Visiting Pavlína Louženská

She is behind the successful platform #HolkyzMarketingu and as a certified mentor from Google she helps young brands grow. This time we were guided through her home full of iconic design by Pavlína Louženská. Read why she compares interior design to creating a website, what her rituals are and where she hunts for unique pieces for her apartment.

WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES A HOME?

Home is not a place, but a feeling. A feeling of safety. A feeling that it is something mine. A feeling that you can kick off your shoes and unbutton your pants. A feeling that this place is me. In my opinion, home reflects who you are, what your values are, what you like. That's why it's so intimate for us to invite someone "up." And that's why it's so hard to find a sense of home in hotel rooms. They are not yours in the slightest.

The sofa at Pavlína is decorated with our woven and knitted accessory collections.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE RITUAL?

Getting into the bathtub for the whole evening. And then moving. My mom moved my whole childhood and I inherited it from her. I get nervous when things in the apartment have their fixed place for too long.

WHAT SHOULD EVERYONE HAVE AT HOME?

A place where you can curl up. Watch Too Hot to Handle, or blow your nose after a bad breakup. Simply a place where you feel safe and at peace. It can be a niche, an armchair, a bed, or anything else.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PLACE IN YOUR APARTMENT?

I like any uncluttered space. I grew up in a small apartment in a housing estate where storage spaces were constantly optimized. Boxes under the bed, the ability to store something in the sofa, or a suspended ceiling in the toilet. We were constantly figuring out how to store things well. I currently have a storage room and a dressing room at home, and thanks to that, I can breathe in the rest of the apartment, leaving enough space for life.

"I like any uncluttered space."

WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO BUY FURNITURE?

I enjoy what the guys at Nanovo manage to catch. They always sell me a story along with a lamp or chair. My favorite brown wing chair that I have from them was bought by a young couple with the money they got from their parents for their wedding. It was intended for a car, but they discovered two chairs in Tuzex and decided that they wanted to grow old in them next to each other. They ended up at Nanovo as an inheritance from their daughter. And besides the fact that it is the most comfortable chair I have, I always feel warmed by the thought that it got a second chance with me.

And I also spend hours at furniture bazaars. From Sbazar, to 1stdibs, to flea markets. I have a weakness for vintage IKEA.

Lamps of all shapes and colors decorate every room in Pavlína's apartment.

IS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU THINK MAKES EVERY SPACE COZY?

In my opinion, coziness is about feeling good in that apartment. And that's not done with blankets, but by building an apartment tailored to you. We say that we are all unique, and then we live in copies of the same IKEA showroom. That's a shame!

When I help my friends design apartments, I talk to them about how they live, what they do and how they spend their time. Someone spends most of their day at the computer and doesn't have visitors, so they won't need a big desk. When you design websites, you use tracking to track how the user moves around the website, and I think about the same thing with apartments. I make a heat map of movement and ask myself why I don't spend as much time in the living room or in an armchair, and what would have to change to be there more. That's why I move so often.

I was greatly influenced by Ilse Crawford (1) and her approach to interior design. She says that interiors should reflect and evoke emotions. That you should first explore the feelings you want to have in that place, and only then figure out what kind of sofa you need and where it will stand.

But let me be specific – when I talked to interior designers, they advised me to pay close attention to the light. So that there are more sources at different levels relative to the eyes. And the temperature of the bulbs is also important, no one wants to live in a hospital corridor with blue light. So I have small lamps all over the apartment. I usually hunt for them on Nanovo.

(1) Tip: There's a documentary about her on Netflix called Abstract.

The main role in the bedroom is taken by the popular wingback and the Afternoon Storm bedding collection.

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR LOVE STORY WITH CHAIRS?

Chairs are symbolic. When we buy a chair, we often make a promise to ourselves. From now on, I will read more. From now on, I will have a big family that will gather around the table. From now on, I have my own place in this office.

They always have a story. I listen to people tell me about their favorite furniture, and almost always it is a chair. Because Eames designed it using innovative methods, because it is their grandmother's, because it is their chair at the desk.

Chairs are safe. Places that are so big that the entire universe of our existence takes place in them and small enough to make us feel safe. Long ago, we were looking for a safe cave, a shelter from the world, and now chairs play this role for us.

And last but not least – chairs are a sign of progress. For a long time, they were a privilege of the royal court. A symbol of power. Only knights could sit (on chairs) around a round table. Only Marie Antoinette could eat strawberries on a daybed. Only a king could sit on a throne.

There are so many! I also wrote more about chairs in my newsletter.

"It's the most comfortable chair I have."

WHERE DO YOU LOOK FOR INSPIRATION FOR INTERIOR DESIGN?

Pinterest. I have about twenty thousand saved images there and most of them are interiors. And then my favorite interior designers (Ilse Crawford), books and magazines (Milk, ELLE Decoration, Kinfolk, Monocle and many others), newsletters (Tyler Watamanuk writes about chairs) or museums of applied design. This summer I was again at the Vitra Design Museum in Basel and again I left with a head full of ideas on how to move the entire apartment.

I like it when I know what story is connected to the design of a particular piece, or I understand the context in which it was created. That's why I have such a weakness for bent wood from Artek, or a bench from Lexová Smetana.

WHAT DID YOU LAST PURCHASE FOR YOUR APARTMENT? WHAT'S ON YOUR WISHLIST?

We recently received a wooden spoon from Tadeáš Podracký, Lasvit glasses, a crystal ball that casts a rainbow when the light shines on it, and finally a drill.

And now I really want a Roly Poly chair from TooGood, a table from Hem, a painting by Matěj Macháček, and a big kitchen.

Afternoon Storm Bedding & Daily Notes Pillowcase & Colour Melange plaid.

IF YOUR HOUSE WAS ON FIRE, WHAT THREE THINGS WOULD YOU SAVE?

If I leave out personal items like photos or jewelry, or things I need for work, the furnishings in my apartment would be my favorite Vitra LCM chair, a painting from India that I inherited from my grandmother, and the book The Last Unicorn that I got from my boyfriend.

WHEN DO YOU FEEL THE HAPPIEST AT HOME?

When I'm not alone there.

Blue and white Playful Cotton terry & gray Confident Hemp guest towels.

SHOW US YOUR FAVORITES.

Lejaan product?

White bedding. I love the feeling of a hotel bed, where you have a bunch of pillows, two bedspreads and a fluffy, freshly made blanket.

Flower?

The one that won't die. At home, apart from the houseplants, I always have cut flowers. I think I spend about half my salary on them. Green Decor on Dejvická has organic fair trade and local pieces.