August 27, 2019

Meet Lynn Krusell of House of Krusell in Central LA

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynn Krusell.

Lynn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?

I was born and raised in Sweden, had a cozy and peaceful childhood always close to nature. Dad was a captain, usually somewhere on the ocean driving cargo or passenger ships, mom was working locally for a car firm and always kept the household in check. We used to bake cinnamon buns, swim in the ocean, travel Europe, go skiing, play with the pets, grow flowers, and do a lot of crafting. I used to make houses of shoeboxes for my toys by cutting out images of furniture from the IKEA catalog and gluing them on to the boxes. As I got older, I took it to technology and started to make the coolest houses on The Sims every day after school, I had all the cheat codes so a budget wasn’t an issue. I also loved to rearrange my room, get new textiles, furniture, wallpaper… I would wish for interior decor items for Christmas. That’s how I remember being a kid, a lot of freedom to explore and set the foundation for what later on would lead to a serious interest in interior design.

Fast forward to 2012 when I moved to Los Angeles to go to college and study just that. I had never even been to the US before I moved here. I was living in London working at a clothing store when I decided it was time to be serious and continue my education. I have never been scared of trying new things and going my own route, so I thought no problem, I’ll move across the globe alone, I’ll figure it out or I’ll just go back home. I always had an eye for America. All the movies, music and video/computer games I used to consume growing up are from here. I saw a cool country where anything was possible. I thought that almost everyone here was rich and had huge houses I wanted to design. I decided on Los Angeles because it seemed to cater to my interests the most out of all the big cities, and because of the great weather of course.

Studying in the US wasn’t what I had expected at all, definitely not even close to what the study abroad consultant back in Sweden had told me. The system was more complicated, and in the beginning I considered dropping out and going somewhere else, like Africa to work with wild animals. But the more I got to know the city & the lifestyle, I realized this is where I want to be. Everything I had imagined for myself seemed so attainable here. After a couple of reality checks, ups and downs, countless of all-nighters dedicated to design projects, the struggle of being about 20 hours and $1000 of travel away from my friends and family, I finally completed my Bachelor of Arts in Design.

I have always envisioned myself running my own business, but I never knew exactly what kind or how to do it. I was working with store design for an international clothing brand and freelancing doing interior, graphic, and jewelry design when I decided to start House of Krusell. I just knew that I wanted a business dedicated to all my fields of design. A place to host the work, sell products, and a blog to put young up and coming designers on the map, as well as spreading the message of the originators out there. I never felt the need to rush it, I have been happy learning from more established designers before spending all my time on my own business. “Trust the timing” is a motto reflected in my entire life.

Has it been a smooth road?

Not at all, just moving abroad is a struggle in itself, but it has been so worth it for me. It makes you grow as a person, you start trusting yourself in a new way, you know you have your own back and will always find your way. And you have a lot of fun! Being independent is a great feeling. Moving to a new country also gives you a bigger understanding of people and cultures other than your own, you learn acceptance and you become more open-minded. And you can have interesting discussions about the state of the world from more than one perspective. On the contrary, there are always people who disapprove of your decision on any side of the boarders. People missing you asking you to come home, people telling you to go home. Whatever the case might be, do not listen too much.

As far as creatively, the concept for House of Krusell has been polished for years and left on the shelf countless of times but it is finally getting ready, whatever that means. It is always tricky as a creative when you deal with several different fields and try to combine them all under one umbrella. How do you market, who do you target? These are things that I am still trying to figure out the best set up for. As creatives, we often try to perfect our product before putting it out. Nothing is ever perfect to the creator, so a lot of good ideas end up in the archives. We learn and get better through trial and error so the best thing we can do is to keep creating and not be afraid to share. A wise designer once told me that all the ideas we get already exist, someone else have already thought about them. But 99% of people let the idea pass and never act on it. That is what sets us apart as designers, we act on our ideas, and are not afraid of trying.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the House of Krusell story. Tell us more about the business.

House of Krusell is my design house, a concept still developing and growing into a business bigger than just myself freelancing. We specialize in interior design first but also do everything from graphic design to stage design. I love to work with scale, contrasts and opposites. Old and new. And I am happy to not just cater to clients, but also design peers and have an open discussion about how we can help each other and make things better together. The ultimate goal is to make life easier, more enjoyable and better for as many people as possible.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?

In interior design, the future holds a lot of technological advancements for sure. We are already in the future on the experimental and commercial level, and soon it will be time to get it out to the masses. More artificial intelligence and less human interaction is a given. This can be good for efficiency, but we really find it important to create good relationships with our clients in interior design, and I don’t think AI will ever be able to substitute that. We have to build trust and really learn our client’s way of living to be able to create a space that works with their lifestyle or company culture. Residential clients give us their house keys and introduce us to their family, commercial clients counts on us to boost their revenue.

I think technology can be really beneficial for selling concepts though. More advanced renderings and animations that can show a client exactly what they will get on a large scale before they even seen a finish sample. Using virtual reality to walk through a space before it is built is already happening. This can minimize errors and is more environmentally friendly than having something built but having to change it again due to miscommunications, client dissatisfaction, or incorrect calculations. Whatever happens, I am very excited to be a part of this industry, and see what the future holds for us all and for House of Krusell.

Contact Info:

Website: www.houseofkrusell.com
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/candypaint/
Other: https://www.instagram.com/houseofkrusell/

Image Credit:
Jimi Stone

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