Fabian Berglund and Liza Laserow, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Scandi rug brand Nordic Knots, were scouring the internet for office space when a tiny thumbnail caught their eye. It was for the Eriksbergsteatern, an early-20th-century theater lovingly nicknamed “Woodstock” by Stockholm cinephiles until it closed in 1986. Seeking to showcase the venerable brand’s hand-woven rugs in a history-laden setting that transcended a traditional showroom, the duo—and co-founder Felix Berglund, brother to Fabian—signed up.
The interior needed sprucing up, so the Berglunds enlisted a fast friend, the New York interior designer Giancarlo Valle. Acclaimed for spellbinding interiors that deftly bridge reverence for tradition with the playful spirit of the present, he turned out to be an ideal collaborator. Preservation work on the theater’s original touches was in order—the dramatic Carrara marble staircase, speckled terrazzo floor, and mottled green marble walls all exquisitely backdrop the array of light-soaked rugs, as well as contemporary touches like a coffee bar and lighting by Mexican designer Carlos H Matos.
“Sweden, to me, represents one of the richest and most sophisticated design cultures in the world,” Valle says. “It has a deep history of decorative arts and manages to move itself forward in new and original ways without losing its roots. I saw this partnership as an opportunity to continue this great legacy, but through an outsider’s lens.” To wit: displayed throughout is Valle’s own collaboration with Nordic Knots, a newly debuted series of impeccably soft New Zealand wool rugs that play with Swedish folkloric imagery.
