In conversation
Luna Schulze on working as a designer and balancing a young family.
Luna lives around the corner from Frederikke in Copenhagen, and after running into each other several times, and working together on the SS24 campaign images, Luna has become a good friend of the house. Her energy is down to earth, bubbly and very creative. And we connect with Luna's deep sense of craftmanship and heirloom quality. So we thought it was time to sit down with Luna for a conversation about her work as a furniture designer, building a home for a young family - and balancing it all with life as a new mom. Thank you for having us, Luna!
Luna Schulze photographed at home in Copenhagen by Amanda Bødker. Luna wears GRAUMANN AW24 throughout.
We’re shooting in your home today, and it feels very warm and personal. Could you put into words what makes a home?
Luna: Our home is all about peace, intimacy, and feeling safe. We’ve created our version of that by surrounding ourselves with heirlooms that has great memories and meanings attached to them. And objects and materials that ages beautifully, like wood with great warmth for instance. I feel safest when the objects I surround myself with shows sign of use and life.
Can you tell us a bit about your creative process as a designer?Luna: I have these two personas when it comes to my process. Firstly, I’m still in school, so I’m very privileged to have enough time to investigate and dwell on materials. I really appreciate that, since my process end up being characterized a lot by that. Secondly, on the other hand, I have this crazy drive to play around, which is quite the opposite of taking the time to dwell on something. Sometimes I just need to go to the wood workshop, with no plan at all. I just pick up some wood and build a table without thinking at all about the result, but just following the ways that the material I have in my hand takes me. This is how I made our dining table. I had no drawing, but found some pieces of wood, shaped them, and afterwords realized I needed some angle brackets, then I went to the metal workshop to shape them.
What are you currently working on?
Luna: I’m working on several things at the moment, personal orders of different kinds, and a secret project for a restaurant in Copenhagen. Nothing is for sure yet, so I won’t share anything until it is, but if everything goes accordingly to plan, it will be a milestone for me.
You’re a new mother and a furniture designer at the beginning of your career. How do you balance work and life?Luna: To be honest, I think it’s horribly tough. Currently I’m interning with FOS, and the second I get off of work, I go to pick up Hav, my son. So there’s really no hours left to work on personal projects. Therefore I’m also looking forward to spend time on project100 in my vacation for example. After Hav was born, I felt for months, that I wasn’t able to be 100% of anything. I felt like I was only 25% a partner, 25% a mom, 25% a student and 25% true to my self and my needs and desires. But with time I’ve learned to relax in it, and realized that I’m constantly doing my very best with the time I’ve got!!
Do you have a career advice for your younger self?
Luna: I definitely do! I feel we live in a time where people often feel an urge or a need to brand themselves with a certain label due to social media. This left me with an understanding that we all have a ‘call in life’. It took me 10 years to realize that not everyone has that, at least I don’t yet. I’ve found something that I love to spend my time on, but it’s not like I feel like I was born to make furniture, and that actually makes me relax more in my career and my expectations to my self.
