In conversation

Hi! I am good. October is one of my favorite months. The natural transformation, with its rich shades of brown, green, and orange, creates the most stunning scenery of the year. The air takes on a refreshing crispness. After a walk through the forest, there’s something comforting about returning home with rosy cheeks, feeling the warmth slowly returning to your body.

What are you currently working on?

Caroline: My fiancé and I have been working on our countryside home for over three years. We bought a piece of protected land and designed the house ourselves. It sits peacefully among the trees, right where a meadow meets a marsh. We spent our first night there in September, and the experience was nothing short of magical.

"To me, home is where my family is — Thomas, our son Vincent, and our dog Otto. It's an interesting question, though, what physical things and surroundings give us that sense of being 'at home.'

Our apartment in Copenhagen is like a little personal wunderkammer, filled with cherished items and books, each with its own story.

In contrast, our countryside home is very minimal, meant to create a sense of calm and clarity, like shaucha. Of course, this is partly because we've just moved in, and we're spending every weekend working to complete it. It'll take time before we find the right things for the space, but we intentionally wanted the two homes to feel different. The countryside house is meant to be simple, with only the essentials — a clear space to clear the mind, like a shala."

As an entrepreneur and business owner, can you talk a bit about your thoughts on this path? What gave you the courage to make the leap early in your career, how do you tackle challenges and do you have words of advice for others aspiring to start out ?

Caroline: I have been self-employed for almost 15 years, beginning with selling my drawings before I began at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. While studying, I founded Corali and took on small interior projects for friends on the side. In that sense, I didn’t choose this path; rather, I simply just continued. It also felt kind of safe.

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned is that you often gain more insight from the process and mistakes than from the straightforward projects—if you take the time to reflect on them afterward. It's essential to remain curious and critical.

 
You’re an architect, and make beautifully handcrafted jewelry too. Is the process alike or how do you approach the practices?

Caroline: I appreciate the flexibility of working between architecture and jewelry. One allows me to engage with larger scales and long-term visions, while the other focuses on intricate details within a more fixed yearly rhythm. Despite their differences in size, both fields share a great deal in common, requiring meticulous attention to detail, high-quality materials, and a long-term perspective. In a sense, I have two languages through which to communicate, and I genuinely love embracing both.

You recently became a mother. Any initial thoughts on balancing life, work and everything in between?

Caroline: Life and work have always blended seamlessly for me, with no clear boundary between when one ends and the other begins. Now that I’m a mother, I recognize the need for more defined roles, but I’m still figuring out how to achieve that balance. It’s a journey that’s still unfolding!

A mental health tip from you that gets you through busy times?

Caroline: Go for a walk every day. Maybe one hour or maybe just ten minutes after dinner. Leave your phone behind; instead, take the time to simply walk, breathe, and observe your surroundings. 

 

Which three things do you always keep in your fridge?

Caroline: Zucchini, oat milk and butter. It is not a combination thing, but there is oat milk and butter in breakfast every day and zucchini in my dinner most nights. At the moment hokkaido as well!

 

 

What would you have liked to know 10 years ago?

Caroline: If I could go back in time and share something with my younger self from ten years ago, it would be that I would one day have a child with my wonderful friend, Thomas. Ten years ago, as we were wrapping up our bachelor’s degrees together, the idea of that would have seemed completely mind-blowing.