Fanna Ndow Norrby
Who lives here?
– Me, Fanna, and my fiance David. I run the production company AF Productions with Amie Bramme Sey, my cousin and colleague. We started the Raseriet podcast in 2016, which has now been relaunched as Amie & Fanna. I’ve done a lot of anti-racist and feminist work, to the point where I became exhausted and made a big production for Swedish public television about it, called ”We can’t do it”. I’m centered around issues that deal with women, well-being, anti-feminism and racism.
Where are we located?
– We are in Liljeholmen south of Stockholm, in a 2.5 room apartment with a large balcony and a view of lake Trekanten. We’ve lived here for almost 1.5 years.
How did the Portal shelf end up in your home?
– I found TÔNN via the small, round shelf Plateau. I really liked it and then realized that there were several different models. What could our shelf look like? We arrived at this L shape quite quickly, but also thought about a C or a U. The color is amazing. I can get very stressed out by patterns, so our home is very calm. I’ve had periods when I was younger when I liked florals, but I realized early on that dots and squares stress me out. The only pattern I can handle is leo.
How did you decorate it?
– We wanted a shelf that was quite simple and where we could set things up without it becoming too cluttered. For me, it would be a nightmare to have a shelf completely packed with books. So instead, I have the whole basement full and often go to Stadsmissionen [to donate books].
What’s in the shelf?
– Some plants. David takes care of them. I’m not a plant lover, but I think it’s nice when they’re around. A sphere-shaped lamp and a round yellow vase, which is just there as decoration when it’s not in use. The bust was made by my grandmother, I got to take it over when she moved to a nursing home. It was placed in a secluded part of her house, but I’ve always admired it. Behind it you’ll find David’s Flaming Canyon poster, from Zion National Park in Utah. He was there in 2014 and thought it was one of the most beautiful national parks he ever visited. And then there are some color-coordinated books.
Yes, what’s the best book in here?
– There are a lot of good books here. I would spontaneously say that the best ones are ”Return home” by Yaa Gyasi and ”Black woman” by myself, haha. We also have Kahlil Gibran’s ”The Prophet”, which is incredible. I got it from a family friend when I was moving abroad.
– Then there’s ”Factfulness” by Hans Rosling, which David read the other year. Who we are really comes across in the book collection, he is much more of a factual guy who works with economics and likes to tackle questions from a statistical point of view. But he’s also worked as a bartender, so we have quite a few drink books.
What do you keep in the cupboard and drawers?
– In the cupboard we have a Playstation and some laptops. Some electronics and binders. Cords and other ugly stuff. In the boxes there will be accounting. I’m self-employed and the ambition is to collect all the receipts and invoices that are scattered around the apartment in there. On the shelf below we also have David’s grandfather’s games; the bridge box and chess.
So this is the place to drink Campari and play bridge?
– Maybe it’s a little bit of an ”old lady” shelf? I think both David and I are ready for drinks and bridge, we just need to learn it first, but we love playing cards and board games! On the top shelf you’ll also find my witch stuff, crystals and palo santo. I have very ambivalent feelings when it comes to incense. My father is from the Gambia, and I grew up with a lot of incense. First, I got an allergy. Second, it smelled very special, which was problematic [growing up]. But when I feel like I need a little cleansing, I burn some.
You and David seem very different, how did you get your styles together?
– When we moved in together 1.5 years ago, we came from two very different types of homes. I had lived on 18 square meters in Bagarmossen, David in a second-hand early 20th century apartment in Vasastan. There’s a lot of stuff that looks nice in a turn-of-the-century apartment that doesn’t work in a new-built house! And I didn’t have much to bring to the table; “My tiny, tiny thing from my tiny, tiny apartment”. We’ve really thought everything through and tried to find what we both like. None of us feel at home if it’s too messy.
And the TV is in place!
– We finally got it up on the wall! It might be a little too high, but David’s very tall so it had to be this way. We love our TV. Right now we’re watching ”House of Dragons” – or ”Hot D” as it’s called, which I think is so funny. And of course ”Bachelor Sweden”, which both David and I are watching for the first time this season and love!
