Every season has its character – rain and cool temps in spring, snow and cold in winter – but every season is also variable. Some summers are scorching; others offer too few days to jump comfortably into the lake. Summer houses vary, too. Some are rough and rustic; others could stand proudly in an affluent suburb. The getaway Isa Kukkapuro-Enbom and Henrik Enbom created for themselves in the Finnish countryside occupies a realm all its own, a place where simplicity and sophistication merge.
Located 37 miles from Helsinki, the property – which includes a 984-square-foot house, a sauna, playhouse and workshop – sits beside a stream and is surrounded by fields and forests. The house, built in 1895, had been updated with the necessary amenities in 1995, but it was lacking spirit when Isa and Henrik acquired it. After making some “gentle changes” – adding a new doorway between two rooms, building a new staircase – the couple set about creating cozy interiors shot through with a streak of high design.
Originally a fashion designer, Isa is the daughter of the renowned Finnish designer, Yrjö Kukkapuro, whose 1964 Karuselli (Carousel) Chair is included in the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Henrik is a carpenter and designer who creates highly original pieces spun of repurposed materials. Their home, graced with art and plants, combines pieces by Isa’s father, Henrik’s designs and vintage items.
“Sometimes, one wants to create a collection, or an altar, for your mementos,” observes Isa. “Our house is not so curated; it has a more functional starting point. We need a big table, Henrik makes one. We need 12 chairs, we happen to have my father’s prototypes in storage. To have a nice nap, you just need a comfortable sofa or two.”
Casual yet elevated, the living room is furnished with several Yrjö Kukkapuro chairs, an industrial-mode floor lamp by the late German designer Ingo Maurer, and a low aluminum table, one of a handful made by Finnish designer Ilkka Suppanen. A large piece in a distressed frame by contemporary artist Till Gerhard dominates one wall. The plant-festooned dining room is an easygoing mix of pieces. A substantial, 19th-century cabinet occupies one corner of the room, while a now-classic Ingo Maurer Zettel’z pendant hangs above the dining table designed by Henrik. With its open shelves and floor painted in a gray and white checkerboard pattern, the kitchen is utterly relaxed, the antithesis of the souped-up showplace so common in contemporary residential design.
While an informed design sensibility pervades this country getaway, there is an essential homeyness in the play of the contemporary and the antique and the unaffected juxtaposition of, say, a prototype Yrjö Kukkapuro chair from 1966 and a portrait of Isa as a young woman, or in a guest room, an old country chair paired with a small footstool purchased from a rural marketplace in China. But most importantly, this is clearly a house well loved, where grown children are regular visitors and old friends return again and again to find their slippers waiting for them.
Photography by Johan Sellén.
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