Words: Josh Lee
Photography: Nick Millington
There’s this particular scene in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, perhaps the finest chapter in the intergalactic franchise, that reverberates within me. It’s not the behemoth set play on the planet Scarif, where the emerald waters and sandy coastlines are set alive with laser beams and explosives, and it’s not the epic, unsparing violence of Vader in the corridor – though it well could be! – or even the CGI rendering of Princess Leia that makes the heart flutter just a little. The masterstroke, for me, anyway, comes at the start of the film when Orson Krennic, one of the Death Star bullyboys, finally roots out Galen Erso, a research scientist tracked down to complete construction of the iconic planet destroyer.
In response as to why he’s pursued a life of farming on the planet Lah’mu, Erso says, “It’s a peaceful life.” The surrounding lush field of grass, the extent of black-sand beach beyond, not a Wi-Fi box in sight, no blinking of big-city neon, the sound of an email landing in the Gmail inbox a distant, distant thing – the appeal is, for any person slightly jaded by the daily water cooler chat, very clear.
The entrance to Vipp Shelter
I bring this up as a way of saying that I found the keys to my own Lah’mu, late last year, if only briefly, at the Vipp Shelter, which is pinned towards the southern point of Sweden. A stay here may be the greatest in your life, a crossbreed between the Scandinavian functionality that the bin-making company has become venerated for and the Airbnb of your dreams. You can spend a weekend or two just staring at the clean, rigid lines of the steel pod (which sits just a little smaller than a typical Manhattan apartment), or sipping on bottles of clear aquavit on the pier that sits out back and has a ringside view of the stoney-bottomed Lake Immeln – and the dearth of digital screens, a local Pret and neighbourhood TikTokers will present you with hours as peaceful as the roads on Christmas day. Beach escapes still bring with them the post-exams school coaches, and hotels have their armada of lobby boys and passive-aggressive doormen. There’s always half-finished butter in the fridge and not enough toilet roll when it comes to home-swap holidays, and a staycation just means you’re paying a sort of extra rent in your home town.
The lake-facing side of Vipp Shelter
Vipp V1 kitchen
At Vipp Shelter, however, holidaying has a sort of spiritual meaning – ‘a human charging station in the woods,’ as it’s marketed. It’s the type of place that has you romanticising about sunrise flashing against the water in the morning; afternoons by the log fire; cashmere stroking the skin at night. Vipp, a Danish label popular among the Monocle crowd, first drew renown with its bin that launched in 1939, a pedal design that’s robust in build, fluid in movement, clean and muted in looks, and the handles affixed on some models may bring to mind the shape of Shrek’s ears.
Vipp 30L pedal bin, in black
The venture has since swelled its portfolio and does some pretty splendid furniture – there’s a lounge chair that looks like an upholstered sheep, and a pouf that evokes an enlarged pin cushion – kitchen units, and, in 2017, it began offering bookable guest houses in which customers could test out such wares. Vipp Shelter was the first, and others include the largest floorplan I’ve seen, set at the top of a 1910 printing house, in Copenhagen; a traditional storehouse in Andorra’s mountains; and a set of wooden nests within a Norwegian fjord.
Lake Immeln
If you’ve reserved a few nights at Vipp Shelter, you’ll likely find yourself flying into Copenhagen’s tiny airport, squeezing yourself behind the wheel of some electric-powered drive, heading through an underwater tunnel before being slingshot on to the Øresund Bridge – the 8km cable-stayed link between the Danish capital and Malmö – and into the gentle Swedish scenery, past fields of ginkgo and swamp cypress and the occasional barn. The fragrance of pure, healthy air perfumes the drive when the windows are rolled down, and all feels pretty light in the world.
A reading corner, complete with fireplace and lakeside views
Dining area
You’ll have to stop off at one of the supermarkets on your way there for a couple of cuts of rib-eye, a carton or two of eggs, and perhaps some stiff liquor to make the coming days of inactivity a little more interesting. And then, when you arrive at your destination, it’s precisely what you know from the films – not the tyres-on-gravel pull-up in front of a big gated complex, but something from a Nordic noir: a barely lit walkway, summer houses lining the paths, the dead-of-night moonlight mirrored off the waterfront and through the Shelter’s expansive glass walls. You punch in the code to unlock the set of keys, and you’re finally in – home, at last.
Bedroom area
Vipp floor lamp
Vipp table lamp
Good design, as any subscriber to Wallpaper* will tell you, is largely about making everyday acts as delightful as possible; there’s a certain, gently cupped way your spine feels when on an Eames chair, and one will always feel an internal joy at how easily an Anglepoise lamp bends its head at will. At Vipp Shelter, good design takes over every corner, each trim and detail calculated so as to make each action imbued with intent and purpose.
The switch on each bit of lighting has a pleasurable clicking resistance. The bedroom, which is sectioned out of a sort of mezzanine area, has windows on the roof and side in order to make you feel that you’re sleeping among the trees. The kitchen unit, a modular build done out in powder-coated steel, has that type of open-plan, functional blueprint – section inserts, a stainless-steel sink, an induction area that feels like something from Spike Jonze’s Her – that helps your dinner prep resemble something you’ve seen in a celebrity-chef cooking demo.
There are a few coffee table books to kill a couple of hours with, the shower pressure hits you pretty hard, and a Bang & Olufsen speaker is available just in case you need to catch the latest Taylor Swift drop. The fridge – the size of which you wish you had when the extended family comes over for the holidays – calls out for a bit of alcohol to be chilled within. And the lake, a beautiful bend of cool water that’s clear of bridges and Uber Boats, is all yours. The urge to connect to the Wi-Fi is strong, but a moment of quiet is too hard to ignore. A peaceful life – just for a brief while – awaits.
- Vipp Shelter, Lake Immeln, Sweden, vipp.com
Want more travel features? These are the 50 hotels every man should stay at before he dies…
Become a Gentleman’s Journal Member?
Like the Gentleman’s Journal? Why not join the Clubhouse, a special kind of private club where members receive offers and experiences from hand-picked, premium brands. You will also receive invites to exclusive events, the quarterly print magazine delivered directly to your door and your own membership card.
