“We didn’t even see the inside before signing the papers”: Celine Aagaard takes us on a tour of her humble Norwegian hytte

Norwegians are one of the world’s wealthiest populations, a people who work long hours for a high standard of living. And they do it all to spend their free time in cold, often primitive countryside cabins without running water and with no indoor toilet. This humble tradition, or rather, this humble home, is known as the hytte. Nature has always played an important role in Scandinavia because of it s over whelming presence; fewer than 20 million people live in our vast region, an area larger than France and Spain put together.

Seasonal migration to the lumberjack’s cabin, the fisherman’s hut, or the summer pasture lay the foundation for the hytte tradition. This home away from home has roots in the decline of farming society and growing urbanisation, with rural romanticism becoming de rigeur during the 19th century. Prior to the age of leisure and self-realisation, these purpose-built cabins were simple and crude. Sprinkled throughout the countryside, they served as a sparse shelter for the night when crossing a mountain, fishing, or herding cattle from one pasture to another.

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This way of life is central to Norway’s cultural nervous system. According to the Norwegian statistics bureau, there are almost 450,000 hytter and other recreational buildings in Norway, with more than 94,000 hytter in the ‘beach zone’ – extending 100 metres inland from the coast and requiring a special permit. One of these coastline cabins is the holiday home of Envelope1976’s founder and creative director, Celine Aagaard.

“We bought it around the time when I launched the brand, three years ago,” she says. “We were so keen we didn’t even see the inside before signing the papers.” Fittingly, Aagaard’s hytte mirrors the minimalistic ease of her brand’s relaxed trousers, cosy knits and breezy frocks. Even Envelope1976’s emphasis on sustainability is in keeping with the hytte sensibility. Built in 1960, very little has been done to modernise the original cabin. “We sanded the original floors and painted the yellow walls white,” Aagaard says, “Now it’s more like a ’70s surf cabin.”

Set over a single floor, “somewhere between 43 and 50 square metres”, the small holiday home consists of two “tiny” bedrooms and a combined kitchen and living room. Quintessentially hytte-like, the cabin only has hot water during the summer – even though the family “uses it all year round” – and features an old-fashioned outhouse. “We didn’t want it to be fancy,” Aagaard shrugs.

Every detail of the home has been carefully curated to fit with Aagaard’s sustainability principles, which weave through both her brand and private life. “The curtains are my boyfriend’s grandmother’s, and we still have the original benches around the kitchen table,” she says. The table itself was inherited from Aagaard’s in-laws. Even the Smeg fridge had a previous home. “It is so important to me to find new uses for pre-existing things.”

The artwork is another unique aspect of the house. “I’ve taken some of the photographs we have on the walls,” Aagaard explains. “And my father gave us this piece of the Kon-Tiki [the famous balsa tree raft Thor Heyerdahl used to travel across the Pacific Ocean in 1947] when we got the cabin that now hangs on the wall.” In the livingroom, vintage chairs bought at a market in Paris stand stacked against the walls, while a pre-loved wave-shaped coffee table takes centre stage. The two-piece Togo couch is a former showroom piece, the muted neutrals of the quilted settee following the subdued sandy palette throughout the space. Mixed together, they make for a modern yet personal second home.

The name of the cabin ‘Uroa’ translates to unrest, a fitting moniker for the wind and wave-battered structure. “It’s never quiet,” Aagaard explains, saying that, “If it isn’t the wind, there are always birds singing in the forest out back.” While there are other hytter dotting the coastline of Saltstein, where her cabin is located, they’re few and far bet ween. “You’re not really allowed to build around here any more,” Aagaard says.

Other whispers of the past can be found in the interiors. A stone-covered wall made from rullestein (large pebbles) surrounds the fireplace like a vignette in the living room. “You’re actually not allowed to pick these types of stones from the area anymore since it’s a nature reserve now,” Aagaard points out. But back then, they used what they had, “so it is rather unique and part of the charm”.

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Perched atop the black volcanic rock, the couple’s windswept cabin overlooks the rolling waves below. It was this view that first attracted Aagaard and her partner Bjørn Erik Hagen to the hytte. “From the bedroom, we can see the waves when we have the door open. And if there are waves, I tell my boyfriend, ‘you can go’.” A passionate surfer of 20 years, with Saltstein being his home break, few locations would have been more optimal for Hagen. “It has always been a dream to have a cabin overseeing the surf,” he says. “We also have several friends and family in the area, so in a way, it gives me the unique opportunity to spend time alone, being social and surfing whenever the waves are on.”

While some hytter are plopped far away from society on snow-covered mountains or hidden in the depths of ancient forests, it is far more common for cabins to be close enough to have friends over. “We never really make plans with anyone; they just pop by and maybe sleep on the couch. That’s just the vibe,” Aagaard says.

As such, it is equal parts slow-paced sanctuary and a place for social gatherings, with summer shindigs, barbecues and sunset dinners aplenty. “Ours is about an hour outside of Oslo,” she explains. “I try to block weekends year-round to go out there. It’s the best feeling on a Friday to know that in a few hours, you will be having a glass of red wine in the cabin in front of the fireplace.”

As a business owner, however, Aagaard usually finds herself working at the cabin – even if it’s unconsciously so. “The area inspires me,” she explains. “So much so that we’ve used the place to shoot seven campaigns in the past.” It is the way of life, she pinpoints, that mainly serves as an influence on her designs. “In general, it’s not a place for a fashion show,” she laughs. “I usually end up wearing the same thing day after day, but there’s something about this place.”

The nature of a hytte holiday is, in its essence, about recuperation. As Hagen puts it, “it’s where I find time to relax. To spend time as a family here brings a unique peace and pace to our lives that is much needed for all of us.” Usually the first one to wake up, Aagaard starts most mornings at Uroa with a dip in the ocean. “Being here makes me feel close to nature,” she says. “The less plans I have while being at Uroa, the better it is,” Hagen adds. “It truly is the total opposite of everyday life, and I love having the opportunity to switch between the two of them.”

If the surf is on, Hagen likes to “spend more time in the water than on land”. With the sun permitting, the family spends most of their days outside going to the beach or travelling to Larvik so that the couple’s son, Silas, can go skateboarding. The days spent in Saltstein are filled with late breakfasts, runs through the forest, lazy hangouts with a few beers in the afternoon on the terrace, firing up the pizza oven or grill to make dinner and relaxing in front of the fireplace in the evening.

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“Unless there are waves, I’m the last to get out of bed and the last one going to bed,” Hagen says. However, at its core, cabin culture is about time off enjoyed with your closest friends and family away from the stress of city living. “It’s where our family has a chance to be focused on doing things together,” says Aagaard. “So it isn’t about the space itself, but rather how you feel being there. You just relax better when you’re there compared to when you are at home during the week.”

And it is this deep-rooted connection to nature that makes the hytte a quintessential part of not only Norwegian but Nordic culture. Even as modern urbanites, it is ingrained in our way of life and, as such, has sway over the way we spend our free time. When Aagaard speks about her little cabin on the coast, there’s a shift in the atmosphere. Even just uttering the word hytte works like a call to attention, spurring an immediate longing for that home away from home.