Hanging Out With… Palmes

Palmes may have roots in tennis culture, but the brand's founder, Nikolaj Hansson, is changing the traditional conversation: bringing a contemporary edge to what can be considered a cloistered sport and adding a dash of skateboarding spirit for good measure. Think impeccably cut, simple, seasonless pieces that look and feel good, on or off court.

We played a few rallies and grabbed coffee with Nikolaj on a recent trip to his home city, Copenhagen, to talk morning rituals, weekend adventures and bad work habits...

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Where do you live and how long have you lived here?
I live in the Nordvest neighbourhood of Copenhagen, north of the city centre. I’ve lived in my flat for six-and-a-half years now.

How would you describe Copenhagen to someone who has never visited?
A small metropolis. You get some of the bustle of larger cities here, yet everything is close and you can get from one end of the city to the other in twenty-or-so minutes. Plus, there’s a lot of space to take a breather and do nothing; you won’t find yourself suffocating here.

Favourite thing about your neighbourhood/where you live?
That it’s on the outer edge of the city. It makes it more peaceful as the area is only now starting to get gentrified, so not a lot of people go out here to hang. While the area is very eclectic and diverse at the same time; it’s very unhinged in a great and slightly fucked up way.

What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
I’m the type of terrible person who checks their email as the first thing upon waking up to pick all the low-hanging fruits in there before starting the day. As far from inspirational as can be, essentially, but it’s honest work. Then I either go and play tennis, go to the gym or yoga on my living room floor.

Do you have any morning rituals?
I always drink a big bottle of water within half an hour of getting out of bed; it wakes up my body.

What is the definition of a perfect day to you?
Waking up well-rested is something that I’ve come to cherish and protect more and more recently. Riding my bike through the city to the tennis courts at 6.30 in the AM while the city is still asleep. Play tennis with a friend and grab a coffee after. Home for a quick shower and then head to the studio to get stuff done until early evening, then cook dinner and hang with friends before hopefully doing it all over again the next day.

Where is your studio located and how do you get there?
The space is located in the heart of Copenhagen on the top fourth floor of an old building with slanted ceilings and everything. The carpet’s not great but you can’t win them all. The building is from the 18th century, so it’s got a lot of heart to it. It’s a twenty-minute bike ride from my flat, literally a straight shoot with only two turns, riding through the northern areas of town to the centre.

What was your route into design and how did you begin Palmes?
I fell out of love with riding my skateboard in my early twenties. Missed hanging out with my friends. Picked up tennis and discovered that I got the same feeling when hitting a perfect forehand as I did when landing a backside heelflip. Then being unable to find anything within the world of tennis that I could identify with prompted me to start Palmes. To fuck around with tennis culture, break it down to rebuild it in a more progressive, fun, inclusive and relaxed way, passing on the feeling I had of falling in love with tennis onto more people. Especially those who haven’t found themselves identifying with tennis before — we want Palmes to be the bridge from where they’re at and into the love of tennis.

How do you get into a creative headspace?
I don’t consider myself a creative person. I can’t dream stuff up from out of nowhere, though it would save me a lot of headaches. I find it’s more about communicating and connecting different ideas, methods, and movements into something new and thoughtful that is in line with the ethos of Palmes. I think it was Jim Jarmusch who said that nothing is original; that authenticity is invaluable, yet originality is non-existent. So, a creative headspace for me would be delving into anything that I find myself resonating with, uncovering the dynamics of an artist, a film, a tennis match, a design, or whatever else out there to take with me into whatever project we’re working on. It’s akin to a very messy and never-ending puzzle, in many ways.

Whilst working, where do you go and what do you do to take a break?
I’m very intense and zoned-in when I work so I often forget to take breaks, sitting for five hours non-stop at my desk until my back starts to ache from too much tennis and too many emails. Then I realise I’ve been sitting there for way too long, jump into our office kitchen, drink four glasses of water and then get back into the rhythm. Far from healthy and ideal, but that’s where it is at right now. Rather than taking breaks, I try to parcel up my workday into different locations; maybe starting out for an hour or two at my neighbourhood coffee shop sorting out emails, then going to the office for five or six hours to work with the team and then taking meetings at the end of the day around town. It gives a nice dynamic to your day, I’ve found.

Where do you go for an adventure?
On weekends or whenever friends from out of town are visiting, I like driving up north of Copenhagen alongside the coast to top of Zealand, looking at mid-century architecture and maybe hitting a museum, an old Danish restaurant, or a fish smokehouse along the way (or all of the three, if I’m feeling really adventurous).

What’s the most surprising thing we’d find if we looked on your phone?
15+ different airline apps. I hate printed boarding cards.

What’s your favourite restaurant and what do you eat there?
Bento. Not many people in Copenhagen know about it (which I still don’t get; go!). It’s this tiny Japanese izakaya in a basement of the old, gritty area of town, just by the central station. Uki, who runs it, makes straightforward, no-bullshit izakaya dishes at almost too affordable prices while having a big, gentle smile on his face. And the waitress, Megumi-san, is quite possibly my favourite person in the world. I usually just tell them to bring out whatever they feel like and let Uki do his thing. They serve sashimi on a small, wooden boat and everything; it’s killer.

What do you usually do for dinner?
Anything pasta. I normally get home from the office around 7pm and don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking, so usually some pasta with whatever vegetables I have around the flat. I like the rhythm of it to zone out after work.

What books do you have on your bookshelves?
Close to only fiction. I always try to read at least one book while on work trips; in aeroplanes, in cabs, in trains. Everything from classics of Salinger, Orwell and Vonnegut over more contemporary stuff of Hanya Yanigahara, Sally Rooney and Nico Walker to some Scandinavian authors like Karl Ove Knausgaard and Kaspar Colling. I used to have a ton of design and fashion books but have been working on moving them into the studio as they take up a fuck ton of space.

What time do you go to bed?
No later than eleven pm, in an ideal world.

Last thing you do before you sleep?
Close my eyes and hope that my thoughts will stop racing for long enough for me to doze off to sleep.

Do you have any evening rituals?
None.

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