Majken & Pelle
Shot on film by Vladimir Gvozd
Luckily these two were in NYC from Copenhagen for Pelle's birthday; interviewed at The Standard, High Line Hotel and while walking along the park. Majken works for Maersk Group, as Head of Compensation & Benefits in Denmark for one of the businesses, and Pelle is the Founder & Creative Director of Spring / Summer. Together they've recently welcomed baby boy Marley into the world.
{<1>}
{<2>}
Deciding to get married
Majken: There isn’t much of a story (laughs) it happened a couple of days before your 30th birthday.
Pelle: Yes, in Denmark you almost have to be married before you turn 30. At least if you want to avoid a Danish tradition where your friends will mock you by leaving monstrosities (i.e. a barrel with “30 years” painted on it) outside your home. It’s an old, not that used, tradition though and for the record not the reason why I said yes.
Majken: And so we were basically just sitting on the couch when I proposed. It wasn’t to be practical at all, but I really wanted to get married, I felt it was the next step.
TWP: Were you scared of what he was going to say?
Majken: I was really hoping he wouldn’t freak out.
Pelle: I was surprised and totally loved the idea of getting married. We wanted the wedding to be more casual and cosy, so the following summer we went to the City Hall, which turned out to be a really nice experience. They have a really old, historic "wedding room" that fit about 40 people, and then we had a party that same night with 90 friends and family.
{<3>}
{<4>}
Career
Pelle: It doesn’t feel like I have taken any big risks. It was a natural progression from being a freelancer. I reached a point where it was possible for me to set up a team, a result of one specific client request to put together a team at first. I now have a company of twelve people, where we create digital solutions from a creative side. It's quite design oriented and we have a bunch of good people so we usually end up being quite proud of the results.
{<5>}
{<6>}
Majken: It has been fun to follow Pelle’s journey since we met. Leaving a steady job, going freelance, then setting up a company. He’s always been very assured about it like, it’s going to be okay, no worries, don’t worry about it. Being with him has also made me more ambitious. I was studying when we first got together and after I got my bachelors, I was pretty determined to find a job instead of going for a masters, and luckily that worked out fine. Even though we both are ambitious, my career path is more steady, or corporate, and I guess that’s a good dynamic because I wonder what would happen if we both wanted to start our own companies or something, it may not have worked. I’m very happy in my current company, being part of a great team, and having good career opportunities.
{<7>}
Pelle: In Denmark we have a bit of a different work culture than you do over here. You really pack your work day full here, and work long hours. In Denmark we have super intense work days too, but they are shorter so we have more spare time, plus our weekends are often spent not working at all. Saturdays are usually unplanned days for us. This extra spare time that we have in Denmark versus over here, that is good for our relationship. That is the high priority. I think we work to do that and not the other way around. But it’s also fun to work and we’re both happy that we work with stuff we like. I like that we each have some kind of ambition in our work life, I think without that it would be weird and off balance. Never say never of course but I hope that we both keep having careers and something to strive for, something that drives us.
This extra spare time that we have in Denmark versus over here, that is good for our relationship. That is the high priority.
{<8>}
Majken: We've discussed this, and I think that it's a good thing that we don't work in the same company, and that we do something quite different. I do try to understand what is going on with the projects Pelle is working on though, and it might be slightly easier for me to understand what he does or I might be very, very bad at explaining what I do. My stuff is probably more boring to talk about than what other people do.
Pelle: Not necessarily.
Majken: (laughs) It definitely is. I think it helps that we’re not doing the same thing so we can actually talk about work at night, and it's just not a recap. We haven’t heard anything about the other person’s day so it’s totally new. We have other couple friends who work together, and sometimes I have thought about what do they then talk about in the evenings.
Pelle: Maybe they can just decide when to talk work and when not - it seems to work fine for our friends at least.
Majken: I’ve been working a lot and still do since I got pregnant, but I’ve been more conscious about how much I work. I’m quite happy to pull away completely when I leave work, I’m still available though, and do check emails, but otherwise I like to have my evenings free. I feel it's better than disconnecting and reconnecting all the time.
Pelle: But I think for me I’ve learned not to worry too much, which is a great relief every day. I know everything will work out in the end, even the worst cases. I’m confident that it’s going to work and if doesn’t work then we’ll work on it from there.
I know everything will work out in the end, even the worst cases.
{<9>}
{<10>}
{<11>}
{<12>}
TWP: Advice for future designers and entrepreneurs?
Pelle: Of course you have to be able to show how good you are with a nice well curated portfolio showing your best work. When I hire I often forget to ask about education, I look for good chemistry, honesty, humor and brightness. I simply look for a nice person to spend my work life with. To get the interview, the work in your portfolio has to be top notch of course, and you have to feel the connection with the work place too - it’s a two way street.
Majken: You do need to love what you do right?
Pelle: Definitely. Mixing personal projects with commercial stuff is a way of keeping everything going. But for some people, people like me, I really enjoy doing commercial work and that drives me a lot. I enjoy all of the aspects of creating a business and making good projects, so for me personal projects are less important. We are trying out new possibilities in the office, not necessarily what clients will be paying for, more like incubator stuff. I’m a little afraid that we’re going to spend a lot of time on it. I’m even more afraid it’s never going to become anything.
{<13>}
{<14>}
Being Together
Pelle: I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, I think it's a good thing, but we never argue. I think we are good at life in that we think of each other and what the other may need. Neither one of us are the demanding type, I hope. I don’t know if you feel like that, maybe you are the demanding partner, Majken?
Majken: (laughs) No, I think we are pretty good at life, being good to each other and giving each other space to grow. Of course you can have small hiccups, but I don’t think there have been any bad ones.
{<15>}