At home with Lene - LK Hjelle
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At home with Lene

Lene Herføl-Johnsen has spent nearly 30 years shaping her home in Asker, Norway. As a graphic designer, she has a keen eye for color, form, and detail.

The home is full of built-in solutions, books, ceramics, colorful textiles, and, not least, yarn. Knitting is one of her great passions, and Lene test-knits for several of Scandinavia’s knitwear brands and shares her work on Instagram at @strikkidesign.

Here, Lene talks about her home, her interest in design, and how the Ugo sofa found its place in the house.

Photos: Anne Bråtveit and Lene Herføl-Johnsen.

Product: Ugo

Tell us a bit about your home.

Our home reflects the people who live in it. It has held half our lives: first with small children, then with teenagers, and now with just the two of us. For me, design and decorating are about creating a home that brings calm, with room for creativity and projects. As in my work as a graphic designer, it comes down to balance, line, and color, and surrounding myself with good design gives me joy and the energy to make things myself. I love hands-on work, like knitting a sweater or building a bookcase. It’s meditative, and it leaves me with something lasting.

We have few pieces of furniture and prefer not to have too much stuff, but we’re not minimalists either. Our furniture is all Scandinavian design, and it’s here to stay. That goes for the Ugo sofa too. It has become part of the family.

 

Ugo sofa white LK Hjelle

What was it about Ugo that made you fall for this particular sofa?

I’ve wanted Ugo ever since it was launched in 2003! There has honestly never been any other sofa for me, and it was so worth the wait. Ten years ago, our four kids had begun moving out one by one, and the wish for a light-colored sofa could finally come true. It felt almost too good to be true when “our Ugo” turned up secondhand right then. We didn’t hesitate and drove nearly 1000 km round trip between Asker and Bergen to pick it up.

The sofa was from 2009, in great condition, and in exactly the fabric and color I would have chosen myself: a wool fabric called Odal, produced in Norway by Gudbrandsdalens Uldvarefabrik.

“Odal has a weave that beautifully brings out the pattern and gives it a slightly rugged texture, while still feeling sophisticated. I also like that Norway Says, which designed the sofa, helped develop this very fabric.”

How do you use Ugo in everyday life?

The first thing we did when we moved into the 1960s house nearly 30 years ago was open up to the unfinished attic and add skylights. Light floods in here, and right beneath the skylights, freestanding in the middle of the room, stands Ugo. The living room isn’t big, but Ugo is the centerpiece of it.

It has no front or back, and its organic shape softens the boxy room so nicely. Ugo is beautiful from every angle. I think its design is understated and quiet, yet cool.

The modules are arranged so that the sofa faces both the view of the Oslofjord and the interior of the room, toward the bookcase and the fireplace. I love how the modules can be combined into different seating landscapes. The color blends right into the floor, almost as if the modules grow up out of it. I’m also a tidy person, and Ugo can’t get messy!

“I don’t really think of Ugo as a sofa. To me, it’s a perfect place to flop down any which way. I can stretch out and relax with my legs over the back, or sit for a few minutes on the edge. When there are more of us, we can sit facing away from each other, each doing our own thing, or we can gather in a circle.”

Ugo