Cool Finnish design full of northern light

It should be modern - and it shouldn't match: Nordic Living shopowner Leila Ahmedova tells Eoin Lyons about her design philosophy

"I always had an idea to open a shop but didn't move to Ireland with that intention," says Leila Ahmedova who arrived here from Finland three years ago.

She opened Nordic Living in Blackrock, Co Dublin, two years later. "I was working for a computer company and travelling a lot but it didn't appeal to me anymore. The reality of opening the shop came about because when I first came to Ireland I wanted to buy very simple furniture made of light coloured wood but couldn't find much that wasn't cherry wood, antique or French style."

So after finding a location she started to import the Scandinavian design she loves. This passion came about slowly: "In Finland I wanted to study design but couldn't afford to, so I did short courses here and there until I built up knowledge. The last course I did was at Helsinki University and it was about modern Finnish design."

Nordic Living sells furniture, rugs and textiles. Leila lives in Sandymount, which she has furnished with some of her favourite things from Finland.

If she has a philosophy about decoration, it's firmly grounded in modernity. "We don't wear 18th century clothes, so why live with 18th century furniture? How do you live with things that don't fit with the rest of your life?"

Her other rule is to have nothing matching and use colour: "A lot of people try to match colours and styles but I like a mix. You see so many beige and brown schemes now and they're all very bland. I think many people are afraid that others will laugh or say they've used the wrong thing."

In the kitchen, Finnish designer Alvar Aalto's three-legged stools sit beside a table covered with a Marimekko print tablecloth.

"The stools were designed in the 1930s and took Aalto three years to perfect. They're so simple and so beautiful, but also just the right height for dining and can be stacked so they're good for a small apartment. When you're short of space, they can also slide under the table. These particular ones are finished with black and white laminate tops.

"Maija Isola designed the fabric print on the tablecloth in the 1950s. She was told not to design anything with a floral print but did this in protest and it became the best-selling pattern ever. I like the blackness of this, although it also comes in red."

In the livingroom, two tables (part of a nest) are another Aalto design. "They're birch veneer and very complicated to make. The legs are made of very slender strips of veneer steamed into a curve and moulded together. They were designed in the mid-1930s."

The white glass vase on the large table is yet another Aalto designs from the 1930s. "When someone is getting married in Finland they're sure to get a couple of these vases. Any piece of Aalto furniture is considered very desirable in a home. People save to buy something and understand why they're expensive."

On the sofa behind are blue striped cushions by Linum, in very Scandinavian colours. Over the sofa is a Bestlite lamp.

In another corner of the livingroom, Leila sits beneath a poster bought in Warsaw, where she lived for a couple of months. "I travelled everywhere with the computer company I worked for and didn't have alot to do in Warsaw so I went to the theatre all the time. This poster is from an opera." The woven bamboo cushions are from Ikea.

In Leila's bedroom is another Bestlite lamp, this time in black. "It was designed by Robert Dudley Best in the 1930s and is probably one of the most copied lamps ever. I bought the lamp in my bedroom at home in Finland before I opened the shop. Even copies of this lamp can cost €500." Leila tacked Marimekko fabric, the same as that used on the kitchen table, on a wooden frame to hang on the wall.

Also in the bedroom, a collection of handbags are hung on the wall: "It means I can see what I have and make a decision in the morning fast."

Leila likes photography - she learnt how to develop pictures in Finland - and an easel holds a picture taken on a trip to Peru.

A tray table holds part of her extensive collection of ceramic, porcelain and wood elephants. "I don't know how I started collecting them but it was along time ago. Friends give them as presents now. I think I like them because they're calm and friendly - there's something that's good karma about elephants." Around her neck she wears a tiny green elephant, a present from her mother.

The rug here is made from paper yarn - a material that's somewhere between paper and wood. Leila sells these in her shop.

"It's made from thin layers of wood twisted together and is very durable.

"They're great for people who are asthmatic or allergic to wool or dust. In Finland the Asthma and Allergy Association certify them.

"They're very traditional in Finland: women used to wash them in the sea, which would give a fresh smell to a room for months afterwards."

[ www.nordicliving.ie ]