The world outdoors is important for Wai Tsui, the founder of Hiking Patrol. So two years ago, when he, his partner Adeline Hermier, and their baby son Lian were looking for a new home, they were immediately drawn to a modernist concrete house a stone’s throw from Oslo, Norway. From its open terrace, large windows, and garden backing onto the forest, the Norwegian creative can go running in the mountains, take his son sledding in the snow, or simply sit around the fire playing with Lego in the central living space. It’s a happy intersection of indoors and outdoors.
Wai’s love of the outdoors is a value he shares with the creative community he has built through Hiking Patrol, the digital space he founded back in 2017, which came into its own during the COVID-19 pandemic. As lockdown had the whole world looking up from their screens, while stepping outside and into nature, consumer mentality followed. A few years on, technically superior garments and design objects made to facilitate a life lived outside remain in high demand.
Inside Wai’s home, the interior is eclectic, thoughtful, and lived-in. Noguchi lamps, treasured objects, paintings and sculptures, an ever-growing magazine collection, and fresh flowers all fill the living room. And it is a space for living—the family gravitates towards it.
This interview is part of “Inside with…” a series of home stories and studio visits produced in collaboration with the Scandinavian design brand Muuto. Through dialogue with different creatives, the series explores the ever-evolving concept of personal space.
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You live with one foot in the city, one in the countryside.
The first thing that caught our attention about this house was actually the backyard. I can see the forest from our terrace. During the summer we have deers coming into the backyard in the morning, eating the grass—and there’s a small mountain close by where I can go running. I travel a lot. I go to London to work for three days every month, and then I go to Japan twice a year. But I like to be at home. It’s really quiet in Oslo, so it’s not as stressful an environment here.
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Tell me about the house you live in.
It’s an old concrete house from 1970, that I bought two years ago. There was only one owner of this house before us. He lived here until he was 90, and then his son sold his house to us. So I sometimes feel his energy. I feel like it’s been a family place; I feel good when I’m entering the house.
We kept the old teak panels and these white stone brick walls. We even kept the bathroom, with its orange and brown color-way. We added concrete floors. Of course, in winter the floors are super cold, but we’re used to wearing sandals inside, that’s typical for my culture. In summertime, it’s also really cool, so we get the best of both.
There are still a lot of things we want to do to the house, but we will keep it mostly as it is. Having a house is totally different from renting an apartment, where everything gets fixed. Here I need to be more handy. But I enjoy living here. It’s my creative space, for sure.
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How did Hiking Patrol come about?
I started Hiking Patrol in 2017 as a curation account for outdoor lifestyle exploration, but I just did it for me and my friends. Then we started to work more like a creative agency, collaborating with brands, and doing some campaigns and shoots. Over the past couple of years, we’ve started to work on product collaborations too, at the intersection of lifestyle and fashion. The culture of our community is super important, so I’m always trying to balance that with the commercial side. In January we’re showcasing and launching our own brand in Paris.
As well as clothing and footwear I work with furniture. I love interior design. So I’m trying to create this universe, working on projects that I am passionate about. Everything happens very organically.
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Tell me about the role the outdoor world plays in your day-to-day life here.
I am outside every day. I always take my kid to kindergarten, and after that, I go work out. It’s a little bit slippery in the wintertime with the snow, so I normally train in the gym, but I love to run every day when I can. It’s nice because it’s so close to me, I don’t have anything holding me back. That’s been important for me because I work in some stressful environments. Having the flexibility to work remotely has been a big change in my life.
“How much stuff can you fit in a house?
I’m trying to be more selective, to create emotional memories with the stuff we already have. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but it has value to me.”
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How do you choose the pieces you live with?
I like Japanese and mid-century design; you can see the personalities of Adeline and I in our interior. I try to purchase products that last, so they can move from home to home. Most of this furniture has been with me for almost ten years. We have some meditation-like floor pillows because we like to sit on the floor and eat at the coffee table. Adeline makes ceramics, so we have a lot of her ceramics at home. Sometimes they will be here for a few weeks, then they’ll sell, and we’ll have a new one.
We combine light interiors with wooden panels, but we have a steel kitchen as well, so we break up the hard feeling with warmth and light. Because I spend so much time every day here, it’s almost like my playground for inspiration. If I get creative block because I’m spending too much time online, I go to the shelf and take out an old magazine, or go for a walk.
I’m always trying to curate the things we have because you come to a point where you don’t need more stuff. How much stuff can you fit in a house? I’m trying to be more selective, to create emotional memories with the stuff we already have. It doesn’t need to be expensive, but it has value to me.
“If I get creative block because I’m spending too much time online, I go to the shelf and take out an old magazine, or go for a walk.”
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Do you have any weekend rituals?
We are mostly together, all three of us, and on Saturdays and Sundays, we spend most of our time in the living area in the middle of the house. We have an old fireplace and I like to fire it up, especially now that it’s getting colder. We play with Lego, do puzzles, play with Play-Doh, and try not to watch too much television. Everyone sits on these floor pillows, and my girlfriend always makes Norwegian waffles with brown cheese and jam. Then when we put Lian to bed, we have our moment in the living room. So we spend most of the time downstairs.
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What does home mean to you?
Home is love. Warmth, gathering, creating memories. We have a lot of family happenings here. It’s a space of creativity. Home for me is also a place where I feel secure, but also where I learn about myself because I spend a lot of time here. Working freelance, I have time to reflect on things—how I can be better as a human, or how I can strive to be better, evolve, and educate myself. The journey starts in the home.
Wai Tsui is the founder of Hiking Patrol, a digital hub at the intersection of fashion, design, and outdoor exploration. He lives just outside Oslo, Norway, with his partner, Adeline, and their son Lian, in a 1970s teak-paneled home that backs onto the forest.
Text: Maisie Skidmore
Images: Anne Valeur
