Alfred Bramsen

Alfred Bramsen is an illustrator, curator of interiors and creative consultant from Copenhagen, Denmark. Having moved to the UK eight years ago, Alfred has set up home in an Art Deco building in East London where he lives today with his boyfriend Isaac and dog Yuko. 

Photo by Millie Grace Horton

Home is where my possessions are. It’s important to build a space that you love to be in, and surround yourself with pieces that bring you joy — pieces that have their own memories, curated over time. One of my big rules is no temporary purchases for the apartment; I always wait for the pieces I love, rather than buy something for now that I won’t want forever. 

Another rule is always having a fridge full of Coke Zero, which is my go-to pick-me-up. I have an addiction like no other, and I drink it instead of coffee. I have my first coke around 11am, but it would be earlier if it wasn’t so frowned upon. 

I currently live in an Art Deco apartment in Clapton, which is in a really beautiful building that has lots of natural light and beautiful high ceilings. The architecture of the apartment itself almost feels quite Danish, with every room coming off a long hallway. 

We fell in love with our home as soon as we saw the natural wood parquet flooring. We can never move because I fear we’ll never have floors like this again. We’ve assembled our own history within these four walls over the last five years. It feels very personal. 

I’d also be very sad if ever we were to leave our kitchen. It’s my favourite room in our home by far. I’m very proud of it because I cut, sanded, primed and painted the kitchen cupboards myself; I used a blue Farrow and Ball shade, and we have pink, yellow, purple and blue tiles. I love how much storage we have in there. 

My next interior project is our wardrobe: it’s a standard Ikea model that’s in need of a revamp. We use our second bedroom as a shared wardrobe, and we’d like to build some custom cabinetry and repaint; I’ve watched loads of TikToks of people using Ikea bases and customising them. For the walls, I’m eyeing up Rose Uniacke’s new shades of white. 

Between us, we have a lot of clothes. My favourite piece of clothing is a beautiful red and ecru woollen vest that was a gift; my friend was wearing it and I told him how much I loved it, and a couple of years later he gave it to me. It was so kind of him to remember; it’s a special piece that I will keep forever. 

I love collecting ceramics. I’m a hoarder of tableware, especially Japanese pieces, so it bodes well that I have lots of places to put them. Every time I visit, I buy a load of things, so our shelves and cupboards are full of Japanese ceramics, bowls, cups and plates.

I attribute my fondness for ceramics down to my Danish heritage. My most treasured piece of homeware is my Bjorn Wiinblad candelabras. He was a Danish ceramicist popular in the 1960s;  I found my first piece of his in an old thrift shop, it was sitting in the window, in need of repair. I continue to collect them.

My interior aesthetic is a mix of influences. My love of colour, which you see in my personal style and my illustrations, extends to my home; it sits alongside classic Copenhagen design, Japanese pieces and textiles, with a touch of Britishness thrown in through floral prints. 

Japanese culture is very inspiring to me. I am in love with the food; I have a whole drawer dedicated to Japanese condiments, and my most-used household appliance is my rice cooker. My go-to shops to buy ingredients are Japan Centre, Natural Natural and Tian Tian Market in Canary Wharf. 

My top cooking tip would be to add this MSG chicken stock flavouring to everything you are cooking. A quarter of a teaspoon, no matter what you’re eating, makes everything taste so good! I also add chilli oil to everything, including Shin Ramyun’s instant noodles; they are my ideal quick, 15-minute meal. If I had to eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be instant noodles. 

I spend my me-time studying the Japanese language. I meet with a teacher every week, and I often take my grammar book to bed. My love for the country and its culture started with anime, but I remember printing pictures of Tokyo’s neon lights on our family computer and using them to make collages. I have always been very creative! My mum promised me that one day we would visit, and eventually we went for my 18th birthday. 

I love to properly wind down in the evenings. I’ll usually light a candle while I do my self-care regime. I have a skincare ritual, where I wash my face, then I use different serums, toners and each night, I like to apply a sleep mask. I rest my head on a silk pillow, which is a top beauty tip; it’s reportedly very good for a fresh complexion. 

My great skill is sleeping. I could fall asleep standing up on Oxford Street if you asked me to. I go to sleep early and I wake up late; I even love taking a nap during the day. I’m not a big night out person, either; maybe because I value sleep so much! 

I prefer dinner to breakfast. I only eat in the mornings when I’m starving; eggs are my go-to for breakfast. I order them to be delivered from the brunch cafes Eggslut or The Good Egg. 

I’m neither a morning nor an evening person; 1-4pm is when I’m at my best. But dinner is when my appetite comes alive. I really enjoy going out for food, and hosting friends at home, which we love to do. My boyfriend is a really good baker, and he always creates a show-stopping cake for dessert. I like to set the table and make everything look really pretty. 

It figures that some of my favourite restaurants in London serve up Japanese cuisine. One of my most-visited is Toconoco, a little place near the Towpath in East London. It’s great for kids too, as the name literally means ‘Children on the Floor.’ It’s really cute. 

I’d love to live between London and Japan, and have a drawing studio in Kyoto or Niigata, in the North West, as there’s a lot of art there. Neither are my home cities, but London is where I feel most at peace. The home my partner and I have built here is very special. Our apartment is east-facing where the sun streams in all day long. Nothing beats natural sunlight.