Up Your Materials

Once a factory wall, the dark and raw original brick face in this open-plan kitchen contrasts beautifully with the terrazzo island’s pale background. Each material features fantastic visual (and, in the bricks’ case, literal) texture that more uniform choices — say, walls painted in a similar tone and a solid-lacquered work station — couldn’t hope to match.

SEE MORE: Hello, Terrazzo! This Throwback Trend Is Back in a Big Way

Restore Your Home While Retaining Its History

This spectacular, two-story renovation began as what David describes as a “rather warren-like home” that was fragmented into small, dark rooms. As his team worked to simplify the structure and introduce much-needed natural light, “the old wooden beams revealed themselves. They held so much character and history, I knew they would make a unique contribution to the end result,” he recalls in A Sense of Place. Those now-prominent bones of the 1890s building offer the best of both worlds: There’s room for recollection and room to breathe.

SEE MORE: The Best Historic Home Renovations from HGTV Stars

Use Materials That Become More Beautiful With Time (Not Uglier)

This dramatic staircase has a custom yellow-pated zinc finish that’s typically used for industrial purposes. Here, the patina it will acquire as it’s handled will become even more spectacular as time goes by. When you’re thinking about adding something to your space, think about what it will look like in five, 10 or even 20 years. Will wear lessen or add to it? “Cheap, white laminate furniture, such as shelves or tables, are the most lifeless objects that you can look at,” David notes in A Sense of Place. “They are just dead, white, non-interchangeable things. When they get older, you just see damage and dirt, and it’s not pretty."

SEE MORE: Trendspotting: Heirloom

Present Flowers and Greenery Like Contemporary Art

The same principles David applied in designing a Copenhagen floral shop apply to private spaces like this serene loft bedroom. This ostensibly austere backdrop — a shadow-cleaved stone podium and a black vase with crisp geometry — provides a frame in which these Persian lilies’ elegant lines look even more decadent. The combination is undeniably magical.

SEE MORE: Scandinavian Styling Tips From an Icelandic Attic Apartment

Pair Simple Forms With Luxurious Upholstery

Inspired by typography, the Font upholstered seating collection David developed for Møbel Copenhagen envelops neutral forms in soft materials. These pieces don’t draw attention to themselves — they’re just really, really comfortable. David finds this sofa’s shape and sheepskin so inviting that he echoes it in his own apartment.

SEE MORE: Quiet Luxury Is the Latest Interior Design Trend

Celebrate How Light Moves Through Your Home And Design Accordingly

“During the winter, when the sun is shining, the sunlight bounces off a building across the road into a corner of our apartment for about 30 minutes right at the end of the day,” David says in A Sense of Place. “So, of course, I keep a chair in that spot because at the end of a dark winter work day, it is the most lovely place to sit and catch a moment of sun on your skin.”

Open Up a Dialogue With Your Environment

A Sense of Place takes its name from how David uses his surroundings to inform his designs and his practice of keeping “visual diaries on [his] phone of compositions and materials that are almost like little guidebooks made up of zoomed images of materials and surfaces.” Anyone can create a similar material mood board for their own home.

When you let your surroundings guide your design decisions, even simple spaces come to life. “Everywhere I go, I focus on the stedsans, this ‘sense of place’ through the existing material palette,” he explains in the book. “Diving into a material palette of a city or place is very important to me and very inspiring.”

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Here's How to Make Warm Minimalism Work in Your Home

Related To:

Shop This Look

How to Get Personal With Materials

Turning the Page on Minimalism’s Chilly Reputation

Open With a Bold Thesis Statement

Incorporate Unexpected Materials for a Neo-Farmhouse Vibe

Try End-Cut Wood As a Wall Treatment

Choose Furniture That Draws on Design Traditions

Collect Stories (and Endow Character) With Reclaimed Materials

Reach for Textural Stone

Favor Furnishings With Rounded Shapes

Let Natural, Imperfect Wood Become a Central Character in Your Space

Consider Raw Brick and Terrazzo and Mixing Up Your Materials

Restore Your Home While Retaining Its History

Use Materials That Become More Beautiful With Time (Not Uglier)

Present Flowers and Greenery Like Contemporary Art

Pair Simple Forms With Luxurious Upholstery

Celebrate How Light Moves Through Your Home And Design Accordingly

Open Up a Dialogue With Your Environment

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