Sanctuary of Soft Aesthetics

Step inside Roosa’s and Niklas’s home, a serene space where your mind can reset and recharge. Take in the carefully curated elements, each thoughtfully selected to create a harmonious balance of beauty and comfort.

Roosa is a dynamic individual who works at a communications agency, specializing in PR, marketing, and content creation. Alongside her professional career, she channels her creative energy into an online media platform called Gemma, which she co-founded with a friend. The platform serves as a space where she writes about culture and shares the many sources of inspiration she encounters in her daily life.

Roosa’s creativity also extends into her personal life. Her partner, Niklas, is a creative designer at an advertising agency, and together they share a deep passion for photography. Their weekends often involve watching films, exploring new series, and immersing themselves in the art world through frequent visits to galleries and museums, always with an eye for the beauty and creativity that surround them.

We’ve always been interested in the visual side of things, and we naturally pay close attention to the atmosphere and aesthetics around us.

The warm tone and material of the rug Line 04 fit perfectly with the character of the 1960s apartment and the oak parquet flooring.

I’m sometimes sensory-sensitive, so it’s important to me that there is a certain kind of harmony at home. For that reason, we don’t have too many things or items on display.

Our home has ended up with a lot of natural materials and earthy tones, which has resulted in a fairly neutral colour palette. I like being able to curate different arrangements at home, for example with books and other objects, based on my mood, the season, or just inspiration, while keeping some things out of sight.

Fortunately, we have quite similar tastes when it comes to interior design and art, even though we both have plenty of visions and opinions. I feel that our home is a combination of both of us – Niklas has a more “bohemian” nature, which nicely balances my more organized personality. While I do enjoy minimalism and cleanliness, I still like the home to look lived-in.

We moved into our current home a year ago, and it’s still somewhat unfinished and empty in places. We try to carefully consider which objects and furniture fit the space, where each item should go, and what we actually need. Often, when you give it enough time, things naturally fall into place and find their spots.

We favour timeless and domestic options. Many of our furniture pieces come from our previous homes or childhood homes, like a beautifully patinated dresser and our dining chairs.

Recently, I’ve been particularly inspired by our surroundings here in East Helsinki. At first, moving to a suburb further from the city center felt a bit daunting, but now I’ve found a new sense of peace in the nearby forests and the sea. From the windows of our home, we can see a variety of tree species, and it’s a joy to watch them change with the seasons.

The area also features interesting architecture, like the Roihuvuori Elementary School designed by Aarno Ruusuvuori, which includes a stunning mural designed by Anitra Lucander.

In general, modernism in both architecture and art fascinates me. During our trips, both within Finland and abroad, we try to include visits to intriguing sites. Most recently, during our trip to Paris, we explored Villa Savoye, designed by Le Corbusier.

I dream of making progress on renovating our home office and furnishing it. Our goal is to create a space that’s not only great for remote work but also inviting for creative activities and reading. I love to collect visually interesting books and publications, which I plan to display in the office as a source of inspiration. We’re also hoping to find a long desk or work surface for both of our workstations.

The warm tone and material of the rug Line 04 fit perfectly with the character of our 1960s apartment and the oak parquet flooring. The rug is in our living room, which is quite a large open space. I love how a big, soft rug helps link the elements and furniture of the room together. The soft wool rug adds coziness and feels wonderful under bare feet.

The rug has stayed surprisingly clean, even though we often eat in the living room, and we sometimes look after our friends’ dog. So far, vacuuming has been enough to maintain the rug, and it’s stayed in really great condition.

Photography: Roosa Rauatmaa