Alexander Lervik

Press / 2013

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Residence

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Residence · Portraits & interviews · 9 pages

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An island to gather one's thoughts on, and a house to get ideas in. Read the story about a wonderful non-profit project and an architect-designed bird's nest.

Text KLAS EKMAN Photo HENRIK BONNEVIER Portrait PATRIK ENGSTRÖM

One morning Fredrik Härén woke up with a strong feeling that he had to buy an island. Two months later he struck a deal. It was the middle of December, and without leaves on the trees the island looked petty and barren, but Svanholmen had something. He made up his mind while still in the water taxi on the way back. The year was 1999 and Fredrik Härén had sold his web agency and started his career as an author (his Idébok, which came out in 2002, has sold 150,000 copies) and frequently hired as well as award-winning lecturer on creativity. But it became increasingly clear that he himself needed to retreat in order to shut himself off and not be disturbed in his thought processes. He already had a country house, but there were neighbors there — he needed solitude and water. The sound of waves crashing against rocks or a beach.

The island that came his way and was for sale was Svanholmen, so small that many mistake it for the skerry in the Grumme commercials. It was located just outside Lidingö, but to get there required a boat trip of a couple of hundred meters. It was not far, but enough to feel isolated. The proximity to Stockholm was an advantage. Many boats passed by, and it was possible to sense a faint big-city pulse.

Svanholmen outside Lidingö is inhabited by crowds of swans — designed by architect Alexander Lervik

"ON AN ISLAND YOU DELIMIT YOURSELF FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD. IT BECOMES A MENTAL ISOLATION WHERE YOU CAN FOCUS."

Fredrik asked his friend Alexander Lervik if he could design a house for the bird island. The first time they went out together, the nesting geese attacked, and Alexander got loads of ideas for a house that the birds would love.

PICK-UP STICKS

"Maybe it has to do with the brain developing surrounded by water in the womb. It is typical that Archimedes came up with his mathematical principle in the bathtub. Water has creative power," says Fredrik Härén.

For several years he came to live in the cottage that was already built on the island. He put solar panels on the roof instead of installing electricity, and converted a boathouse into a thinking room.

Later he moved to Beijing and then to Singapore. His career was running at full throttle and the island stood unused several months a year. But the need to retreat remained.

Eventually, the idea of an "Idea Island" was born — a place where creative people could travel just to be by themselves and think.

No sooner said than done. Fredrik contacted his friend, the architect Alexander Lervik, to design a larger house for Svanholmen, and they arranged to row over to the island.

IT WAS BARELY POSSIBLE to get off the boat due to nesting birds attacking them as they stepped onto the jetty. To reach the cottage, they had to weave and try to keep a respectful distance from all the brooding females and their protective males.

Fredrik Härén had forewarned Alexander about the condition of the island, that you couldn't really stay there before Midsummer. Only then had the chicks learned to fly, and the birds left Svanholmen.

Alexander Lervik liked what he saw. But he also realized that the birds would be very much present even after the young had left the nest. The entire island was completely covered in droppings from geese and swans. But the bird droppings and the rest of the setting got his thoughts spinning nonetheless. After just a few minutes on Svanholmen, he had come up with some of the ideas that resulted in the sensational structure that can today be seen from passing boats.

"I wanted to make something out of the birds and the shit, rather than building something that would quickly be ruined," says Alexander Lervik.

This summer, five years after that first visit, the house stands complete and ready to welcome its guests. The inner building looks like an ordinary barn, with two large glass walls facing the water. But the exterior is covered in pine sticks so that it resembles a bird's nest more than anything else.

armchairs in leather and designed by Alexander Lervik specially for the house, Johanson Design. Rug, Missoni Home/NK Inredning. Glass vase, Room.

IDEAS ISLAND Härén's Ideas Island exists in Sweden and in the Philippines. You cannot rent; instead, people may apply to borrow the islands. To get permission, the person must have a good and creative idea and deposit 1,000 dollars into a charity account. Fredrik pays for maintenance and administration out of his own pocket. Read more at www.fredrikharen.com

Sleep almost in the ocean! Patterned cushions, Chhatwal & Jonsson, Bohem. Beige bedspread... Black side table by Nendo, Moroso/NK Inredning. Table lamp Muffin Lamp, Brokis/Asplund. Knitted throws, NK Inredning.

On the other side of the water lies Hasseludden's Yasuragi and even closer are Thomas Sandell's Gåshaga houses. Just outside, the Waxholm ferries pass by. Before the house could be built, the island had to be reinforced with crushed rock as protection against erosion from the wash.

PICK-UP STICKS

"HE ALREADY HAD A COUNTRY HOUSE, BUT THERE WERE NEIGHBORS THERE — HE NEEDED SOLITUDE AND WATER."

Antique Swan chair, Arne Jacobsen. The idea is that the stick construction around the house will be patinated by bird droppings.

For Alexander Lervik, the house is far from finished. Today the sticks are still in mint condition, and Lervik longs for them to turn grey and become coated. He wants it to become part of the island.

"The dream is that the birds will nest among the sticks, and that the bird droppings will cause the wood to weather nicely," he says.

Furthermore, this fits well with Fredrik Härén's ecological profile for the island.

It is in the old cottage that guests get to cook and use the toilet. Alexander Lervik had initially included a kitchenette in the new house, but Fredrik Härén felt that was unnecessary. Now it consists of a single room which, apart from the window walls, is characterized by white-painted walls and wooden floors, as well as a stick structure that screens off the dining table and sofa area from the bed. Here there are few distractions, nothing practical to think about, which is of course important.

Since the acquisition of Svanholmen, Fredrik Härén has bought two more islands. One off Ekerö and one off the Philippines.

Nowadays he lectures and writes books on creativity, which is why he has become somewhat of an island collector.

Fredrik Härén himself spends six or seven weeks a year on Svanholmen, and about as much in the Philippines.

You cannot rent his Idea Islands; instead, people can apply to borrow the islands. To get permission, the person must have a good and creative idea — and deposit a thousand dollars into a charity account. Fredrik pays for maintenance and administration out of his own pocket.

Alexander Lervik got most of the ideas for the house already during that first brief visit to the island — in other words, creativity flowed as soon as he set foot on Svanholmen. He plans to book himself into the house for a week in the future.

Fredrik is completely certain that a stay on the island guarantees creative flow in the brain.

"I have asked more than a hundred thousand people where they got their best ideas. The answers are virtually unanimous. It is when you are relaxed in nature and not at work or at home. On an island you delimit yourself from the rest of the world. It becomes a mental isolation where you can focus on exactly what you want, without being disturbed."

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English translation of the original article. Text read from the scanned original; small transcription errors may occur.