The seed was planted twice. First at 19, when I joined my father at KKV in Bohuslän and met a travelling sculptor duo who spoke of their Icehotel experience. Later, over an evening in London, my friend, artist and designer Joshua Space, mentioned he had worked there himself. It stayed in the back of my mind until 2018, when I finally applied together with sculptor and artist Jordi Claramunt, whom I had met at Nowhere in Spain, and architect Lukas Petko, a former student of mine at Hyper Island. The three of us made for an interesting trio: Jordi the hands-on figurative sculptor, Lukas with his appreciation for symmetry and structure, and myself somewhere in between.

Haven (2018) was an animal sanctuary guarded by a phoenix and a fox, an igloo with an escape room narrative where visitors had to solve a riddle to gain entrance. We arrived in Jukkasjärvi and over two weeks worked day and night, our room facing the Torne river with an open end. I learned to sculpt and saw in ice, snow, and snice, with some very questionable working methods. Jordi took a dip in the icy river, as did I, followed by a proper sauna. We got to sleep in our own suite, but it was so cold I left in the middle of the night and scurried back to our warm cabin lodge.

After that experience I was hooked and kept applying almost every year. In 2023, Icehotel reached out and asked me to build a luxury suite for Icehotel 365, the permanent ice hotel. They wanted an earlier concept I had designed called Mystery on the Icehotel Express, inspired by Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, a 1930s Orient Express train where something has gone wrong, with clues scattered throughout for visitors to piece together. The room featured a bedroom and a dining area with Art Deco details: drapes, ornaments, packed luggage, and a ticking clock. I wanted to explore using CNC for ice and designed the clock and other details. The build required a large amount of ice, and Creative Director Luca Roncoroni and their team helped with several elements. This time I invited Jordi Claramunt and his friend Abel Pruñonosa, who did most of the work as I could only be there for a few days. Music for the room by Francesco Torelli and Nikita Dudnik. I still send in proposals every year, longing to return with my partner Rose Hallgren and collaborator Erik Schmitz.