We might just be a little over halfway through 2025, and yet, it has to be said: what a year it has been for Gustaf Westman, the Dalsjöfors-born-and-bred, rising homeware designer whose cartoony objects have likely, and increasingly, been populating your social media since he established his eponymous studio in Stockholm in 2020. All it takes to realize how deep in production the viral mastermind behind coveted collectibles like the Chunky Cup, Curvy Mirror, and the Blob Sofa must have been is to, quite literally, scroll through his Instagram feed. "Vanity special designed for @iliabeauty," reads a post published on Gustaf Westman's profile on February 21, depicting a wavy, glass-clad dressing table imbued with his signature whimsy. And so it began!
The following month, the architecture graduate teased his forthcoming Mercedes-Benz collaboration, a surreal, candy floss pink Chunky Car unveiled in May during an immersive, free-to-access London pop-up, and that of the Space Age-meets-Bauhaus bed he envisioned for dating app Feeld. Shared with the world for the first time over the following weeks were the playfully eccentric Chunky Champagne Glass, Juice Squeezer, and Tumbler, the news of an upcoming Gustaf Westman x IKEA partnership, and the announcement of a European Pop-Up Tour that, debuted last month, has since been taking his larger-than-life, joyful creations (and the designer himself) to five lived-in houses around the world.
Powered by global home swapping platform Kindred, a members-only network that allows users to enjoy temporary stays in over 150 cities at a fraction of hotel and short-term rental prices, the domestic exhibition calendar still has pit stops in Amsterdam and Madrid coming up (August 30-31; September 6-7). "I wanted to do a pop-up tour, but all the spaces I looked at felt stiff and soulless," he tells me of the concept. "We then got the idea to do them inside real homes to get the personal feeling I always look for in my projects." But what if we told you Gustaf Westman's own Stockholm house will also be temporarily up for grabs?
Inside Gustaf Westman's Kindred Collab
From today, people keen to overnight in his iconic Stockholm apartment will be given the opportunity to manifest their interest via a dedicated Gustaf Westman page on Kindred, signing up with the code GUS.TAF. One of the best Airbnb alternatives for design-conscious globetrotters, the online community will then ask each user to complete their home and account profile — a step that, we are told, will "increase the likelihood of a request being accepted". New members will have the designer's home automatically saved to their top picks when entering the exclusive partnership code, which ensures they are promptly informed when the property opens for booking on the platform. Existing Kindred members, meanwhile, will have to save it in their favorites in order to be notified about its availability.
Traditionally, everyone who joins Kindred for the first time automatically receives five credits to spend on stays at any of the real houses listed on the site (one credit per night) without having to pay any subscription fee. When credits run out, members can gain them back by choosing to make their place available for sojourns, too. This means that every Kindred user is motivated to simultaneously be hosted and host in return, with reciprocal home swaps — whether happening coincidentally or at different times — making the process easier on either end of the line.
Long story short, the Kindred rules are such that every potential visitor to Gustaf Westman's expressive Stockholm home also gets the chance to have him spend some time in their own.
The plump, twisting silhouettes and animated color palette that define Gustaf Westman's creaturesque oeuvre could have taken way longer to reach us had it not been for the instant boost the internet algorithms have given to them, not to mention the visibility they gained via It girls Kaia Gerber, Emma Chamberlain, and Olivia Rodrigo — some of the designer's foremost supporters. Still, seeing his soft-edged experimentation on screen and, instead, getting to live immersed in it for a few days simply does not compare, or so Kindred's CEO and co-founder, Justine Palefsky, seems to suggest.
"There's something deeply personal about stepping into an artist's home. It's not just about the objects, it's about seeing the world the way they do," she says of the initiative, which foregrounds Kindred's number one goal: getting visitors to experience another's perspective. "Swapping homes with him isn't just a design moment," Palefsky adds. "It's an invitation to live inside someone else's creative mind."
Centrally located in the Swedish capital, Gustaf Westman's studio apartment is more than a treasure trove of his extravagant designs. Here, fantastical pieces from his Chunky, Curvy, and flower-shaped objects merge seamlessly with legendary collectibles from the past — I spy a Michel Ducaroy-designed Ligne Roset's Togo Footstool and Small Settee, alongside a Vitra Akari 1AD Table Lamp for a start — and equally covetable books, magazines, and artworks.
I wonder if deciding to open up his home to a stranger took some convincing; what is the hardest part? "Maybe the cleaning or making space in my tiny wardrobe," Westman laughs. "Other than that, it just feels so fun!" Asked to describe his Stockholm cove in three words, the designer goes for "small, colorful, and light": a spontaneous, explosive answer to the contained essence of Scandinavian design. It is a space that, Westman confesses, "changes all the time," reflecting the artistic chaos of whatever he has got his hands on at a given moment.
"I love how bright it is for being such a tiny place, and the location is priceless," the designer says of the things he loves most about his home, where he has now lived for three years, along with his pink kitchen. Packed with wit, memories, and imagination, "it's a full expression of my world".
Sign up on Kindred for a chance to stay in Gustaf Westman's Stockholm home.
Curious to learn more about other personalities making waves in decor? Explore our emerging designers archives for similar creative deep-dives.
