‘Be strong and stand hard’ – CDLP co-founder Christian Larson talks taste

My personal style signifiers are 1990s Versace sunglasses: bigger logos, bigger gold details. I have sensitive eyes, so I wear sunglasses quite a bit, even in Sweden’s dark winters… maybe that’s why I’m so sensitive. I also wear my brand’s pyjama suits. They’re made of lyocell, so they’re very airy.

The last thing I bought and loved was an ’80s leather Nicoletti Salotti lounge chair – I’m very into ’80s glamour, which is the style of our home. Living in Stockholm, you get a lot of Scandi interiors: I grew up with them – and I hate them. But having different taste is good because no one wants what you want, so you can find amazing things at auction houses for a good buck. My best find was a set of Liberace-style candelabras in gold and white marble.

The place that means a lot to me is La Suite by Dussol, a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. It’s where we came up with the idea of launching our fashion brand CDLP, and where we shot our first campaign. It has a very special ambience: the favela is on one side and there’s a beautiful beach on the other. It’s a vibe – and I want that vibe. It’s the biggest contrast from Scandinavia.

For a really decadent party, an indoor smoking area with lush ashtrays is essential. I have around 20, a favourite being an oversized Versace ashtray that I brought back from Marché Paul Bert Serpette in Paris. 

The grooming staple I’m never without is Biotherm Aquasource Cream, my moisturiser, and Tom Ford’s Ombré Leather Eau de Parfum. It’s powerful. It’s masculine. It’s fresh. I wear it every day. Biotherm Aquasource Cream, £46, lookfantastic.com. Tom Ford Ombré Leather, £108 for 50ml EDP

And the last music I downloaded was “Follower”, a track by Mredrollo, from Beatport, an online store for electronic music. I couldn’t find it anywhere else. It’s just an amazing, long build-up. It was my tune of the summer. 

The best way to spend 20 krona is on scratchcards. Me and Jonas have a thing where every time we see each other for dinner, we buy scratchcards, like old men. We win once in a while, but our goal is to be on Nyhetsmorgon, a Swedish talk show. You have to reveal three TV screens in a row, then you get to be on the show.

My style icon is Jonas Åkerlund, a Swedish film director. I started working for him when I was 25. It was my schooling in filmmaking and photography. He’s got this rock ’n’ roll-meets-gypsy style, but always very expensive. The way he finds pieces and puts them together with crazy jewellery and everything is fascinating. 

The thing I couldn’t do without is my Contax G2 35mm camera, which provides all these colours and textures that I keep coming back to. I’ve shot most of my brand’s campaigns with it, and whenever I’m shooting digital, I bring this camera as well. There’s always something there that is just like… wow. You can’t replicate that with anything else. Photography has become work for me. But work is also life. It’s all blended together.

I’ve recently rediscovered Heat by Michael Mann, with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. It came out in a 4K resolution director’s cut, so I’ve been reminded of how incredibly amazing it is. It’s an action movie, but it has so much emotion. My favourite scene is when Robert De Niro and Al Pacino meet face to face for the first time in a diner: the atmosphere is tense, but the dialogue is beautifully poetic.

In my fridge you’ll always find Coke Zero, plant-based yoghurt, peanut butter and chocolate. My wife is happy to do most of the cooking. I stick to cereal.

I don’t read a lot. Instead, I watch movies. I’m a visual person. The best film I’ve seen in the past year is Society of the Snow, about a plane that crashes in the Argentinian Andes and the survivors are forced to eat the dead to survive. Frank Marshall’s 1993 film Alive is about the same event. 

My wedding in Ibiza last year started on a catamaran and ended at a club in a bunker

The podcast I’m listening to is by the philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris. He has all of these amazing podcasts in his app Waking Up. It’s not just meditation training: it’s a lot of self‑development and reflection. A favourite episode was with mindfulness guru Joseph Goldstein. The best thing about it is his voice; I appreciate a good one. 

I have a collection of around 10 alabaster table lamps from the ’80s – I’ve just got into alabaster as a material, so have been scavenging auction sites such as Auctionet and Catawiki. Table lamps are a favourite in general: we probably have 50 or 60 at home, from a pink glass pair by Studio Åhus to a classic brass lamp with a funky velvet shade. It’s starting to look a little bit like a lamp store here. I never use main lights – that’s illegal.

My drink of choice is a Hendrick’s gin and tonic with cucumber and black pepper. 

The best gift I’ve given recently was a trip to Ibiza, just me and my wife. No kids. We had a blast: partying, dancing – just living life. We went to DC10 on a super-local night, which was very fun. I worked in the music world for quite some time and was in Ibiza a lot then, so it was a blast from the past. (The best gift I’ve received is still my son Novah, who has just turned two.)

A way to make me laugh is by saying something inappropriate in a stiff crowd – a serious meeting… or a funeral. 

The best party I’ve ever been to was my wedding in Ibiza last year. It started on a catamaran with dancing at sunset and ended at a secret club in a bunker. 

An object I would never part with is a Leica M3 camera from the ’60s that was given to me when my grandfather passed away: I don’t use it. Aside from that and my Contax, I have two other cameras. I’m not a collector. 

An indulgence I would never forgo is a fancy hotel. I grew up in a hotel – it was not a fancy one, but I feel very at home in them. And as I’ve lived my life and developed my career, I’ve spent a lot of nights in them. I just love experiencing new atmospheres in different parts of the world. Aside from La Suite, one of the fanciest I’ve stayed in is Passalacqua on Lake Como.

On my Instagram “For You” page you’ll find sexy girls… no! Just a lot of dance and choreography: old music videos and outtakes from Michael Jackson performances, something my wife and I love to watch. She’s a choreographer so we’re always on the lookout for something new to shoot. My favourite music video of all time is Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz. Jonas’s video for “Smack My Bitch Up” by The Prodigy is also iconic. That’s what drew me into the music-video world.

The best souvenir I’ve brought home was an early-’90s mirror-coated telephone from a flea market in Stockholm – all my guests pick it up to see if it works. But my business partner Andreas buys me souvenirs – like, proper souvenirs – everywhere he goes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a short visit to Paris or a trip across the world, he always brings home the most tacky things. I have a shrine of them in my office. The last thing I got was a little glass with pictures of Paris on it – sites like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. It says Balenciaga on it. 

An indoor smoking area with lush ashtrays is essential

My favourite room in my house is my office, which is an old wine cellar: the house is from the 1700s. It’s literally a cave with no windows, but in there I find tranquillity, inspiration and focus – not just for work, but for making music, which I do in my spare time. It has the only piece of Scandinavian furniture I own: a desk from the ’60s. Everything else is very opulent: red velvet chairs, lots of old table lamps and a red velvet ceiling.

In another life, I would have been a music producer – I’m putting myself out there. I make electronic music from whatever comes into my head. It’s a hobby I do out of pure passion and love. We’ll see what I do with it. 

No celebration is complete without a DJ who can create the right mood for the occasion. My playlist is made up of house music with a lot of rhythm and disco flavour that makes people’s hips move. A track guaranteed to get the party started is “Lost in Music” by Gay Marvine. 

The works of art that changed everything for me were Alejandro González Iñárritu’s movies: Amores Perros, Biutiful, Babel, 21 Grams. I love the way he tells stories through non-traditional techniques. His films are very visual and driven through editing. 

My wellbeing guru is a site called Supernormal: they have all these supplements. I take multivitamins for anti-ageing and sleep benefits. I don’t know what’s in them, but they make you feel fantastic. Supernormal The Foundations, SEK630 (about £46) per month

When I need to feel inspired, I take a break from family and the office and take a train around Europe: I’m a bit of a train nerd. Last summer I took the Glacier Express from St Moritz to Zermatt in Switzerland, a beautiful train with panoramic views. There had been some flooding, so a lot of people cancelled the trip: I had a whole wagon, just me. I sat there making music, thinking about life and getting inspired.

I don’t believe in life after death. We have to give room for someone else to take over where we left off.

My favourite building is the house where Ricardo Bofill lived before he died, an old cement factory outside of Barcelona. It has these huge cement silos that are emptied out, and he created beautiful, grand spaces within each of the buildings, blending them with nature.

The one artist whose work I would collect if I could isn’t a visual artist: I’m more into stage art. Alexander Ekman, a choreographer who has worked for New York’s Lincoln Center, the Paris Opera and Sadler’s Wells, is a favourite. He strikes a balance between sophistication and joy; it’s striking how he manages to combine that. There’s a playfulness to this work, but it’s never over the top, just elegant.

The best bit of advice I ever received was something Steve Jobs once said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” The speech was about believing in yourself. Life is short. You’ve got to be strong and stand hard.