Danish designer and creative consultant Oliver Gustav is among the most revered tastemakers in contemporary design. Interior fanatics flock to his Copenhagen and New York studios in droves to peruse the stunning curation of pieces by the likes of Vincenzo De Cotiis, Rick Owens and Mad et Len, presented alongside rare antique finds and Gustav’s own line of armchairs and sofas in heavy linens and hemps. The 39-year-old, who set up his first eponymous studio in Copenhagen in 2009, is also renowned for his ability to transform interior spaces into harmonious sanctuaries, at once peaceful and dramatic, defined by Gustav’s strong instinct for color, material, shape and texture, and his spellbinding mastery of light and shadow. Case in point: his newly renovated studio in a former art museum on Kastelsvej in Copenhagen’s Østerbro district.

“Almost all the ceilings have huge, wonderful skylights,” says Gustav of the listed neoclassical building, which he took over last year and refers to fondly as his “playground” for testing ideas. “I’m in love with the very cold, blue nordic light we have in Denmark, so at first I thought I’d illuminate the space naturally.

But that felt a little too moody so we’ve added various spotlights to cast a really warm reflection on the pieces.” The studio’s color scheme comprises a typically poetic combination of soft, natural tones. The walls are a pale pebble grey, the oak parquet flooring a delicate greyish tan, while a playful mixture of modern and antique furnishings and artworks – another of the designer’s trademarks – similarly adhere to the code of whites, greys, blacks and varying shades of reds and browns.