Hello Home, Magda Marnell

We visit Magda Marnell in her apartment overlooking Mariatorget on a sunny day. Light pours in through the tall windows, and the bustle of the city moves below — yet up here, it is calm. Magda lives here with her husband and their three children, in a home where art meets harmony and where the view of the old trees surrounding the square is framed by textiles, from 100% linen Roman blinds to woven linen curtains. The result is a home that feels warm, alive, and thoughtfully curated — a place where the family can enjoy tranquility in the heart of the city.

As a fashion designer, Magda feels strongly about materials and quality. Natural materials are therefore an obvious choice — fabrics that breathe and allow light to pass through in a vibrant way. Linen recurs throughout the home.

“It is a forgiving material that is both soft and alive, and that only becomes more beautiful with time,” says Magda.

Together with Katarina Matsson, Magda runs the studio MatsonMarnell, where the meeting between art, design and craftsmanship takes center stage.

Among other things, the studio has released the collection Ägg, recently shown at Stockholm Creative Edition — a series of hand-turned wooden sculptures that has been warmly received. The studio is also celebrating four years and is planning a new exhibition of sculptural objects this year!

Magda and her family’s home is divided into a more public and a more private part. The kitchen and living room face the square, inviting in light and greenery from the old tree canopies, while the bedrooms look onto the courtyard.

In the social spaces, the color palette is kept crisp to highlight the architecture. In the kitchen, a draped woven linen curtain in ivory enhances the sense of space and clarity.

The generously pleated curtain is held together by a chrome chain — a contrast between hard and soft that gives the room a sculptural expression while allowing the eye to rest on the trees outside.

“I had a vision of an enormous pleated curtain gathered at the center with a silver chain, and that’s exactly what I found at Gotain,” says Magda.

In the adjacent living room, a soft Roman blind in sheer linen ivory filters the daylight, casting a gentle shimmer across the walls and floors.

The apartment was purchased in 2020 as a renovation project. Over several years, the changes evolved gradually, but when the family grew to five, the need for a larger restructuring arose.

A few years later, an extensive yet careful renovation was carried out: the kitchen was relocated to make room for two children’s bedrooms, and the layout was opened up towards the living room to create a stronger connection to the square and the trees outside.

Together with friends Einar and Daniel from the architecture studio Norell/Rodhe, the family worked according to the guiding principles of preserve and add, with a focus on original details and reclaimed materials.

Art plays a central role in the home. Works by Czech artists, collected over years of close ties to Prague, sit alongside personal favorites. Particularly close to the heart are larger works by their friend Lu Skrivankova, purchased as a weeding gift from Magda’s mother — today as much a memory as they are works of art.

There are also works by Radek Brousil, whose earthy color palette and experimental approach to photography, print, and painting add another layer of narrative.

​​In the private part of the home, the palette becomes warmer. In the large bedroom, oat yellow woven linen curtains frame both the wardrobes and the windows.

Here, the textiles take center stage — the drapes create a sense of calm and coziness, and when drawn, the light softens into a warm, golden glow.

The curtains can also be draped in front of the double doors leading to the living room, adding a playful and almost theatrical dimension — a feeling of open and closed, private and public.

“Curtains add warmth and create a sense of security in a home,” Magda says. Perhaps that is also why more and more people are turning to textiles right now, she reflects — in a time that feels darker and more uncertain than it has in a long while.

Magda has never before had as many curtains as she does now. "They create a cozy and soft atmosphere, a feeling of being able to draw them closed, shut out the world, and curl up in your own little nest" she says.

In Magda’s home, textiles, architecture, and art interact — where the curtains are not just functional but part of the scenography, and where the light and the trees outside are always present, gently framed by fabric.