Co-Founder and Creative Director, Ganni A/S
Inside Ditte Reffstrup's Charming Copenhagen Home (Creative Director of Ganni) | Une Fille, Un Style
With its playful, colorful, welcoming and practical fashion, Ganni has put Scandinavia on the global fashion map and become the ultimate Danish label to know. Led by Ditte Reffstrup, alongside her husband Nicolaj, Ganni embraces an aesthetic that thrives on contrasts, mirroring the style of its creative director. Through daring combinations of prints and materials, and a bold embrace of gender clashes, the Ganni Girl's wardrobe exudes joy and harmoniously reflects Ditte Reffstrup's warm and inviting interior. "The most important thing with Ganni was to create something where everyone was welco...
Transcript (24 segments)
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Ditte Reffstrup0:00
There's always a lot of Lego in the house. I was not paid by Lego to say that. Hello! I'm Ditte, I'm the creative director of Ganni.
We are here in Copenhagen in our home. The house is from 1865, and it was really important for us that we respected that and took that into every consideration when we do something.
This is actually one of my favourite, I think the whole family's favourite rooms. It's an extension of the kitchen, and this is where we spend most of our time.
When we redid the house, we really wanted it to be a place where you felt welcome. You can see that there's kids and that it's okay that you're just having fun and enjoying yourself, and I think that it's the most important thing about a home.
I hope that people feel when they're entering our house that you can relax and just be yourself and have a good time.
When we created the kitchen, it was super important that it was functional. And we knew from the beginning that we wanted this very classic Copenhagen shaker kitchen, the look of it.
When you're from Denmark, I think one of the most important thing is open-face sandwiches. It's with the rye bread. This is one of my favourites from a Svaneke bakery, and it's delicious.
Here we are in our bedroom. It's one of my favourite rooms. It was really important for us that we tried to create this super light, comforting, super welcoming room. So we opened up the ceiling to create a more spacious feeling. And as you can see, it's in a way very Gannified.
I collected these patchwork textiles for many years and paired it with the classic stripe, and also some curtains with the flower print.
I'm going to show you some of my favourite pieces. If I should pick a style that really defines my style, it could be this dress.
At Ganni, we always work with contrast, and I think this is a really good example. It is a super feminine flower print paired with these black ribbons that creates that contrast. I would probably wear it with that no-makeup kind of look, and with a pair of sneakers or just some flats.
I always collected vintage since I was a teenager, and this is one of my favourite pieces. It's a Celine suede vest.
And then this is a funny story, actually. It's a Chanel vintage bag. I bought it on Vestiaire, and actually I really thought I made a bargain. The price was so good, but I didn't notice the measurements. So when I received the packet, I was a little bit disappointed that it was actually a Barbie size.
A fashion no-no for me is for sure trying to be someone that you're not. I think people can see that.
I have a very soft spot for jewelleries. I have a lot of favourite jewellery designers. One of them is Sophie Bille Brahe. She actually did my and Nicolaj's engagement rings 20 years ago. And this is one of my favourites. It says: 'Nico loves Ditte.'
This one is called Nadia Shelbaya. She's actually my next-door neighbour and one of my good friends, she's very talented.
And the last one here is a Veneda Carter. We did this pendant together last season, where we have a version of our butterfly, and I wear this almost every day.
So here we are in our bathroom, and I'll just show you some of my beauty secrets. This one is actually my favourite cleanser. It's from a brand called Honey. It's two Danish super sweet girls that created this beauty brand together. They have a few but very good products.
I would recommend this. If you look super tired, this cream pigment 400 gives you a little bit of a very nice glow. My best beauty advice would be less is more.
Now we're here at our office. It actually also works as a place where we watch TV together with the rest of the family. When I entered Ganni, I had been working as a buyer for many years. People that I was inspired by, I couldn't really recognise them in the Scandinavian brands that came out of Scandinavia at that time, or Denmark, at least.
So it was either very androgynous or very romantic, bohemian. And I just kind of feel like there was something missing out there. When we took over Ganni, there was two and a half employees, and we kind of just started. In a way, it's the same way as we work today. It's all about what feels right. That is kind of the core of Ganni.
I've always enjoyed, ever since I was a small kid, to read. When I read, I forget about everything, all the issues at the office or problems in life or whatever. So that's something I really enjoy. One of my favourite authors, I remember when I was a teenager and I read Tove Ditlevsen for the first time, 'Childhood and Youth' and actually 'Poison'. But that means 'Married Life'. And these I'm very fond of.
It's from a friend called Lauren. She's a girl I met through Ganni. She's a professional ballet dancer. She gave me these, and I really treasure them. They're so tiny and beautiful.
Here we are in the living room. It was one of the rooms that we fell in love with the first time we saw the house, the most. But maybe because of the fire here. And here, these photos are from Casper Sejersen. He's a Danish photographer who's done some amazing work. He's very talented, and he's one of those that we're very proud of here in Denmark. So, voilà.