Yellow Circus

Visit tigers & elephants in the yellow circus

Decorated by Coincidence

There’s a time and place for everything. This seems to be the core value in the home landscape architect Line Stampe Dahl shares with her entrepreneur husband, Thomas Bisballe, the couple’s young sons, Svend, 7, and Einer, 4 years old. Not in a prudent kind of way, but rather in a let’s-see-where-the-moment-take-us sort of way. This can mean spontaneously jumping in the car to spend a weekend at the family summerhouse North of Copenhagen. Or when Line tells how the many pre-loved pieces of furniture have found their way into the décor – many of them by coincidence. Or how it wasn’t until 2020’scontinuous Covid-19 lockdowns that an iPad found its way into the household, which is something that seems like a relatively rare occurrence these days when toddlers are sometimes more tech-savvy than their parents. “We realised that there was a limit to how much stimulation we could provide our kids with when we were home, all four of us, all the time,” Line laughs.

The family likes to live relatively slow-moving, taking one day at a time, without having too many plans. They let their intuition guide them in everything from what’s for dinner to vacation plans – leaving time open for things to be able to happen and then roll with them. It’s not that they’re not an active family: On the contrary, Thomas is an avid sportsman and Line a skilled knitter, dedicating hours to her craft, and both of them enjoy lots of creative time with the boys. Both kids love building Legos, Svend following every manual he can get his hands on, and Einer just going with his imagination flow.

This apartment building is unique because it used to be former Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning’s home back in the first half of the 1900s, and it’s therefore listed. Before moving into the apartment two years ago, the family lived in another listed area in Copenhagen – the famous Kartoffelrækkerne – originally an old working-class. “We were familiar with the rules of living in a listed building and were actively looking for an older place with some soul. Not many families make a move from a house to an apartment, but living on four floors with two little kids was not the most practical,” Line explains.

The youngest family member, 4-year-old Einer, also got a new bunk bed recently, which is the embodiment of everything Line loves in good design: quality craftsmanship with oak tree details, creating true value in her children’s life. Because after the new bunk bed moved in, big brother Svend, who has his own room, sneaks into his little brother’s bed every night. “It’s the cutest thing,” Line says smiling: “And I can also testify to the quality, as I often end up in there because the kids invade our bed during the night,” she laughs.

Considering history is also a big part of Line’s work-life as a landscape architect. She primarily works with smaller city areas, like town squares, playgrounds, and older streets. “I think a lot about a place’s cultural history, and any changes I make are with the utmost respect for that. I consider what was present at the origin of a place and how I can make that work in a new and contemporary context without losing history. It’s very much the same considerations that have gone into our home and how I think we live: With room for stories to unfold.”