How set designer Niklas Hansen brought Viveca Sten’s terrifying short story to life

Award-winning Swedish author Viveca Sten’s chilling short story Gondola – written exclusively for Vogue Scandinavia – takes us to the idyllic ski town of Åre in northern Sweden. However, for protagonist Andrea Frantzén, an annual girls’ ski trip takes a grim turn as a menacing stranger hops on the same gondola as her. As the lift climbs up the mountain to where Andrea’s friends are waiting for her, the breathtaking views of the sun-soaked Åre valley with its snow-blanketed mountains and the frozen, oval-shaped lake suddenly bear witness to utterly horrifying events…

The gruesome Gondola is brought to life in our February-March 2023 issue via striking fashion imagery. While the clothing is all about cosy puffers, faux fur, knits and winter headwear, it was up to the set design to bring about the story’s chill that cuts to the bone. For Niklas Hansen, the Swedish set designer tasked with the job, it was not about a quick trip to Åre or fake snow and a paper-made mountain backdrop. Instead, he focused on the story’s emotions and built his version of the gondola.

Related: How Åre became the perfect spine-tingling setting for this Nordic noir

After reading Sten’s story and browsing through images of various materials for inspiration, Hansen’s idea for the set formed swiftly. “I said immediately that I want to create a harder surface and achieve more edgy coldness and sharpness,” he recalls. “The way I usually work is that I combine sketches with a moodboard. So, I did some quick, rough sketches and put them together with pictures that show light and material.”

Honing in on the aspects that make Sten’s story so eerie – the biting cold, painfully bright blazing sun, the stranger with ice in his veins – Hansen chose materials that reflect the story’s creepy atmosphere. Working with thick, heavy glass and transparent acrylic walls, Hansen created a translucent, sterile and claustrophobic space that was his interpretation of the gondola. It also symbolises the story’s nerve-racking and anxiety-inducing climax.

The idea of creating the gondola was one that Hansen says emerged later in the process, and it was undoubtedly the most challenging part of designing the set. “The bottom [of the gondola] was made out of glass, and since the model is standing on it, it had to be specially ordered,” Hansen says. “It was crucial for the glass to handle body weight without cracking.” At the same time, he was working with extremely heavy materials (the glass weighed around 150 kilograms) which were moved around during the shoot, requiring extra caution.

Although the glass was key in accomplishing the icy harshness, it was lighting that played the main character in this shoot. By installing lights under the glass bottom, Hansen was able to create the effect of a glaring sun piercing through the gondola’s windows. He utilised the studio’s white walls, complete with backlighting, to achieve the fluorescent glow of the sun’s rays dancing on the fresh powder snow. Pale turquoise painted walls were pushed together to create another confined space, and with the correct lighting, it gave an illusion of frosted glass. As Hansen says, all of this magic lies in “playing with colour and light.”

Creating the set for the fashion editorial took weeks, but it was all worth the effort when Hansen saw the final product. “When you do a photoshoot like this, it’s a constant collaboration,” the set designer says. “My part is nothing without the styling, the model, the photographer and the makeup – then it all comes to life. I love that part of this work.”

Doing a project of this calibre was not Hansen’s first rodeo. With his career spanning over two decades, Hansen has had the chance to work with some of the most famed names in fashion, including Hermès, Vogue Italia, Svarovski and H&M. Having studied contemporary and fine art, Hansen has a deep knowledge of art history that he can draw from, giving his work a distinctive approach. Before expanding his craft to bigger projects, Hansen spent time examining how different shapes and materials work with the camera and “became an expert on it.”

Over the years, Hansen has developed a signature style, and his work is known for combining various forms of colour and texture in a way that works seamlessly together – precisely as he did for the editorial take on the Gondola. “If my wish comes true, I will be doing this for the rest of my life,” he says with a smile.