At home with the Flakks, on the fjords of western Norway
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“We are immersed in nature here in Norway!” announces Erika June Flakk, a sparky 28-year-old, the youngest of two stylish daughters of one the country’s most successful, innovative and entrepreneurial families. She and her sister, 31-year-old Maria Lilly, work alongside their parents Knut and Line across the diverse Flakk portfolio: a collection of industries that encompasses textiles, building components, real estate, three boutique hotels and cutting-edge green hydrogen.
Erika June is pointing out the staggering 360-degree views from the windows of a black helicopter – part of 62ºNord, the family’s hotel and travel adventure arm. The journey takes us over the snow-capped mountains and tumbling waterfalls that flank the Romsdalen valley in the west of Norway. Slivers of silver light are beamed skywards from the winding Rauma River below. “From early childhood we are raised in a culture of hiking, skiing, kayaking, swimming and fishing,” she continues. “It’s part of our DNA. It just feels wrong if I don’t get outside doing something physical every day.”
We are whirling our way to the Flakks’ farmhouse in Bjorli. (The main family home is in the art nouveau port town of Ålesund at the entrance to the Unesco fjord of Geirangerfjord). The area is widely known for great summer hiking and excellent skiing, nestled between the Tafjord mountains in the south and Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park in the north. Situated on a hillside and surrounded by fir trees, the house was built from local pine in the late 1860s and boasts a traditional grass roof. It is where the family, along with Erika June’s boyfriend Sander and Maria Lilly’s fiancé Gareth, gather each year for Easter and Christmas holidays.
As we touch down, the rest of the Flakk family are waiting to greet us, looking like something from an ad campaign promoting Nordic health. All are swathed in traditional Norwegian-style knitwear made by OA Devold, a luxury offshoot of Norway’s oldest knitted-garment manufacturer, spearheaded by Maria Lilly. Devold, known for its thick, seaworthy sweaters, long-johns and thermals, was acquired by the Flakk family in the ’80s when the company was struggling financially. They moved production to Lithuania, and today Devold is once again a thriving business, producing woollen products including active ski and cycling wear as well as the protective gear worn by European firemen. Maria Lilly launched OA Devold last year, manufacturing a small capsule collection in Italy, tweaking the traditional bulky shapes and reimagining the designs in more luxury materials, such as cashmere and mohair.
The Flakks are a close-knit family – they have no Succession-style dynastic issues. There is, they explain, a special Norwegian word that people live by: janteloven, which means everyone is equal and no one should aspire to stand out. That same instinct for understatement is apparent in their farmhouse. Comfort is key in this rustic mountain home. Fires burn in almost every room, sofas are deep and the rooms are cocooning and wood-panelled. Candles are lit throughout the day and, on winter afternoons, when it gets dark early (temperatures regularly drop below freezing), the family settles down to their favorite pastime, a hand-cut Stave puzzle.
Line was inspired to decorate her homes and hotels in this folksy, rustic scheme after visiting the Ralph Lauren store in Minneapolis, where the family lived in the early ’90s. “I would spend a lot of my time hanging out there. It was a house and I loved everything about it. Ralph has created a whole world and had an enormous influence on me and it has continued to inform my style.”
Inviting aromas waft into the sitting room from the open-plan kitchen where the daughters help their mother, who is making a salmon tart for lunch. A long wooden table is laid with Oiseaux de Paradis tableware, part of a large collection of French Gien earthenware that Line has amassed over the years. The table is at least 300 years old and is marked by what look like lots of cuts. Apparently, says Line, this is a Scandinavian custom: “Traditionally people used to clean their knives by scraping them on the wood.”
The house is also filled with traditional hand-carved, hand-painted folk-style chairs, corner cupboards and beds; many of the thick log walls are hung with antique woodwork tools. In the master bedroom, the stripped-pine floors are strewn with vintage rugs and the space is cleverly divided into two: a sleeping area where a fire burns in an open, soapstone hearth makes up one half, while the front section has been turned into a small sitting room. Knut’s antique desk is nestled in the corner, his open laptop sitting on top. A pair of red wing-backed armchairs sit before the window offering a view of tree branches laden with scarlet rowan berries. A steep wooden staircase leads to the eaves and two further spacious bedrooms where the sisters typically sleep.
Line and Erika June also oversee the design and interiors of the family hotels, and their love of cosy spaces is reflected throughout the house. “We are all passionate about quality,” explains Erika June as she helps prepare a salad. “We love good food, and we are lucky – our fjords are full of scallops, lobster, cod and salmon. Our bread and butter is truly incredible. We are proud of that. We want to create stylish environments, sustainable clothes and thoughtful travel experiences. We really believe that our businesses reflect our personal ethos.”
As well as getting into green energy with Hexagon Purus, a hydrogen business that is about four times the current size of their travel enterprise, Knut and Line formed the 62ºNord group in 2006. “We saw hospitality as an opportunity that could replace some of the jobs we had closed down at Devold. It was a totally new market for us but I realised that there was no high-end travel experience here,” Knut says. The decision was a good one. “Norway, despite its wealth and natural beauty, had a surprisingly small high-end travel offer – and our region has such a lot of natural beauty. After the Covid slowdown we have experienced strong growth and are now well above pre-pandemic numbers. All three hotels are set to be very busy this year with lots of international visitors who find Norway to be a very untouched place in the world – and that makes us both interesting and safe to visit.”
Their first hotel venture was Brosundet, which opened in 2007 in Ålesund in converted fish warehouses. They also acquired the fjord hotel Union Øye in Sunnmøre, a traditional Swiss chalet-style hotel that first opened in 1891 and once hosted Karen Blixen, Kaiser Wilhelm and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “Before the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1800s, Norway was mostly a land of fishermen and sheep farmers who lived in small communities,” says Maria Lilly. “It was the new visitors who introduced the idea of hiking, walking and enjoying the nature we have to offer. Today the population of Norway is a tiny five million. Tourism has become very important, along with a growing understanding that you have to do it in a more sustainable way.”
Today, after a jaunt on an ebike through the winding mountain passes, visitors can spend time in the hotel’s spectacular glass-walled sauna, marvelling at the mountains and waterfall, before plunging into the pristine waters of the fjord. A third hotel, Storfjord, falls more into the homey style that Line and Erika June excel at; there is also an enchanting three-bedroom “Owners Cabin” in the portfolio.
As the Flakks enjoy lunch, they joke that every meal they share is a potential board meeting, but there is a palpable playfulness shared between the family. Erika June and Maria Lilly tease their father as he starts to share his love of Viking history and to talk about books in the library that he has curated at Union Øye.
“Being hospitable is very personal to us,” says Knut. “It’s something we are proud of; an extension of how we live in many ways. I see it as a way to honour the region by showcasing the best of the west coast of Norway – the food, the nature, the craftsmanship, the stories and the heritage. I’ve seen all the golden glitter in this world, but really what is best to me is going for a walk, coming home to a big fire roaring and sitting down at a wooden table to a wonderful dinner made from local produce. Sharing the good fortune I have here on my doorstep with my family. That is what life is all about.”
Fiona Golfar travelled as a guest of 62ºNord
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