Interior Stylist Pernille Vest Makes you Dream with her Minimalistic and Feminine Spaces

Creating Refined and Sober Backgrounds with Interior Stylist Pernille Vest

Name:
Pernille Vest
Photography:
Courtesy Pernille Vest
Styling:
Pernille Vest
Words:
Caroline Meeusen

Educated as a fashion designer, interior stylist Pernille Vest knows how to dress up a space like no other. With her sober, quiet minimalism and elegant style, she transforms every room, booth, and set into a dreamy and refined background or picture for projects and collections by designers, architects, and clients all over the world. She was one of the co-founders of the magazine RUM and now of Ark Journal—as a fashion designer, she wasn’t always happy with the styling, which inspired her to do it herself. Now, she combines her passion for art, design, and furniture with her stylistic eye and talent.

Pernille talks about how she inspires people and makes them dream with her beautiful spaces.

Photography by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen for Dinesen

Visual Pleasure Magazine:
Can you tell me a bit about your background?

Pernille Vest: I grew up in the northern part of Zealand / Denmark in a very ordinary family with four kids. Our dad was a businessman and our mom was a stay-at-home mom until I was 16. After ending high school, I went to a Danish fashion design school for two years. This education gave me the courage to move to Paris with the aim of working as a fashion designer. I stayed in Paris with a friend from the design school for two fantastic years—it was a lot of fun but did not yield a lot of money, only a few jobs from Denmark.

Back in Denmark, we started a fashion design company and worked together until my partner was expecting her first child, which made us split up. From here my direction of work changed. I started my career as an interior stylist, some 27 years ago. Besides doing commercial jobs, I've always loved to do editorial and have been connected to different magazines. I was one of the co-founders behind the Danish magazine RUM and worked as a freelance member of the core team for 10 years. Having made RUM an international success, it was time to start something new. So, most of the original team left RUM with the idea to start something by combining design, architecture, and art. This became the creation of the new bi-annual magazine Ark Journal. Already after three issues, you can get it in more than 32 countries around the world.

When and how did you know you wanted to be an interior stylist?

I am an educated fashion designer, and worked as such for some years, while also doing some designs for magazines. Often, I was not satisfied with the styling—so I asked if I could do it myself, and that was the start of my styling carrier. However, fashion and interior got mixed, and in the end, I had to choose, and for sure, furniture, design, and art had become my big passion.

How would you describe your style?

I love space, the air around the objects, geometric forms appeal a lot to me and I use them whenever possible in the styling. So, I would describe my style as open, feminine, and with a touch of life, making it easier for people to relate it to their own world.

Photography by Mikkel Mortensen for Tine K Home — Photography by Mikkel Adsbøl for Tine K Home

Photography by Mikkel Mortensen for ARK Journal

What is it that you do exactly?

Simple: I try to find the best expression in whatever object I work with.

What’s your working method when styling an interior, room, campaign, etc.?

It depends. If it is commercial, the product from the customer is always the centerpiece and I try to make a surrounding that gives the look that the customer likes—of course, always with my own touch. The opposite is editorial. Here, I’ll find a theme or title to work from together with the magazine. I will then research what kind of furniture and style that I would love to work with. I’ll do a lot of sketches, then find out what is possible. I often have to iterate this process several times before I am satisfied. The sketches help me to get a clear idea of what I would like to do, but I also have to be open to quick changes if my plan doesn’t work at the shooting. However, most of the time you can see my sketches come out in the pictures.

What do you strive for in your spaces? I seem to recognize some sense of calm and a minimalistic vibe.

For sure I strive for a minimalistic style with a female touch. I am happy that you can see it in my pictures.

What do you want your designs to evoke?

Apart from showrooms and booths for fairs, my styling is mostly for pictures, so I would love to give inspiration and share my ideas of good style and vibes for interior decoration.

What is the most important aspect of a space/interior?

That you would love to live there and feel inspired and creative.

What do you think is a must-have in everyone’s home?

A big kitchen where there is space for everything. My office is my kitchen. It is the heart of the house.

Is there a certain project that you still want to realize?

There is a lot. I think it is a fantastic challenge to change a look or image for a company into something totally different from their previous style. If I could, I would like to realize every possible job.