- Kjetil Gudem, co-founder and owner of Objekt
Instagram usernames: @kjetilgudem & @objektstories
Kjetil is the co-founder and owner of Objekt furniture store in Oslo, in addition to being a hobby photographer and owl-lover. We met him at his store to talk about his life and style.
Can you tell us about your store?
– Here we sell our products, do daily office work and it give us the opportunity to meet our customers and talk directly to them. This is important for when we design new objects for everyday living. We wanted it to be a unique, small store, close to the center of Oslo. We also promote young designers. We think it is important to help young designers out there. It’s a big world. We launched our brand Objekt in 2018, so we’ve been doing this for three years now, but I’ve been working in the industry for almost twenty years. I’ve been around for a while.
Describe a day in your everyday life
– I like to get up early, I’m an early bird, so I get up before everyone else. I usually go for a run, or a walk in the woods, just to think. There are so many thoughts in my head every day, and so many things that I'm inspired by during the day. So, I need to start my day cleaning up everything. The work day can start off with a meeting with designers, after that I have to do some social media work, and then I have to work in the shop since we open at twelve. Every day is different.
What does designing furniture bring to your life?
– After being so deeply invested in design and design processes, I find that some form of design gives me happiness. It’s something special just to be surrounded by beauty that makes me feel happy and good. Beauty is a key word here.
Where do you find inspiration?
– I find most of my inspiration in nature. In the nature my head can get the time to think, and then my ideas start to form. All the objects in nature, and all the colors, gives me a lot of inspiration. I also get inspired when I talk to people, designers or others that have a passion for something. I find a lot of inspiration by just talking to people.
Tell us about the first piece of clothing you bought for yourself
– I’m not sure if I bought it for myself, but when I was young, I had this pair of jeans with some light yellow colored stripes on both sides of the legs. I just loved those jeans.
In what way do you use style to portray your personality?
– My style is to not think too much. It’s more important to feel comfortable, because when I feel comfortable, I can focus on other things than something being too tight. If I’m comfortable I’m totally myself. So, I could wear a lot of different things.
What’s your favorite piece of denim?
– My favorite piece of denim is for sure my black jeans. I just love it. I have many, and I wear them every day. Yes, it’s black, but then I can have some colored t-shirts or shoes, or something else that’s colorful.
What is the key item of your wardrobe?
– The key item of my wardrobe is my jeans. They’re the most important.