This Copenhagen Fashion Designer Wakes Up Every Morning to a Patterned Glass Ceiling

“Romantic, architectural homes” is what Rikke Baumgarten was looking for when she went house hunting with her husband for new space for their family of six. And the 54-year-old creative director and cofounder of Danish fashion brand Baum Und Pferdgarten found exactly that in the historic Carlsberg neighborhood of Copenhagen in 2021.

“I couldn't see myself in a completely new flat that no one had lived in before. I wanted to instantly feel a history or some kind of background to the place that we lived,” Baumgarten explains. It’s this mentality that actually led to her success in obtaining the house. When they got stuck in a bidding war, she and her husband put in a lower offer on the space but were selected by the owner because the competing couple wanted to get rid of the home’s historic glass ceilings.

The house, which was built in the late 18th century by architect Oscar Kramp, was a no-brainer for Baumgarten. “It was obvious that the architect who did it had been in Italy, so there were a lot of Italian and south European details, which I thought were very nice,” she explains.

The space is a 3,800-square-foot villa with a sizable garden where Baumgarten spends most of her time when the weather is warm. The family previously lived in an apartment, so she likens the move to a permanent vacation. “It gives me a feeling, especially in the summertime, of being on holiday when, actually, you're home,” she says.

When it came to decorating the interior, Baumgarten was deliberate about mixing the old and new. Even though the house featured some traditional aspects that her husband was adamant about preserving (the mahogany staircase, the kitchen cabinets), Baumgarten gave them new life by bringing in bright hues and modern pieces.

After a friend suggested the staircase would look good with a lick of paint, Baumgarten swathed it in vermilion. She kept the color story going by layering the wall with a fringed textile piece made by a friend. “I like the mix of things; I like to pick out a beautiful modern piece of art and mix it with vintage furniture, but it all starts with color. If there is a painting where the colors are beautiful, I instantly get interested, and the same with textiles,” she says, describing her design process.

In the primary bedroom, Baumgarten touts the ceiling as the most beautiful one in the home (unlike the designs downstairs, this one prominently features a geometric pattern) and an inspiring way to start each day. As she rolls out of bed, her attention falls to a set of bookshelves (she got the idea to add the sleek system after a trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York). “Usually we don't have bookshelves in a bedroom, but there's something to it that I really love and it gives me [a sense of] calm and peace,” she says.

It also helps that Baumgarten has finally settled into a routine in the new home. Her two older children have moved out, and she has been busy investing in her outdoor space. When asked if she’s shopping for anything, Baumgarten laughs and says, “Only flowers for the garden. I invest all my money in gardening at the moment.”

In the meantime, she dreams of one day expanding the house and connecting it to her atelier next door (right now she has to trek through the yard to get to the studio). “I could see us connecting our kitchen with the atelier, so I'll stand in the kitchen and cook all this beautiful and tasteful food and then do a small painting or [arrange a bouquet of] flowers,” she says. No matter how often she rotates her art or swaps out the pillows on her living room sofa, fresh flowers will remain a constant. “I’ve always had flowers in my home, even before we moved into this house; growing something from a very small seed is just really magical,” she says.