STUDIO
WALLANDER
PERIOD
INTERIORS
A LEGACY OF CREATIVITY
The thread of creative expression runs through my family of artists, craftsmen and visionaries.
My own path through years of stage work has taught me to see houses as permanent sets with life stories and distinct personalities. Each house plays its part differently according to temperament and history. The best results come from respecting that.
Aktiebolaget Färghandeln
The Paint Shop 1930
Photo Karl Otto Strandberg
Nils Wallander 1856-1939
Henrik Wallander 1885-1949
Sven Wallander 1923-1989
Wallander's Paint Shop 1940s
Otto Jonsson 1905-1976
CLARITY THROUGH CONCEPT
Concentrating on the creative phase of design allows for ideas and possibilities to take centre stage. It gives a clear direction before any work begins, enabling the house to lead the process. The heart of the service is thinking and imagination, and to see the potential in a room before anyone picks up a tool.
SARA WALLANDER-ROSS
THE STORY
Before interior design, I spent decades working in the performing arts. That exacting and detailed work taught me how to treat spaces, both on and off stage: the theatrical effects of timing, colour and light, how materials are tactile triggers of mood, the use of negative space, and how people respond when those things are in balance. The difference is that a stage set is fleeting whilst a house will be an enduring haven at its best.
In essence: a Permanent Set.
I have lived in several different countries and speak multiple languages. This immersion in different cultures and linguistic colours has sharpened my eye for interiors, and my ear for listening to people and buildings with all their quirks and personalities.
My background in the arts, love of history, languages, and focus on colour and paint underpin heritage-inspired interiors that honour original intent while adapting quietly and respectfully for modern life. It’s a way of working that pays attention to both the house and the person, and treats design as a relationship between the house and the owner, rather than a quick fix or a trend-driven quest for admiration. Using antiques, art, and thoughtful materials, I wish to create homes that feel as if they have existed in that form for a long time.
THE LEGACY
I have always loved old houses. Not just for what they are, but for what they have the potential to become. I grew up in a large 1930s house in northern Sweden, where the scent of wood, ticking clocks and winter air shaped my earliest memories. Our home was filled with antiques and I learned early on to respect craftsmanship, and how light, or the absence of it in the Swedish winters, defines the feeling of home, comfort, and safety.
I come from a family of artists, upholsterers, painters and entrepreneurs. On my mother's side, several generations, including my grandfather, ran a paint shop–the kind of place with shelves stacked high with pigment tins, brushes in jars, and that very particular smell. He was more than a shopkeeper: a painter, potter, sculptor, builder, and instrument maker. From him I learnt that one can be many things at once.
On my father's side, there were upholsterers and antique dealers. Between them all, they taught me that objects and buildings carry history, and deserve care and attention. We respect the craftsman by respecting his craft.
THE PARLOUR PRINCIPLE
I have spent my life among old houses, and have found the real interest lies in the relationship between a house with personality and its custodian.
Old houses surprise me still. Yours might too.
The Parlour Principle is how we decide which surprises to preserve, and which to change.
