Form, function and feeling: Inside the home of cult handbag designer Matilda Venczel

Venczel has become one of those ultra-flex fashion insider names, where a seamless synergy between sexy and sleek found through the brand’s referencing to cars and aerodynamic forms contrasted with texture has resulted in a handbag and accessories brand that has been worshipped by those who know and love the label, which includes everyone from stylist Nicole Walker to Kylie Jenner.

Stocked by luxury retailers such as Browns Fashion (the latest collection has just dropped exclusively with the London retailer) and Dover Street Market, Venczel is a byword for designs that fit the world of the true design obsessive. And so, the home Venczel founder Matilda Venczel has created with her boyfriend chef and fermenter (formerly of NOMA fame) David Zilber and their little boy Io has acted as a melting pot of purpose: studio, workspace, dinner party destination and now a space to switch off – a place that is both a reflection of herself and also an escape from the frenetic exterior world.

Defining cool is a fickle game to play, but when you are sitting in the loft apartment of Venczel and her partner gazing out at Copenhagen from their fifth floor view, this space certainly comes close. Between the objets d’art, the collector’s item furniture, the almighty bookshelf with titles on everything from gravity to mushrooms, dozens of exotic potted plants drifting from the rafters and the soft dusk light looming in through the roof windows, the pair have fostered a habitat that merges their minds and passions, but reflects the desires of a very modern home.

Tucked off Copenhagen’s main shopping street, their space is an unexpected oasis in the heart of the city. Having moved in three years ago, they both admit they were “super lucky” with this place, immediately falling in love with it at the very first viewing. While initially beyond their budget, merging the costs of Venczel’s studio into the apartment meant the splurge was justified; three years later, as Venczel remembers, “this little guy came along and we moved the studio out.”

A typical scene nowadays is Venczel on the floor with baby Io while Zilber cooks and the hum of soft music wafts throughout the apartment. Curated yet cosy, the pair have created a home that both reflects their lives — the kitchen island in the center of the kitchen ensures all guests can gather around it like inquisitive squirrels as they watch the chef at work — while also ensures that it is a place to relax as a young family.

Their furniture is well thought out too. What would Venczel mark as her favourite piece? “If Io wasn’t included it would definitely be the Patricia Urquiola chair set in navy leather. We got the Urquiola and the Gerrit Rietveld Red Blue chair at the same time. I had been looking for the Urquiola for such a long time and finally we found it online in a vintage store. David actually got it for me as a gift!” says Venczel. Discussing whether they feel their home is a convergence of both their styles, Venczel notes that: “David has definitely introduced me to a little bit more colour… while I am more into textures and materials,” she says. “I think it is very important that a house is cosy and that you feel at home. If it’s too white and polished, then it’s not cosy.”

There is something about the couple’s home that is both beautiful and comforting; the pair are so interconnected and inspired with art, design, fashion and food. It’s a space that celebrates art objects, alongside more liveable, everyday furniture. Most of their art is actually made by friends, such as Zaratea Gården Hurtig whose ceramic pieces hang on the wall and a sculpture by Hilda Hellström sits in the windowsill by the sofa. This gives the home a feeling of being surrounded by your cherished ones all the time.

In the bedroom, a custom made tufted headboard Zilber commissioned and co-designed with the artist Tori Wheeler interprets Gauguin’s magnificent painting, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” in slime green and petrol blue. The collaboration came about after Zilber came across one of her works, a carpet made to resemble ground beef, in a magazine and got in touch. Zilber notes: “most of the pieces have a personal story – (gesturing to the eaves) for instance they are all my photos from my solo exhibit in Vancouver ten years ago.” Above our heads hangs five sizable framed photographs all of differing yet somehow interconnected visuals, slightly surrealist and saturated moments snapped by Zilber from an earlier chapter of his life.

As art with personal meaning goes, hanging almost unassuming in the hall is a work by the British artist David Shrigley, Zilber’s leaving present from Noma with a personal note on the back from the restaurant’s founder René Redzepi and signed by all the team. In the hallway, a beautiful metal work by the Sydney-based artist Yioryios Papayioryiou stands on a pedestal, the hallway left nearly bare for this small, but still statuesque sculpture. “I love his work,” says Venczel. “I have two of his works now, we both work in a very intuitive way. He bends these metal pieces and has an approach very similar to how I work. I reached out to him as he loved my bags and asked if I wanted to do a trade. I made a special piece for him, a green bag with pink edges that matches one of his artworks which is also green with pink edges," she says.

Not the types to choose home furnishings lightly, often searching for years for the perfect piece to join their curated selection, the arrival of baby Io sparked a change for the couple and their new bedroom, Venczel’s former studio, became the ideal canvas for full pigmentation in Yves Klein blue. “We painted the rooms when Io was on the way – I think I wanted a distinct change from when it was my studio because it was completely white, so we thought let’s go for a deep blue,” says Venczel. “The pigment absorbs so much light that it’s like being in a cocoon.”

For Venczel, between time spent on her own brand and the work with Mugler, travel is a constant, moving between Venice, Milan and Paris. With life being in constant flux, the core purpose for their home is one of comfort. “I just love being at home. It’s just the best place,” she says. And weekends are sacred, time spent on their little family. “We will wake up and watch Saturday Night Live on Sunday morning in bed with coffee and feed the baby,” explains Zilber. Meanwhile, Venczel is glancing at the coffee table that Zilber put together – a big rectangle sheet of glass balanced on a basketball, cinder blocks and bricks that wouldn’t look amiss at a Dada Object retrospective. “I think we are going to need to seriously baby-proof the house big time,” she adds.