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My Space: Holiday Edition

The duo behind Inform Interiors honour sentiment when choosing Christmas décor

By Jennifer Elliott /

The duo behind Inform Interiors honour sentiment when choosing Christmas décor

Standing in the Bendtsen house, it’s hard to believe these modern concrete walls, floor-to-ceiling windows, and exposed steel beams weren’t just built yesterday. But it was on this very site more than 20 years ago, with candles hanging from construction scaffolding and a porta-potty out back, that Nancy and Niels wed. The house, now well lived in, could otherwise feel cold with its white-washed walls and angular furniture, but its warmth and spirit is unmistakable. It comes from family, the artwork—by friends Douglas Coupland and Gordon Smith—and Nancy’s laugh as she shows off the butane torch her descended-from-Vikings Danish husband uses to light even the smallest of holiday candles.

The Bendtsen Christmas table is adorned with fresh sprigs and white candles.

The Bendtsen daughters—Meriah, Karyna, and Julia—give self-portraits to Nancy every year for Christmas.

This candle stick by Danish artist Poul Kjærholm was a gift to the children from artist Gordon Smith.

3D prints of the family (from left): Meriah, Nancy, Niels, Julia, and Karyna. Behind, a gift from Coupland that represents the 23 screws in Niels’s ankle.

Did you know, when properly poured a pint of Guinness should have the trail of a four-leaf clover in the foam?

This brass and onyx sleeping muse ring is part of daughter Karyna Schultz’s jewellery line($115, Casamalaspina.com).

Nancy replicated her mother’s pattern to create a personalized stocking for each of her family members.