LINUM meets; Jonas Ingerstedt.

These days images have both more and less power than ever before – how do you feel about images and visual communications? Do we over- or under-appreciate images?

A picture says a thousand words, so the saying goes… That being said, with today’s super-charged stream of images on social media, I think people lose interest quickly and easily. A lot of what gets posted is rather empty and short on ideas. Perhaps we should start thinking more about saying something with images? Then they’re always interesting. Even if it obviously then becomes a question of what we want to say, sell, etc.

I don’t think we under-appreciate images per se, but it is hard to sift through that image feed. I started working as a photographer back in the ’80s, before the internet, so every shot had a much greater significance and a photo was always more thought-out.

You have shot people, fashion and interiors. What is it about a space or place that makes it exciting to capture?

With commercial images you’re ultimately selling a dream. In short, people should want to be in that image. When you get the opportunity to shoot a home with good architecture and beautiful pieces of art and design, for example, it feels even better if you have a real interest these things, as I do. The personal is also very important. My dream is to find that home that can be featured in World of Interiors.

Over the years you have done many jobs for LINUM. What do you think feels significant to us in particular?

For me, LINUM is a brand that represents quality and a classic feel that never goes out of fashion. Just to be able to find materials with so many different textures and colours feels unique.

If you could share any really good pointers when it comes to taking good pictures, what would they be?

• Beautiful light is always important. I try to work in daylight as much as possible, as its crispness is hard to replace. A beautiful space on top of that, with lovely objects, helps.
• A personal, interesting styling is important. It’s fun to sneak the odd quirky touch into the image – nothing very obvious, but maybe something funny for whoever notices it?
• When it comes to textiles, a lot of it is about capturing the feel of the material, i.e. the tactile.

Are you working on a specific project right now that you would like to tell us about?

At the moment I’m working on a new furniture collection for Dusty Deco in collaboration with Nordiska Galleriet. That is very cool, as it feels new, with design that we haven’t really seen before.

I am also working on an art project with 23 PINE, an online gallery for fine art photography. The project consists of my “portraits” of the Barbican, a brutalist housing development in London. The project will eventually feed into a book, an edition at 23 PINE and a first physical exhibition at Arkösund Hotel this summer. Should anyone want to find out more about the project, they are welcome to contact me directly.

See Jonas’s Instagram here: @jonasingerstedtphotography
@dustydeco
@23pine