For designer Sofia Mehrotra, the story of her family, which has Swedish and Indian roots, is important. In her apartment in Södermalm, Stockholm, she combined motifs from both cultures.
Do not buy into fleeting fashion trends and find true value in things that are really important to you and in your family heritage. This is the opinion of designer Sofia Mehrotra, who combined cultures of completely different temperaments in her Stockholm apartment. Her father is Indian, her mother is Swedish, and in the interior Sofia reflected the motives of both countries: “Two different worlds shaped me. This is a successful meeting of Scandinavian minimalism with Indian warmth and comfort.”
After graduating from the London College of Fashion, Sofia founded her own company Mehrotra (2017). “I wanted to produce small collections from natural materials, Indian fabrics with classic patterns, such as paisley, silks, and cotton, complementing them with calm Scandinavian colors,” says the designer.
Mehrotra now offers shawls, sarongs, basket bags, jewelry, fabrics, and furniture. Sophia travels constantly to the Indian artisan city of Jaipur, buys fabrics for the home at the same Mumbai fabric store where her family has shopped for generations and visits the Delhi factory.
The influence of the cultures of India and Sweden is also noticeable in a cozy two-room apartment (70 m 2 ), which is located in an old building at the turn of the 19th-20th century. Sophia immediately liked the high ceilings, spacious rooms, large windows, and balcony overlooking a small garden in the courtyard, and now she considers this place her home.
Sofia used a lot of fabrics and carpets in interior decor, which create a feeling of coziness and warmth, but they are all chosen in a calm, close to Nordic worldview palette.
When Sophia and her boyfriend Adam just moved into the apartment, the first thing they did was repaint all the walls in a soft shade of light gray. Together with diffused light streams from large windows, this color helps to create a feeling of space and airiness in the rooms. But at first, they wanted to change the wooden floor, the new owners found it too dark and oppressive. But having lived in the apartment for several months, Sofia will not exchange it for anything now: “He warms the house and gives the interiors a twist.”
But the kitchen was completely redone, replacing all the furniture and appliances. Now there are IKEA kitchen cabinets, complemented by Superfront dark wood cabinets and dark green marble countertops. This part of the house is Sofia’s favorite place, where all family activities take place – from morning coffee to parties with friends.
Sophia and Adam bought most of the furniture and art for the apartment at vintage flea markets. Among the favorite things is a large Flexform sofa, which comes from the house where the owner spent her childhood. Even though it’s over 15 years old, it looks like new.
“Among the first things we came up with for our home was the built-in furniture in the living room, a long bench that I covered with cushions upholstered in Indian fabrics. There is a storage space under the seat, which is always lacking in the house,” says Sophia. “Our house radiates security, warmth, and tranquility, we really like it here. And everyday comfort plays a very important role, especially now that Adam and I have a baby.”
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