Yours & Ours: Sarah Emilie Müllertz’ London
I have never lived in London. And yet, every time I arrive, I feel I am coming home.
It is the vastness and the greatness, but also the localness. That in-between space between the very local and the worldliness of the city is something I have never found anywhere else. You could disappear here and still be entirely unique. London has never been combed. It is not slick or refined in the way other cities are. There is still a rawness to it, an edge, and I love that about it deeply.
I first came here as a child. My mother took me to Harrods and told me you could buy anything here, from a hairpin to an elephant. I believed her completely. Walking around those halls felt like a fairy tale. Profoundly adventurous. That feeling has never really left me.
What draws me back, every time, is also the people. In Copenhagen we all look the same. Here, there is a variety of groups and trends, and I always see something I have never seen before. The personal style runs much deeper here than anywhere else in the world. People don’t give a shit. They just are who they are. That authenticity, of the people and of the city itself, is more original than anywhere else I know.
Below, discover some of my favourite places in London - places I return to, and places that, in their own way, have shaped my relationship with the city.
ROCHELLE CANTEEN
The first time I ate at Rochelle Canteen, it felt like coming home to someone. Like sitting in someone’s living room in the middle of London. The food is honest, the setting beautiful, and the atmosphere of that greenhouse feels private in a way that is genuinely rare in a public space. I love the farmer-to-table philosophy of it, the nose-to-tail thinking. And most of all I love that it is so down to earth. Rattling chairs, paper napkins. The quality of what is on the plate does all the talking.
Then there is the garden. London holds so many of these, small secret gardens tucked behind brick walls that open up suddenly and draw you into a world you had no idea existed. You walk and walk and then suddenly it opens, and for a short period of time it is entirely yours. Rochelle Canteen is exactly that. A honey pot. The first time I came it was raining heavily, really windy, and everyone was sitting as if it was raining inside as well. And it was still the cosiest place I had ever been. I just fell in love with it.
BLUE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL
Blue Mountain School is an institution. They are so forward-thinking about what a retail space can be, and looking at the world of objects through their eyes is always interesting. What I love most is that they treat what they sell as art. The way things are installed within the space, the textures, the different layers of materials. It is not a small thing to make people genuinely curious within a room. They do it better than almost anyone.
REDCHURCH STREET
As an architect, I have been coming to this area for years. The whole street is booming with beautiful stores, bespoke textiles, antiquities, furniture, craft. It feels super local and at the same time deeply specialized. Just interior, craftsmanship, things made with intention. It is the DNA of London condensed into a single road. The trees, the small square, sitting and browsing slowly. You feel like part of the locals immediately, and that is not something every street can do.
TATE MODERN
Every time I come to London I discover something new. A new play, a new exhibition, something I did not know I needed to see. The culture here is so vast. Tate Modern holds that feeling completely. It is the kind of institution that earns its scale.
HAGEN
And then there is sitting here, with a good coffee, the city moving around you. What I love about London is how international it is without ever losing its localness. You arrive and you blend in immediately. You feel at home right away. The coffee is very good here, by the way.
London has a pull on me that I have not found anywhere else in the world. I could disappear here, and still be entirely myself. I think that is quite a rare thing for a city to offer. I have spent years trying to understand why this one does.
With Love,
Sarah Emilie Müllertz, Founder and Designer of KINRADEN