The creative director of iconic Danish furniture brand HAY talks us through her five quintessential inspiration and mood boosters
Welcome to our new bi-monthly series "Take five" featuring inspiring Scandinavian tastemakers on the five life-enhancing items, habits or encounters that help guarantee a balanced, joy-filled life.
Functional, straightforward, and clear, that is how the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns love their furnishings. Add a pinch of considered eclecticism, daring colours, a scoop of fun and you have the basic recipe for a room of typical HAY handwriting. Entering the universe of HAY feels like stepping into a distinct cosmos of furniture and interiors with its sense of jauntiness and playfulness. If you’ve ever asked yourself who’s behind that extra mile of cheerfulness, you’ll settle on Mette Hay. She and her husband Rolf Hay founded their eponymous brand 20 years ago – little time for building up a company that has become synonymous with Scandinavian design. While Rolf oversees the furniture collection, Mette is responsible for all home accessories that imbue HAY with that little bit of buoyancy.
Take the latest capsule collection for instance. Together with New York-based chef and artist Laila Gohar, the Danish brand has created an array of tableware and kitchen accessories that celebrate the joy of hosting, from sourcing ingredients to cooking, setting the table, and finally sitting down and enjoying the people around the table. A collection made for the cosy autumn and winter months to come, filling them with bliss and happiness.
Below, Mette Hay shares with Vogue Scandinavia what makes her very own life more blissful – from unforgettable summer memories to her evident obsession with the small things:
Summer in Puglia
Travelling will always be one of the most invigorating and inspiring components of life for me, something I’ve come to realize, and appreciate, even more after the past few years. While I love to explore new places, my family and I will always return to Puglia, Italy, during summer. The food, the company, the colours – everything about it is uplifting and feels life-affirming.
Seasons: Summer
I always try to embrace the seasons of the year for what they are and what they have to offer. In the summer months, we spend a lot of time at our summer house north of Copenhagen. It's the simplest things, such as a cup of coffee in the morning sun, hopping into the water – which is something you can do all around town in Copenhagen – and putting on a nice pair of sunglasses. All these things are suddenly elevated. And not to mention the long and bright summer nights that are quite special up here in Scandinavia.
Collaboration
People often ask me where I draw inspiration from and I always say: art, architecture, and travels, but most of all it comes from people. My work allows me to collaborate with so many original, talented creative minds, both within and outside of HAY. For example, with our upcoming launch: a tableware collection designed by New York-based artist Laila Gohar. I like to say that she’s the reason why I’m still on Instagram. Another highlight and, to tell you the truth, something I would have never believed was possible had anyone told me even 10 years ago, is an upcoming collaboration with Herman Miller. Rolf and I have had the honour of reinterpreting some of the most iconic Eames designs.
Collecting little things
When I was a teenager, my parents had a design shop, which you could describe as a smaller Danish equivalent to the iconic British design store, the Conran Shop. Because of this I grew up in close contact with the design industry and all kinds of objects. I guess that is why I have always had a special fascination for beautiful objects of all sorts – you could call me a collector of small things. I would find them when travelling, at local markets or in hard-to-find shops. I go for new, old, plain or quirky. It feels like collecting memories and stories forged into solid forms which I find to be both inspiring and joyful.
Seasons: Winter
Winter is a time of introspection, it’s the season to really calm down and look after yourself. And my favourite way of doing so is to winter bathe and then warm up in the sauna. To many people, that might sound a bit crazy, but once you have tried it, you get addicted to the tingling on your skin and the feeling of being fully revitalised.