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The world outdoors is important for Wai Tsui, the founder of Hiking Patrol. So, two years ago, when he, his partner Adeline Hermier, and their baby son Lian were looking for a new home, they were immediately drawn to a modernist concrete house a stone’s throw from Oslo, Norway. From its open terrace, large windows, and garden backing onto the forest, the Norwegian creative can go running in the mountains, take his son sledding in the snow, or simply sit around the fire playing with Lego in the central living space. It’s a happy intersection of indoors and outdoors.

His love of the outdoors is a value Wai shares with the creative community he has built through Hiking Patrol, the digital space he founded back in 2017. A few years on, technically superior garments and design objects made to facilitate a life lived outside remain in high demand.

Tell me about the house you live in.

It's an old concrete house from 1970, that I bought two years ago. We kept the old teak panels and these white stone brick walls. We even kept the bathroom, with its orange and brown colorway. We added concrete floors. There are still a lot of things we want to do to the house, but we will keep it mostly as it is. I enjoy living here. It's my creative space, for sure.

How do you choose the pieces you live with?

I like Japanese and mid-century design; you can see the personalities of Adeline and I in our interior. I try to purchase products that last, so they can move from home to home. Most of this furniture has been with me for almost ten years. Adeline makes ceramics, so we have a lot of her ceramics at home. Sometimes they will be here for a few weeks, then they’ll sell, and we’ll have a new one.

We combine light interiors with wooden panels, but we have a steel kitchen as well, so we break up the hard feeling with warmth and light. Because I spend so much time every day here, it's almost like my playground for inspiration. If I get creative block because I’m spending too much time online, I go to the shelf and take out an old magazine or go for a walk. I’m always trying to curate the things we have, because you come to a point where you don’t need more stuff. I’m trying to be more selective, to create emotional memories with the stuff we already have.

Wai Tsui “Because I spend so much time every day here, it's almost like my playground for inspiration. If I get creative block because I’m spending too much time online, I go to the shelf and take out an old magazine or go for a walk.”

You live with one foot in the city, one in the countryside.

The first thing that caught our attention about this house was actually the backyard. I can see the forest from our terrace. During the summer we have deers coming into the backyard in the morning, eating the grass – and there’s a small mountain close by where I can go running. I travel a lot. I go to London to work for three days every month, and then I go to Japan twice a year. But I like to be at home. It’s really quiet in Oslo, so it’s not as stressful an environment here.

Tell me about the role the outdoor world plays in your day-to-day life here.

I am outside every day. I always take my kid to kindergarten, and after that, I go work out. It's a little bit slippery in the wintertime with the snow, so I normally train in the gym, but I love to run every day when I can. It's nice because it's so close to me, I don’t have anything holding me back. That's been important for me because I work in some stressful environments.

Wai Tsui “I can see the forest from our terrace – during summer we have deers coming into the backyard in the morning, eating the grass – and there’s a small mountain close by where I can go running.”

How did Hiking Patrol come about?

I started Hiking Patrol in 2017 as a curation account for outdoor lifestyle exploration, but I just did it for me and my friends. Then we started to work more like a creative agency, collaborating with brands, doing some campaigns and shoots. Over the past couple of years, we’ve started to work on product collaborations too, at the intersection of lifestyle and fashion. As well as clothing and footwear I work with furniture. I love interior design. So, I’m trying to create this universe, working on projects that I am passionate about. Everything happens very organically.

Wai Tsui "I love interior design. So, I’m trying to create this universe, working on projects that I am passionate about."

Do you have any weekend rituals?

We are mostly together, all three of us, and on Saturdays and Sundays we spend most of our time in the living area in the middle of the house. We play with Lego, do puzzles, play with Play-Doh, try not to watch too much television. Everyone sits on these floor pillows, and my girlfriend always makes Norwegian waffles with brown cheese and jam. Then when we put Lian to bed, we have our moment in the living room. So, we spend most of the time downstairs. I normally also come down to work here, rather than staying in the office, because I like to be in this space.

What does home mean to you?

Home is love. Warmth, gathering, creating memories. We have a lot of family happenings here. It's a space of creativity. Home for me is also a place where I feel secure, but also where I learn about myself, because I spend a lot of time here. Working freelance, I have time to reflect on things – how I can be better as a human, or how I can strive to be better, evolve, and educate myself. The journey starts in the home.

Wai Tsui "Home is love. Warmth, gathering, creating memories. We have a lot of family happenings here. It's a space of creativity."

In collaboration with Friends of Friends

Photography by Anne Valeur

Words by Maisie Skidmore

Explore more of Wai Tsui's universe here and here.

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