There's a Storm coming: Meet the Norwegian interior designer who sold everything he had

The last time I met Storm Storm, the tall, tattoo-covered Norwegian had just swapped maximalism for minimalism. Ahead of a move to Mexico, the model and stylist had decided to sell nearly all of his belongings, retaining only his passport, a handmade dining table and a coffee cup. "I’d been surrounded by tons of 'stuff' every day," he says. "It came to a point where it all just became noise - noise in my home and in my everyday life. It was hard to focus and I needed to ease that noise and all the clutter it brought. It became such a distraction so I decided to do a massive cleanse of my personal space." He invited people over to his home, turning it into a miniature flea market overnight.

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Almost three years later, we meet again in Oslo and while he now has more to his name than a coffee cup and table, Storm has stuck to this more economical philosophy. "It made me realise how little we actually need to get by, and what a freedom it is not to own too much," he says enthusiastically. "It also made me understand 'buy less, buy better' and [why you should] invest in quality that you can take care of for a long time. It doesn’t matter if you show up in the same garment several times – it’s just more powerful and shows integrity and self esteem." Storm approach is not just environmentally friendly, but has had a positive impact mentally as well. "I don’t buy as much as I did before and I guess I’m calmer in general," he tells me.

Perdersen has just touched down in Scandinavia after a stint in Canada following his travels around Mexico. He's back on home turf ahead of the launch of his sustainable porcelain collection for Magnor Glassverk, the historic Norwegian glassworks. And he seems happy to be back: "I think my travelling has made me appreciate Scandinavia even more than I did growing up in a small place up north," he says.

Storm left that small town setting behind when he joined the Norwegian College of Ballet as a teenager. An accomplished dancer, it wasn't long before he had pirouetted into the fashion world and interior design, something that in many ways he'd been preparing for for years. "I was very picky on what to wear from the get go and I re-worked my room every week as a child," he says. "When I felt the room was ready, I invited my relatives in to take a look at my new 'creation', before I started on a new interior project."

He spent nearly two decades as a stylist, working between Norway and New York. "When you have 18 years in that industry, you develop an eye for both form and function, and with the dancing background you get a special sense of space and the usage of it," he says. "Gradually I’ve now been fortunate to put my own designs to life and I see a link to everything I have done in the past."

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This includes his work for the boutique luxury resort Hotel Bardo in Tulum, where Storm brought some stylish Scandinavian minimalism to the middle of the Mexican jungle. He had just 90 days to complete the project, but delivered a considered, achingly cool set of interiors in collaboration with local artisans.

He also came away full of inspiration and his adventures in Mexico have subsequently informed his designs for Magnor. "It is such a beautiful place on the Caribbean side of Mexico, and as a Norwegian, the animals and plants are super exotic. I mean, they have jaguars. They must be the coolest animals on earth, especially when you get to share the land with them," says Storm. "So I have a beautiful drawn head of a jaguar in one of the bowls. I also have a palm tree on every corner of the dinner plate and inside the coffee cup, which is an all time favourite of mine. On an island nearby, I saw flamingos for the first time, so had to put that on the dinner plate and I also brought on a monstera leaf, simply because of its beauty and because it exists in the wild over there. It’s nice when you can combine worlds and in this case putting these natural elements together with a stylistic Nordic expression makes a unique series.

Perhaps somewhat ironically, Perdersen designed the series in considerably colder climes, during a winter spent in Quebec. This too played a role however. "There's a little nod to the French bistro in the design," he says, crediting the French-Canadian region for also inspiring the series name: 'Voyage'. "That place became very meaningful for me," he says, before mentally returning to Tulum. "Without the beautiful sunsets at the beach in Mexico, and sand on my feet, it would not have been the same series."

Designed in black and white so that it can easily be incorporated into an existing tableware collection, Storm's Magnor collection also comes with an emphasis on multi-purpose usage: a cup's saucer doubles as a dessert plate, for example. "I’ve been very conscious about making a timeless design and had a focus on the longevity of the product and its multi-functional qualities," he explains. "I have intentionally avoided the use of silver and gold edges, because they wear and tear pretty fast, making the lifespan of the product much shorter."

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Storm's attention to durability led him to use porcelain stoneware for the new line, one of the most resistant construction materials in the world and also one of the most environmentally-friendly. "The raw materials used to make porcelain - clay, silica and flint - are natural materials. They are widely available and can be found almost anywhere in the world and extracting these materials has minimum negative impact on the environment," he says. "The manufacturing of porcelain produces little waste and all the raw materials can be recycled, including the water used in the manufacturing process. Porcelain in general isn’t affected by solar radiation or contact with water, fire or temperature changes and it doesn’t contain volatile organic compounds, meaning the air remains clean and healthy in spaces covered with porcelain stoneware. It diminishes the risk of fires and therefore avoids the emission of toxic substances."

Hearing Storm talk with such enthusiasm about sustainability, it's tempting to think that you can take the man out of Scandinavia, but not the Scandinavia out of the man. It's a sentiment that he's more at ease with now, he says, having wanted to escape as a child. "I think my traveling has made me appreciate Scandinavia even more than I did growing up in a small place up north. I felt a bit constricted, and growing up I wanted to be a part of 'a bigger world'. I wanted to be able to do everything that I couldn’t do where I lived. That has been a personal process, and a driving force to push limits and to do more of what was not expected and in line for me. I guess it’s also why I have been traveling so much and lived abroad. Now I see that we are such a beautiful part of the world, and an important one. And I see the uniqueness and the beauty of my country in a proud light."

This in turn has fed into his designs. "I was more of a maximalist in my younger years, but looking at Scandinavia from afar has made me appreciate cleaner lines and simplicity even more," he says. "The value of simplicity inspires me daily now, in many parts of life, and I appreciate it a lot – I even used it in the bungalows I designed in Tulum."

Underpinned by a strong commitment to sustainability, the calm in Storm Storm's work - that innate Scandi minimalism - combines beautifully with the visual references he plucks from his rich experience in other parts of the world in his collection for Magnor. Created by a man who once got rid of almost everything he owned, these are objects you'll want to cherish and cling to. And they ought to be the start of an exciting new adventure for Storm.