Meet the Man Who Can Find You a Jean Prouvé

“I am totally driven by the hunt,” says interior designer and antiques dealer Fredrik Karlsson, who began collecting 12 years ago, when his innate love for interiors trumped an early ambition for golf. Not the most natural of segues, Karlsson embarked on a career as a personal trainer while trading in furniture, artwork and objects “with strong personality and heritage” – anything from a primitive milking stool to a Noguchi lamp to a covetable piece by Jean Prouvé – to become the foundations for his Stockholm-based studio Galerie North.

“I source internationally – scrolling through auctions and secondhand sites, and building a network – but am particularly drawn to pieces from France, from the 1930s to 1960s, made at a time when designers worked by hand with local materials. They came up with classic and innovative designs that weren’t necessarily classed as luxury then, but are today and I have a lot of respect for that,” says Karlsson. The result is a thoughtful curation that focuses on natural materials and sculptural shapes. “ I think if you’re too trendy, you lose personality. I like a sense of timelessness and I strive to live my life that way.”

What really sets Karlsson apart is the way that he incorporates these pieces into interior projects, combining his Scandinavian penchant for airy minimalism with the character of his antique finds. “I like to place pieces in an environment that they weren’t originally created for. When you put the two together, something happens. It’s unexpected and if it speaks to me, hopefully it will speak to someone else.”

And it does. Karlsson has amassed an army of followers. “I suppose I don’t have the typical look of an interior designer,” laughs Karlsson. “Without Instagram, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do today.”

His own personal trove features family heirlooms, Jeanneret furniture and vintage movie lamps. “Sometimes it’s with a tear in my eye that I see things go, but give it a few days, or even an hour, and I’m onto the next hunt. It’s a non-stop rotation,” he concludes.