Katrine Møbius on creating atmosphere
Kollektion: SURFACE / Variante: SURFACE Räuchereiche
WHO: Katrine Møbius, photographer, with her partner Frederik, and her young children
LOCATION: Bondebyen, Denmark
COLLECTION: SURFACE
Photographer Katrine Møbius moves through the world with a deeply intuitive visual sensibility. Light, objects, architecture, and atmosphere all shape the way she sees, and ultimately the way she photographs. From her home in Bondebyen, just outside Copenhagen, she has built a life centered around images and spaces that feel lived-in rather than perfected. Her work exists somewhere between fashion, interiors, and portraiture, but at its core, it is driven by a desire to create feelings.
Text by Ditlev Fejerskov
Katrine Møbius lives with her family in Bondebyen, a historic enclave in Lyngby just north of Copenhagen, surrounded by old thatched-roof homes and narrow streets that feel largely untouched by time. The home is not only central to family life, but also deeply connected to her work as a photographer. Because she works from home much of the time, the rooms and objects around her naturally become part of her inspiration. She speaks about furniture, books, materials, and collected pieces almost emotionally, as elements that gradually shape the atmosphere of a space.
The objects throughout the home become a direct extension of her visual world. It’s about always having a photographic eye. “I see the world in images, and I love when I can capture my surroundings in beautiful photographs. It feels so natural to me that I almost don’t think about it. But yes, it’s a very strong aesthetic perspective.” Over time, she has also started photographing the home more frequently, partly because brands increasingly want images created within the space, but also because the home itself has become intertwined with her visual language. Still, she does not photograph the home constantly. Simply existing in the rooms and observing light, textures, and atmosphere throughout the day trains her eye as a photographer. An instinctive approach is central to the way she works. She primarily shoots analog, and her photography is less concerned with precision or perfection than with atmosphere, creating images that evoke feeling rather than simply documenting a subject clearly. Her images often feel soft, intimate, and slightly romantic without becoming nostalgic. “We live surrounded by old thatched-roof home, and it’s incredibly calming to look at,” she says. “There’s something romantic about it that fits perfectly with the way I photograph.” When people describe her work, they often speak about mood and atmosphere. “I think that’s really true,” Møbius says. “I’m deeply focused on light. It defines everything for me.”
Long before photography became part of Katrines’ professional life, her childhood atmosphere was filled with creativity. Her father trained as a goldsmith and spent much of his time playing jazz piano, drawing, and making things by hand. Creativity filled the home. “I think I learned a lot from him without realizing it. He was always creating something,” she says. Her mother made sure she was constantly exposed to cultural, musical, and artistic programs. Together, those influences shaped a childhood where visual impressions and creative expression felt natural. Still, photography was never part of a clear plan. She initially imagined a more conventional future. Perhaps because her father had lived a somewhat unconventional working life, she felt a strong need to pursue a university education. She studied Communication and later Visual Culture at the University of Copenhagen, where a teacher introduced her to working with cameras as part of a broader artistic and theoretical practice. “It suddenly opened up this huge world for me,” Katrine says. “All the different ways photography could exist and all the different ways you could work with images.” Katrine never attended photography school and still considers herself self-taught. After university, she gradually moved into Copenhagen’s visual and cultural scene, and photography entered her life slowly through experiences rather than any single decision.
“I’ve always cared about surrounding myself with things that make me feel good, I honestly can’t remember not feeling that way.”
— Katrine Møbius
“I actually think it’s been good for me not to have a formal photography education, I’ve learned so much simply through doing things myself.”
— Katrine Møbius
Today, much of her practice exists within fashion and lifestyle photography. She has worked extensively with brands including Skall Studio, Aiayu, and Vaarnii, while also producing quieter personal series on her own. Over time, she has realized that she feels less drawn to highly controlled productions where every detail is tightly framed and polished. “I’ve tried projects where everything becomes very perfect and controlled,” she reflects. “And honestly, I feel like some of the energy disappears when things become too polished.” That appreciation for imperfection, combined with a fascination for history, atmosphere, and idyllic surroundings filled with peonies and greenery, ultimately drew Katrine and her partner, Frederik Rothaus, who also works as a photographer in Danish television, to the farmhouse in Bondebyen. Before moving there, the family lived in Vesterbro near the Meatpacking District, surrounded by traffic, construction, and the constant intensity of city life. Finding something outside Copenhagen initially came as much from practicality as desire. Then a friend told them about a home for sale in Bondebyen. “We completely fell in love with the surroundings immediately. It just felt incredibly calm and beautiful.”
The home is a small farmhouse with low ceilings, crooked walls, and relatively little natural light. Rather than trying to erase those imperfections, they leaned into them. The renovation became less about modernizing the space and more about restoring some of its original character. “When we moved in, the home was extremely dark,” she says. “And light means everything to me.” They opened up parts of the interior while carefully preserving the exterior structure, uncovering original woodwork hidden behind drywall and older renovations. Throughout the process, they tried to balance old and new, historical character and contemporary living. That balance is perhaps most visible in the kitchen. They chose SURFACE in smoked oak, a collection designed by Norm Architects, not because it resembled a traditional farmhouse kitchen, but because it felt visually calm and almost furniture-like within the larger room.
“Because we had opened the home up so much, it was important that the kitchen didn’t become too dominant. It needed to blend naturally into the rest of the home.”
— Katrine Møbius
The smoked oak of SURFACE surprised some people, especially in a relatively dark home, but for her the material brought warmth and quietness to the space. Steel countertops introduced another contrast, practical, restrained, and industrial against the softness of the old farmhouse. Across the home, there’s a clear sensitivity to how objects occupy space. Because the rooms are relatively small, furniture can stand on its own rather than overcrowd the interiors. Large pieces exist beside space, creating a feeling of calm despite the compact scale of the home. “We wanted things to feel breathable,” she says. One of the clearest examples is a large Vaarnii dining table that feels almost oversized in the small home. “I love that clash.” The home is constantly shifting. Katrine Møbius regularly moves objects around, adjusting rooms whenever they begin to feel too static. Life inside the home is intentionally imperfect.
“I actually think children’s mess adds something beautiful. If things become too perfect, they lose some feeling.”
— Katrine Møbius
The family has children, the rooms are heavily used throughout the day, and almost every surface serves multiple purposes at different times. The dining table becomes a place for meals, work, drawing, or ongoing projects. Children climb into the kitchen sink while dinner is being made. Scratches, wear, and disorder are accepted as part of everyday life. In many ways, the home mirrors her broader photographic practice. Nothing feels overly rigid or resolved. Atmosphere matters more than perfection. Light matters more than precision. And the emotional quality of a space, the feeling it creates, becomes just as important as the objects within it. “It’s incredibly stimulating to live here,” Katrine says. “Everything feels idyllic and beautiful in its own way.
Photography: Katrine Møbius
Text: Ditlev Fejerskov
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