Against stagnation

Kari-Otso Nevaluoma, who is the editor-in-chief of Avotakka, Finland’s largest interior design magazine, and the same age as Habitare, loves weekends and wants to keep an open and curious mind. We sat down with Kari-Otso and talked about interior decoration and the perspective that comes with age, and we touched upon the traditional Finnish dish of liver casserole.

Habitare celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, just like you! What is your own relationship with Habitare?

I have become familiar with Habitare through my work. During the early years of Habitare, the event did not seem significantly interesting to me, but in recent years, I have really begun to wait for it. I’m thinking about how the exhibitors have developed, what new things they have come up with, and what kinds of exhibitions are on. The internationalisation of the event and the diversification of its offerings have enabled Habitare to evolve into a melting pot of different styles and trends, where visitors can be taken by surprise, if they arrive with an open mind.

Habitare is very much a social experience, and you will miss a lot if you don’t pay attention to the people and stop for interesting conversations. The event enables you to meet many people from the industry whom you might not necessarily otherwise meet. There are people there who know a lot about their field: when you engage in conversation with visitors and exhibitors, you can draw an awful lot of new information from them.

“Habitare is very much a social experience, and you will miss a lot if you don’t pay attention to the people and stop for interesting conversations.”

What do you think is the right way of living?

I will answer this question from an aesthetician’s perspective. I think the right way of living is the desire, skill and enthusiasm to create something beautiful around you and to embrace things in your life that make you feel good. It is the willpower to use precisely those colours that you like, to invest in beauty when necessary, and, on the other hand, to cut down or suffer in some form: once you have made an investment in beauty, you can balance it by, say, only eating liver casserole for a while. By this, I don’t just mean making your home perfect, but generally investing in things that visually delight you or that make you feel good. You should also be aware of what you like, and develop your taste and style, and not get stuck in a rut. Life ends if you decide that all is complete now. You should be awake and open, and ready to change your own views and opinions. This should be an attitude to last a lifetime.

Liver casserole – with or without raisins?

With raisins, definitely!

“The interior of my home is surprisingly conservative, even to the extent that it surprises me.”

What style of decoration do you like?

The interior of my home is surprisingly conservative, even to the extent that it surprises me. I enjoy a classical style, with furniture and materials to match, so much so that it is even a bit amusing. I don’t think my decorating style is in any way original. I just follow different ideals that I have cherished perhaps since childhood, having looked at images of places that I think are fascinating. As an adult, I have been able to steer my life in such a direction that my living environment looks just like those images. It may even be the case that I have steered my working environment in this direction!

It sometimes astonishes me when people say that their home decor is now completed or, worst of all, they say they have reached the age when they no longer make changes to their home. That sounds sad to me! Constant change is natural for humans and demonstrates a curiosity and interest in various things. People can constantly modify their living areas to suit their life situation and experiential world.

What is your life at home like at its best?

I don’t like everyday life and I’m not really an everyday person, and nowadays, what I enjoy the most is the weekends, breaking away from everyday life. I work a lot during the week, and when I return home on Fridays, I may be blissfully exhausted. At weekends, I don’t work much, and if I do, it is something to inspire me: I read, watch films, or visit an interesting place. At the weekend, I don’t want to be rushed going anywhere, but I prefer to spend a lot of time cooking and lazing on the couch. We perhaps too rarely invite people to visit us, even though I enjoy it immensely.

I want the home to be clean and things to be in order, although there may sometimes be the odd shirt hanging on the back of a chair. This morning, before leaving for work, I left the vacuum cleaner ready in the hall, so I can start cleaning as soon as I get home. If my environment is cluttered, I start to sort things out, as if to also create an illusion of order in my mind: when the environment is tidy, it is easier to start working, for example. Everyone has these strange habits, and if they don’t bother others, you can safely stick with them, no matter how foolish they are. If I visit a home that is cluttered but beautiful at the same time, I may feel quite comfortable being there. I don’t, however, enjoy an ugly environment, no matter how tidy it is!

“I don’t like everyday life and I’m not really an everyday person, and nowadays, what I enjoy the most is the weekends, breaking away from everyday life.”

Tell us a little bit about Avotakka. What kind of a world does the magazine seek to present?

Avotakka is now 52 years old. When I started as the editor-in-chief of Avotakka, I wanted to stop people calling it a classic, because that signals stagnation, and there is nothing exciting about stagnation. I think that we are documenting what Finnish living, culture, and interior design are all about. An interior design magazine can boldly show the zeitgeist from its own angle, including things that are currently interesting and trendy. We present a wide range of topics, but we want to present topics that we can stand behind: good materials, good design, and sustainability. We don’t present products that are beyond the reach of most people, but we want to show what high quality is. Images and products can serve as inspiration for our readers in their lives and guide their purchasing behaviours.

Do you feel Weltschmerz?

I have seen the same topics recur around the world since the 1970s. Each era feels unique, as it is, and every person thinks that they are unique, as they are, but when you have perspective, things no longer seem so overwhelming or final. I have learned that the world is never complete and that not all problems can be solved at this moment: when one problem is solved, hundreds of new ones emerge in its place. I’m calling for open-mindedness. I feel that I have unlearned one-sidedness, and I no longer easily judge opinions that differ from mine. It’s actually a relief to see that you don’t have to be a one-cause person.

What’s going on in your life right now?

I’m putting our current apartment in Helsinki up for sale, and we are starting to look for a new home. One important criterion for our future home is that I can get to work by metro or some other good form of transport. When you move to a new place, and you don’t really know much about it, it feels like life is suddenly loose and, for a while, it feels intoxicating and fun, as if anything is possible – even though, at my age, life is often stable and settled.

Kari-Otso, does everything need to be stable and settled in the life of a fifty-year-old?

Well, of course not, on the contrary!

Text: Hanna-Katariina Mononen, picture: A-lehdet