Att Pynta

Tell us about your story. How did Att Pynta form?

Kai: I am half-Swedish, half-British and have lived in England since I was eight (my mother is from Gothenburg and my father is from Bristol). Having grown up in Sweden, I have so many fond memories of my early childhood. I love going back as often as I can, to catch up with family and see the latest Scandi interior trends. After school, I studied Media Practice at university in Bristol. Following that, I moved to London and started working for AllSaints where I met Amanda.

Amanda: I was born and raised in Gothenburg and in 2006 – when I was 18 – I moved to London to further my classical ballet education. Unfortunately this was cut short after I suffered several injuries. I’d always been passionate about clothing, so decided to leave my dance career behind and pursue a job in the fashion industry.

We met while working in PR for AllSaints. We’ve both always had a keen interest in interior design – something we bonded over straight away! After working together in the fashion industry for 4 years we were both itching for a change, and had always wanted to work in interiors, but did not know how to get a foot in the door. Then one day the idea for Att Pynta came about. After about a year of planning and putting together a business plan, we made the leap from our full time jobs and started working on Att Pynta full time.

We found that the fashion and interior worlds were closely linked. While working in the fashion industry our interest for interior design only grew. We became determined to make the products we were seeing in Scandinavian homes available over here, and at an affordable price.

What does Att Pynta mean?

We often get asked about our name and what it means…Att Pynta is a Swedish phrase which means: ‘To decorate with accessories’. There isn’t really a word for it in English so we decided to use the Swedish phrase as it fitted with our brand aesthetic. Also, we have a blog called Att Samla, which means in Swedish ‘to collect’.

What inspires you professionally?

Being surrounded by and working with creative people is really inspiring. We work with a lot of makers and we always make an effort to visit their studio, chat to them and share their story on our site. We love hearing how they came to their craft and what inspires them; that in turn inspires us.

We also find inspiration by speaking with friends about how they use their home; that helps us to bring in the best products to our site. We look at Swedish interior sites and the Swedish estate agents for what styles and colours the Scandis are using in their homes. Pinterest or Instagram is great to way to see what trends are infiltrating into people’s homes in the UK.

Why did you choose Copeland Park & Bussey Building as your location and what do you like about it?

We knew other people here and had seen their studios. We love the vibe of the area and, being South-y locals, we knew Bussey would be a great location for the brand. There are so many other creatives and like-minded people; it’s great being in an area that feels buzzing and has real character.

We have turned our studio into a mini showroom, so we often use it for appointments for customers to come and see our products, or to host events like the Bussey Winter Open Studios.

We often use Social for meetings or to just pop out of the studio for a break and grab a coffee.

Tell us about your career highlights

Bringing our brand into Liberty was definitely a huge achievement for us. Liberty approached us in summer 2018, offering us a huge space in the homeware department as our very own Att Pynta pop up. It was an amazing opportunity to bring our brand to a new audience and the association with Liberty was a dream come true; it’s one of our favourite shops in London. Being asked to come back in 2019 was a great start to the year, having our pieces in Liberty is a perfect collaboration for us as we share the same values and customer values.

We’ve also been very fortunate to get some wonderful press; being interviewed for Vogue, named one of the best online stores in ELLE Decoration and Telegraph are definite highlights.

We have also been very lucky to work with some great clients updating their homes, we usually work on smaller homes making the most of the space. You can see one here.

What are your hopes for the future?

We want to continue expanding our collection, moving into bedroom furniture (watch this space), dining tables, chairs…. the list goes on. We would also love to expand our physical presence, ideally having another showroom in central London.

Also, moving into Bussey was amazing; we wanted to have our studio here for ages so it was great to officially move in and create our interior showroom and work space!

You can find out more about Att Pynta by following their work at attpynta.com, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.