In the centre of Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town, surprisingly close to the Royal Palace, between charming narrow cobbled streets, stands a beautiful 18th-century building echoing the vision of a classic, elegant Scandinavian architecture. Stepping in Jesper Kouthoofd’s glorious four-metre ceiling height, light-filled apartment, housing large-scale original affresco paintings covering wall after wall, I see a luscious universe with an eclectic colour palette filled with artworks, books, iconic references to the masters of industrial design and, gently taking over like a statement centrepiece, instruments and audio equipment growing into the space in the form of a home studio. Between the apartment’s original features, blending in unpretentiously, some awe-inspiring design objects from Joe Colombo, Virgil Abloh and Arne Jacobsen. Overall, this vast space resembles a symphony produced by an orchestra rather than a flat note. Observing the contrast of bold colours, I think, ”how fitting geometry and organic shapes blend into a recurring home theme.”
Today, living there with his wife and two children, Jesper Kouthoofd, who is not only the co-founder and CEO of Teenage Engineering, the leading Swedish consumer electronics brand, internationally renowned for beautifully designed audio products, but also an exceptionally creative individual brilliant at recognizing the vibrancy of the ebbs and flow of life, turning them into unexpected connections between ordinary things and creative ideas. I had met Jesper a few years back in 2017 at a presentation in Älmhult for IKEA introducing their upcoming collaboration and already back then, the fascination began with this creative entrepreneur who is able to design electronic instruments in such an effortless way that feels everything but intimidating. You know you’re onto something interesting when you are knee-deep in the research process and there’s minimal information about the founders, yet there are millions of likes and a growing number of international artists raving about Teenage Engineering’s first product — the op-1. Fans include Bon Iver, Swedish House Mafia, Thom Yorke, St. Vincent, Bonobo, Reggie Watts — believe me, the list goes on. Although Jesper has had plenty of experience being the spokesperson for the brand, you can understand that I felt intimidated yet extremely curious about his personality and professional background — thankfully we share a love for Italian design which broke the ice as we sat down in his kitchen and started talking. I immediately felt as if for Jesper it’s less about doing more than about doing things more creatively.
With all your creative endeavours I can’t help but feel that you can’t sit still.
— Basically. I really like to learn new things, the learning process fascinates me. I want to understand how the world works, so I go from area to area and then I try to make connections. What I have learned is that many things are basically the same in different disciplines. So if you work with fashion or design or filmmaking, or even banking, you know, it’s basically the same principles that have a different shape, but if you’ve moved from one to another, then you start to see the pattern. Everything I do is some kind of experiment and I’ve been surprised many times that if you have the will to try things, chances are that it works.
Are you still experimenting nowadays?
— In the situation I’m in now, I’m more looking towards collecting. I think this pandemic was a great opportunity to go back and experience things again. So this has almost been a sabbatical year for me. It’s been more about learning new things. More of an input process instead of an output process.
Have you always had the same approach?
— When I was ten I decided what I wanted to do. My father was an architect so I basically grew up under his drawing desk and I promised myself that I wanted to experiment with things, so I failed a lot. I’ve done a lot of bad designs just to explore, whilst I kept looking up to him, although I saw him struggle. He was Dutch, raised in Jakarta and coming from Holland to Sweden was much much harder for him back then but going back to Holland wasn’t an option because that was even worse.
Have you spent any time in Holland?
— I spent a lot of time in Holland. There is a very different attitude and mentality compared to Sweden which has helped me a lot throughout life. Overall they are much more straightforward and ironic; I can feel that I have taken that attitude from my family where I don’t give a fuck, I just do what I want.
— I remember when I was young when we went to Holland to see family friends, and what people did with their apartments looked upside down compared to Swedish architecture. It felt crazy but also amazing to see what good design really can be and you don’t see that in Sweden. I’m actually impressed when some Swedish friends can do great work because they have been fed with this bad kind of boring grey socialistic approach where everything looks the same. Just look at the colours. Everything is brown or beige. I feel so lucky to have had a father with great taste.
Did you experiment outside of traditional Swedish structure when growing up?
— I grew up in a suburb outside of Gothenburg, a small village with a very strong and traditional Swedish mentality where you shouldn’t think that you can do anything. You stay there for the rest of your life, probably work in the local industry like everybody else does but luckily my parents were different. They taught me that you don’t have to be in the system, but you can create your own, so I feel like I’m more like an English sheepdog or better, the director of my own fancy. I maintained the same attitude growing up, and I continue to do so, always trying to push people to be brave and do the things they want to do, just like my mentors did with me.
Do you maintain that same attitude towards risk and creativity nowadays?
— Right after school I started my own business in Gothenburg where I designed record slips. Following that, I moved to Stockholm to work in the advertising world until I was 25. I then started my first company, Acne. At that point, I had been so involved in everything I’ve ever done that I felt almost broken. At Teenage Engineering now we are about 60 and I understand that if you are involved in every little part of the business, it destroys you. So a few years ago I started to rebuild the organisation to essentially shoot me out of daily operations so now I can work on my own projects, and try to stay focused on the things I want to do.
How has that rebuilding process been?
— I try not to share a vision but work on what may inspire people and teach them values to live a life they are happy with. If you’re not happy working with a specific subject, experiment, do something else, that’s why a lot of people in our company have moved within the organisation. I’m always pushing people to find a way to be happier going to work. And I’ve always questioned why people have hobbies, why c
