Fall workation at Villa Nagu

this post is a collaboration with Villa Nagu
& the wine was sponsored by winestate.fi

October is here and the winds blow strong and cold. It is quiet as I get out off bed, slip into a warm pair of knitted socks and tip-toe to the living room to get a fire going. Once the warmth emanates from the fireplace and sound of the fire crackling fills the room I move on to the kitchen to make some coffee. Then I sit by the fireplace and read a little bit while everyone has some coffee and slowly wakes up.

I am at Villa Nagu, a cabin in the woods of southern Finland together with Veera and Kathrin. We are here to work and prepare for next year while helping each other evaluate what we do and make changes to our businesses in order to move in the direction we all want to go. Fall is when I have the most work, but also when I feel the most creative so it’s the perfect time to meet up with my friends and colleagues for a fall workation. Freelance work, as I’ve mentioned before, can be very lonesome and it’s so valuable to meet in person to talk about the ups and downs of the job, work assignments and ideas to get some real life, in the moment feedback.

Photo © Veera Bianca

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I have so many good books and magazines to read now thanks to my subscription with Gather Outdoors. It was recommended to me by Yannick, one of my dear followers on Instagram, and I can do nothing but pass the recommendation on!

After a few cups of coffee Veera makes us her famous avocado toasts with poached eggs and we enjoy a breakfast out of this world. Seriously I need to learn how to poach eggs, I think I could eat this every day. If you remember I got to enjoy it last year when I visited her in Helsinki and I’ve been dying to have this breakfast again! This was the perfect start to our day before it was time to get to work.

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Photo © Kathrin Deter

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This is a lovely space for a workation, it’s such a calm and inspiring atmosphere to be in. The cabin has huge windows that stretch from floor to ceiling, and all you see outside is the forest and the sea. As we work, eat and converse we sit with candles lit, the fire crackling and the trees swaying outside. At one point we get to watch deer pass by stopping to eat some moss before moving on – clueless to us being there. This place is newly built and very modern, but it still has personality and a homey feeling to it – a lot of though has been put into the smallest details. Despite it’s designer style it still manages to have that cozy cabin vibe to it.

Because of the huge windows every single change in light is very noticeable and as a photographer the light playing in the cabin through out the day gets me really excited and inspired. Which makes sense since photography literally translates to “painting with light” – how beautiful is that?

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Even though we had dedicated times for work I think the best conversations happened in the evenings when we enjoyed a glass of red or two over dinner. Kathrin made a lovely pasta dish full of rich, deep flavours fit for autumn that I will definitely be making at home from now on! As it got darker we moved ourselves (and the wine) to sit in front of the fireplace and the good conversations continued.

What I decided during this workation is that I really enjoy teaching and inspiring others, and thus I hope to travel around with my workshop a lot more next year. I want more long term work with fewer clients and I also want to be out and about in town more and work with other local creatives and businesses, preferably around subjects I am passionate about. That combined with continuing to roam around Scandinavia as well as make jewellery with my love are some of my goals for next year.

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All photos were shot on the Olympus OM-D EM-1 MKII & Olympus OM-D EM-5 MKII using the 45mm f/1.2 PRO and 17mm f/1.8 premium