With the sun dancing around our ankles, we had the pleasure of having breakfast at artist Johanna Pihl’s place. With hot coffee in our hands and Neil Young in our ears, we chatted about far away lion walks, c r a z y good energies, and the art of catching the end of our dreams. All in Johanna’s proper habitat, surrounded by the art that has become a natural piece of her.

Johanna Pihl’s aesthetic is unquestionable. Her spiritual creativity swirls around the straightness of the design she seems drawn to, rarely and humbly. It may be a kind of ‚you have to be there to explore it‘ thing to say, but trust us. It is a fantastic meeting between soft and strict expressions. We left the visit to the black 1920s villa in the Stockholm suburb of Bromma filled with soft and creative energy—a nice feeling to carry with you into the summer.

Our house: 

An old falu black wooden house in Bromma.

We live here: 

I live with my husband Jacob and our two kids Mila and Jack .

What we do: 

Me: Artist. My husband: Entreprenur.

Tuesday evening ends at:

10pm when it’s cold and dark. But I’m like the birds who follow the light – so in the summer, it’s more like 11-ish.

Before turning out the lights, you always:

I quickly check in on pictures on my phone of what I’ve done during the day. If I have the energy, I’ll sketch or write down some notes. After that, I always watch some mindless Netflix for ten minutes. Scroll a little on my phone and kiss my husband goodnight.

Who/what are sharing your bed:

My husband from the beginning, but 70% of the time, I’m waking up with my daughter in her bed.

Normally you sleep in:

Cotton for winter, silk for summer. Or just a tank top and boxer shorts.

The last dream you remember:

A while back, I had a bizarre dream where I’d designed an armchair made of sleek light brown leather. But no ordinary chair – this was made of high-end building blocks. You could manipulate it by twisting and turning it around and by adjusting the armrests and rotating the back it transformed into a stylish divan. And to top it all off – and here is where it gets strange: you could alter it to stand up and suddenly it had turned itself into a functioning robot looking like something straight out of Transformers. Hahaha…

On your night stand we will probably find:

A candle, water, my cell, a pile of sketchbooks/ creative journals, and an amethyst (had the same one since I was 13).

Your best tip for a good night sleep would be:

Hanging out with friends for dinner with nice food and red wine makes you so happy and tired that you’ll crash as soon as you get home.

Your evening beauty routine includes:

Face wash, face cream. Sometimes I also use serum or an overnight mask, or sometimes I just spray with some mist. It varies. I’m usually too tired for long routines.

This keeps you sleepless at night:

All the To-do’s. My husband or my kids stealing my duvet. The birds in the summer (love them though) or that phone bill that always pops up twice and that call I know I need to make about it.

Instead of counting sheep you:

I manifest things, or I try to see myself in a happy place – one of my favorite trips I’ve done was to Africa and I often picture myself on the savanna surrounded by lions and how we’re all walking slowly together in perfect harmony.

The best thing about your bedroom :

It’s crazy good energy. I fell in love with it as soon as I opened the door. The old wooden floors and the light coming in give the white wall a golden touch. I need to have blank walls in my bedroom. My head is already too messy with drawings flying around inside, and those walls inspired me to create and fill them up.

Your best midnight snack:

I’m a sucker for snacks, so I’ll have anything we have at home.

Tuesday morning starts at: 

06.34am. If I’m lucky and my kids are still asleep. Someone told me once to set your alarm at an unpredictable time and change it randomly. Don’t know why, but I’ve been doing it ever since. And why start the day with something predictable anyway?

Your alarm sounds like: 

A non-memorizable melody? I always try to hit the snooze button as fast as possible, so I can make it go away and catch the end of my dream. But then the melody starts again or one of my kids calls on me or knocks me on my shoulder and the dream is gone. Such a cliffhanger every time.

The first thing you see when you open your eyes are:

The snooze button or my daughter. (My son is better at sleeping alone.)

Your morning mood could be described as:

Sleepy but happy.

A normal breakfast would be like:

I’m not into routines otherwise, but I do have one, and it’s actually my Mon-Friday breakfast. Scrambled eggs with turkey. I would definitely have a fair chance of winning if there was a scramble egg competition, haha. And with water and lots of coffee.

Your birthday breakfast should be like:

I prefer a bustling family breakfast… So forget breakfast in bed! Everyone in the dining room with candles (my birthday is in January so it’s dark) music playing from the speakers. A mix of everything you love, crammed on the table together. Scones or bread from the bakery and croissants. Cheese, marmalade, loads of cucumber (my kid’s favorite), Orange, and ginger juice with so much ginger it burns, and good coffee. Cake for me should always be combined with prosecco – so that’s for later…

Your morning beauty routine includes:

It varies. It depends on my mood or what I’m up to. The more advanced version is: day cream, cover stick, tinted moisturizer, cream blush that I put onto my cheeks and eyelids (both from Laura Mercier) powder, add definition with black eyeshadow along my lash line, mascara and finish with lip gloss. OR I’m all natural with only day cream and mist (If I’m in my studio all day).

A dreamy weekend morning could be like:

To be able to sleep until I wake up by myself to the smell of made breakfast downstairs. Heaven!

My dos and don’ts when making the bed:

I love a hotel-made bed when the pillows are fluffy, sheets are stretched and the duvet lies with a perfect fold. But that takes forever, no? So I do a semi version. I put the pillows in place and shake the duvet so that it lands somewhere on the right place.

Also, we just have to ask. How can one get a hold of your art, and do you have any upcoming exhibitions this summer?

You can e-mail me or just DM me on Instagram: @johanna.pihl. And yes, I do. I’m in the middle of it now. I have an upcoming solo exhibition this July in Torekov, Skåne. Come by!!

Text & styling by: Josephine Blix

Photo by: Mikael Lundblad

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