“For a long time, I have admired the soulful home of Interior Decorator Michael Høgh & Creative Director Mads Kruse — a home that resonates with soul and character. I am especially drawn to the way they live with decorative arts and textiles, and their spirit of collection, and I am curious about what drives this passion. In this letter, discover their remarkable home and an interview with Mads- and be inspired on how to create a layered, meaningful home”.

Helene Blanche

Step inside the world of Mads Kruse, founder and creative director of the acclaimed fashion brand Tapis-Noir—renowned for pieces that merge timeless aesthetics with contemporary sensibility.
Admired for his refined taste and his instinct for mixing patterns and colours, Mads and his husband Michael have created a home that is a true dream of textile layering: a personal universe where fabrics, hues, and carefully collected treasures come together with effortless elegance and depth.

HB: How do textiles, patterns and colours shape your home?
Textiles, patterns and colours clearly have a strong presence in your interiors. How do you use them to decorate and elevate your surroundings, and what role do they play in creating atmosphere and refinement?

MK: I am extremely spontaneous and never make big plans and mood boards for my home. The same goes for colours. I have the philosophy that if you choose beautiful colours, then you can just mix away. That impacts the atmosphere of my home, which is very eclectic and personal. When people meet me, visit my home and see my brand Tapis Noir, then everything just makes sense to them. It’s very clear to people that everything comes from the heart, and therefore it’s very coherent.
After purchasing the house, we went to Tapet Cafe, for inspiration and to create our mood board. We spent 1,5 hours there choosing everything. Paint colours, wallpapers, curtains, cushions, sofas, bedspreads, which of our furniture should be covered in which fabrics etc. It was a couple of intense hours. We chose things directly from the heart and what we liked the most. We knew we were aiming for a traditional cottage style, as that is what we felt would match the house and the lifestyle we wanted with this move.

HB: You have included our new Hugo Strié fabric collection in your home. How would you describe the aesthetic mood it creates when used for curtains and soft furnishings, and in what way does it refine the overall atmosphere?

MK: The funny thing is that the curtains in our living room were the last missing piece of the puzzle. We’ve lived in the house for 5 years, but never really found the right fabric for curtains, so we only had folding curtains. When I saw the Hugo Strié fabric in Indigo, I had an “aha moment”. The missing puzzle had been found. It is a plain fabric, which gives the room a bit of calmness. We’re not exactly minimalists, so a little calmness is nice - in limited amounts, naturally. At the same time, it has such a lovely woven pattern, which gives it texture. It feels like a curtain that one can find in an old Danish summerhouse that hasn’t been renovated in 50 years, which is completely faded and frayed at the edges - but loved by the owners. However, you could also find it in a dramatic Italian villa at Lake Como. That ambiguity was what I fell for. It has truly been the finishing touch to the living room.

HB:Your home is filled with an impressive mix of decorative pieces—antique, vintage, and collected treasures. What is the story behind this love of collecting, and how do these pieces, with their history and refinement, come together to form the heart of your home?

MK:I always choose objects from the heart and then later figure out how and where to display them. There is hardly ever a well-considered plan with a new purchase. I love that the home feels such much like an extension of myself and is totally eclectic. There is everything from Dutch old masters and antique Islamic fabrics to strange vintage ceramics and family paintings. And books. Thousands of books.
I never consider whether a new item will fit in. If I like it, I buy it, and then I’ll figure out where it goes later. So, there is always a continuous shuffle of items, where things are moved around whenever a new object is added. “We’ll find somewhere to put it” is almost our mantra for collecting.