Åsa Gessle

Åsa Gessle interview by Femina

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Malin Roos at Femina did an interview with Åsa Gessle and Anna Hållams took some wonderful photos of Fru Nordin in Tylösand.

Malin talks to Åsa at Hotel Tylösand, so she sees Åsa doing her thing around the hotel. A cushion has ended up askew in a sofa so that the seam can be seen. Nothing an ordinary eye would perceive, but Åsa sees everything and is there to rearrange it.

If you have created an environment, you want it to look like you have it in your head. I think it’s also good to show the staff that you have your heart in the details, because then they get it too.

Exactly what her official title is at Hotel Tylösand is a matter of mixed opinion. Her husband, who has been a co-owner of the hotel outside Halmstad since 1995, calls her “The Boss”, in short.

Åsa describes herself as “creative manager of renovations”, which turns out to mean everything from painting walls late at night to sitting in construction meetings at seven in the morning. Above all, she is behind the design.

When Femina is visiting, the hotel’s SPA has just opened after receiving a facelift. The result is just like the creator’s vision; a sacred oasis with very dark slate.

Åsa Gessle says that since she and her husband designed their first house in Halmstad in 1992, she had a teacher in Abelardo Gonzales, former professor of design at the School of Architecture in Lund.

Abelardo is my aesthetic school, he is super talented. Both Per and I are a little hurt that everything should be in line. Abelardo taught me to keep my eyes open and that nothing is impossible.

Preferred creative subjects in school

However, the interest in architecture and design goes back further than that, as Åsa was born and raised in a family with a strong craft tradition. Grandfather was a blacksmith, great-grandfather a slipper maker and both her grandmother and mother worked with sewing.

My mother was single with four children and a dog. We lived in a small three-room apartment in the Akka houses in Trelleborg and didn’t have much money, but my mother was creative. She sewed and knitted everything for us. You had to learn how to make changes with small means, which made me also quite handy.

Woodworking and sewing and domestic science were my subjects at school, I wasn’t as good at sitting still and studying.

To the question what she wanted to be, Åsa replies:

Stewardess. Until I started flying and realized I was afraid of flying.

Åsa Gessle was 20 when she moved to Halmstad in 1982 to open a clothing store with a boyfriend who was ten years older. She had never been to the capital of Halland County before and didn’t like it at all at first, she reveals:

I found it difficult to get into Halmstad and was in Trelleborg a lot. The guy and I drifted apart and separated. But then later I was out with my brother one evening in Halmstad and met a gang where one of the guys was Per…

It flashed a little.

To the question if she was listening to Gyllene Tider then, Åsa replies:

No, I had been in Paris and worked with modelling. In those days, you didn’t get information that way either, there were no mobile phones. It wasn’t my music either. I like dance bands and used to go to traditional Nordic dances on Sundays in Folkets Park in Trelleborg.

Gyllene Tider were basically over when Åsa and Per Gessle became a couple in 1984.

Åsa tells Femina that she was there at the fateful dinner in 1985 when the band’s bassist Anders Herrlin said he didn’t want to be in the band anymore – and that she was the spider in the web when she got them to play together again at Per’s 30th birthday party in 1989.

But at that time the focus was on a new band that was about to take over not only Sweden, but the world.

Marie Fredriksson’s death hit her hard

Åsa Gessle was working at a travel agency in Halmstad when things exploded with Roxette. She had booked flights and hotels for Per and Marie Fredriksson in the first years when her husband asked her to accompany him on a world tour in 1989. She went on leave, pushed aside her fear of flying and joined the Joyride world tour.

I was Per’s personal assistant, made sure that the suitcases were packed and arrived at the hotel and that Per was on the right radio station at the right time. That all the logistics worked for them.

Åsa says that the Roxette era also gave her a friendship with Marie Fredriksson.

We have traveled all our adult lives together. We hung out and were close, partied and had fun. We had a little tequila. We were young, no more than 30.

When Marie passed away in December 2019 as a result of a previous cancer, Åsa Gessle’s mother was also dying at home in Skåne. She describes an inhumanly tough time:

Marie passed away on Monday the ninth and my mother on Thursday the same week. I watched over my mother for ten days while Per sat by himself in Stockholm when Marie passed away. I couldn’t go away and comfort him and we couldn’t be together. It was a horrible week.

But I played a lot of Marie for my mother during her last days, “Tro” and “Ännu doftar kärlek”.

Two song titles that also match Åsa Gessle’s design expression well. The hotel in Tylösand is imbued with symbols of love – such as the heart on the roof above the new pool that is reflected in the water. She says it was an important detail for her.

You can certainly be perceived as a little girl who drew hearts everywhere, but for me it is important to show that we stand for love here, especially in a time where we are fed with so much evil and negative things that happen.

It may sound cliché, but love and peace are the fundamental things in the world.

In October, Åsa and her hitmaker husband have been together for 40 years. Malin asks what is the secret.

That you have your own life in the relationship.

Per and I have separate worlds. He has the world of music and I have this as mine. The fact that we both have a lot to do is fun, because we always have things to talk about and discuss when we see each other. Not as if we had been sitting on each other’s lap the whole time.

When Per was a guest on Framgångspodden podcast, he expressed that the fact that Åsa came along on the trips and tours was important for both Roxette and their relationship. On the other hand, Malin is curious if Åsa has ever felt that her career has been held back.

No, I haven’t thought about that. But maybe that’s why I think it’s extra fun to work now. Now it’s my time and that’s what Per says too: “now you get to do your part that has been held back”.

I have not only experienced what Roxette has given its audience, I have experienced a variety of cultures and made friends all over the world.

Malin noticed Richie Sambora in Bon Jovi on a picture on Åsa’s Instagram. Åsa is smiling:

Yes, it was a party in New York, a tough night.

I sat next to Richie at a dinner with Eddie Irvine, whom we have known for a long time. They were, of course, “completely ordinary people”, just like Per is an ordinary person, everyone else is. If you are in the middle of it, you don’t think about it, but of course, we’ve been invited to very fun events, like all the MTV galas in the past with Duran Duran and all sorts.

Malin is curious if there is someone Åsa has been starstruck by.

Yes, Paul McCartney whom we met in the green room at the Apollo in New York before the pandemic.

Travelling around the world has been an inspiration in Åsa’s profession. Hotel Tylösand’s extension The Front House is influenced by the Whitby Hotel in New York and she has borrowed the idea of ??green apples as a recurring interior detail from Hotel Delano in Miami.

Everyone laughed at the beginning, it wasn’t very popular, but today we always have green apples in front, except during Christmas time when they are red.

Shares life between Stockholm and Halmstad

Otherwise, Åsa Gessle’s signature color is black. But not black-black, she emphasizes and gives a lesson:

There is a difference between black and black, especially in interior design. I prefer a softness in the black, a warm brown-black tone. In the paint shop here, they have even come up with a code for “Åsa-black”.

Malin asks Åsa if she also goes Johnny Cash-style on clothes.

Yes, like one hundred percent of my wardrobe is black clothes. It started when we were touring. It was impossible to color match when we travelled so much, so black became a safe choice. I’d rather put on shoes in color or paint my nails.

Per is not as black.

No, he can have a little pink and purple. It comes from his mother’s color palette.

During the busiest touring years, Halmstad with the house and hotel was the place that Åsa and Per Gessle landed in order to gather strength, while the apartment in Stockholm was the base.

During and after the pandemic, Åsa has spent more time on the West Coast, partly because there have been several major renovations, partly because their son has left the nest.

Gabriel moved two years ago, that means I can be here more as well. My husband thinks it’s a bit boring though, he is a bit of a sociable person. Now Gabriel is probably the one of the two who copes best ha ha. Per doesn’t cook, so…

Malin wants to know how Per copes with it when Åsa is here.

It’s a bit difficult… but I make lunch boxes. He has two dishes at a place in Stockholm that he goes and buys, but otherwise I prepare for him to heat. He can do that and he can cook rice and pasta. But usually it is no more than two or three days.

Per and Åsa Gessle in the Gyllene Tider movie

Åsa smiles and tells Femina that 26-year-old Gabriel is a civil engineer in computer technology. In the same way that it was fundamental for her to have her own identity, it has been for their son, she explains.

Gabriel has always said that he doesn’t want to be known as “Per’s son”. He is a great musician, plays the grand piano and is very musical, but goes his own way. Then he has a lot to fall back on that he gets for free in his life anyway, but he is very conscious of having his own life and earning his own money.

He is independent and has attended KTH for five years. The fact that he has a “real profession” would have made his grandmother, Per’s mother happy. She wanted Per to become a pediatrician or a psychologist.

Instead, he became an internationally celebrated pop star.

Åsa Gessle explains that she herself has not exactly been in the spotlight, saying that she “doesn’t like it and prefers to stay behind”. So one wonders about the change. Anyone who follows Per Gessle on Instagram can note more pictures and warm posts about “The Boss”.

Yes, haha I wonder too. Something has happened. He is also getting older, maybe other sides will emerge.

In July, the film about Gyllene Tider premieres. One can assume that the nostalgia trip will involve both old and new fans from the group “hysterical girls” who roar “Per Gessle”. Åsa says that she takes the commotion in stride.

In the beginning, when I was young, I was maybe a little jealous, but you can’t think like that, it is what it is. Per has always been good at taking good care of his fans.

Åsa says it will be a very enjoyable film and reveals that she actually appears in a small role. She and the whole family.

We will do a Hitchcock-like cameo. Per and I, our son and his girlfriend.

Dreaming of building further

Åsa gets up, folds up a blanket and states that she still has sore muscles after the marathon dance in Västerhagen in Haverdal.

Gyllene Tider and Roxette in full glory, it doesn’t matter. Åsa from Trelleborg still has her heart in dance band music. She mentions Perikles, Sannex, Casanovas and Blender.

I don’t drink that much alcohol, and you can’t either when you go to sports dance. Then it’s packed between seven and eleven and you are completely exhausted afterwards.

However, dancing to a dance band is not something I can do with Per.

Åsa hopes to get the hotel management on board with her next dream project.

Even though it’s winter, it’s so beautiful here. The sea is amazing. The openness here is fantastic and you should take advantage of that wherever you are in the hotel.

Always take in the sea wherever you are. She likes view points. They want a sun deck on top of the SPA. They have investigated and it works, so they only need some years.

Åsa Gessle: 5 tips to lift your home

  1. Be bright!

“I’m not too happy with cold lights, I like to go towards warm tones in the lighting, preferably 2,700 Kelvin. Mixing light sources is nice, as is candlelight, which you can’t have too much of.

I also like to mix textures in the interior; hard, soft, shiny and fur. If you are calm, you can play more with materials. It is easier to change colors according to the season with a calm foundation and less expensive to lift a room with a new cushion than to repaint, for example.”

  1. Think about the details

“I don’t want it too cosy with lots of trinkets. Details are important and everything that makes a room alive contributes to the whole of the environment, like fruits, books and green plants.

I’m not a fan of plastic flowers. I think the oxygen, chlorophyll and scents that plants give make people feel good.”

  1. Sort through the wardrobe!

“I like to decorate with both old and new. I like to go to Myrornas and look for fun things for our home and for the hotel. So a tip is to look in the wardrobe for what is already there. Most have lots and you can also redo things.

I had some yellow pots that had been in storage for 20 years, suddenly they got new life. Everything can find a new place, recycling is very important to me.”

  1. Prioritize comfort

“There is great designer furniture that is wonderful to experience, but not always as comfortable to sit on. When I choose chairs and sofas, number one is that they are comfortable and good to sit in. Preferably practical too.”

  1. Dare black!

“When we started with dark, many people were skeptical and said it would be cold and hard, but it won’t be, if you use a softer black color with brown in it.

It’s individual, but personally, I find dark tones calming. It is also grateful to mix wood and nature with the black.”

All interview text is written by Malin Roos for Femina in Swedish. Here it is a translation by RoxBlog.

Interview with Per Gessle in Aftonbladet – “It’s a bit too much Per for my taste”

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Anna & Hans Shimoda did an interview with Per for Aftonbladet. They talked about the Roxette revival – this time with Lena Philipsson by Per’s side, the great sadness after Marie Fredriksson and the tough journey of illness, the love for his wife Åsa and that he was the weak link in Gyllene Tider.

It is no exaggeration to say that 2024 is Per Gessle’s year. One of Sweden’s foremost pop singers releases a new album Sällskapssjuk, there will be a film about Gyllene Tider premiering this summer, and a musical about Roxette will be staged at Malmö Opera.

In addition, Gessle revealed just a month or so ago that he is reviving Roxette with Lena Philipsson at the microphone early next year.

It’s actually a bit too much Per for my taste. A moderate dosage would have been desirable, but I knew that when this year began. The film and the musical have been pushed forward all the time, and so they premiere two months apart, and that’s a bit unfortunate. Or it doesn’t matter, but you don’t know what you’re up to. Then we release a record at the same time and then comes this Roxette thing. So it’s four big things at the same time.

Aftonbladet asks Per to tell them about Sällskapssjuk, the upcoming album, which is his first Swedish album in seven years.

What I can say is that the recordings were finished last summer. So I’ve been doing other things in the studio that you guys don’t know about. I recorded “Sällskapssjuk” in autumn 2022 and spring 2023, so Lena and I worked together already then.

Anna and Hans are curious if it was clear already then that Lena would sing in Roxette.

No, it came a little later. But when we started working together, the token fell and I thought that Lena is not that bad.

Per and Lena are going on a world tour as Roxette next year. Aftonbladet wants to know whether Per felt it right away that Lena was the right choice or whether it developed with time.

Both. In recent years, I’ve been thinking about whether I should do anything with Roxette at all. My thinking has been how to manage Roxette’s legacy and song catalogue in the best way. After all, there are only two ways to go, either not to do it at all or to try to find a way so that it fits as well as possible. It was not an easy decision.

When I made “Sällskapssjuk” with Lena, I felt that she has all the qualities; a great front person with long experience and she comes from the same era as me. We also have a history together, I was involved in writing her breakthrough song “Kärleken är evig”. She is also a great singer, so I felt it was too good to be true.

Per tells how it went when he asked Lena:

I just took the courage and asked her. I thought she would fall off the chair and she almost did. The spontaneous reaction was how to shoulder Marie’s mantle. I explained that it’s not the idea, it’s rather about managing the Roxette songs. The only way for her to deal with it is to do it her own way.

Gyllene Tider will also be a film this summer. Aftonbladet is curious how it is for Per to see himself.

That is a good question. The first time I saw it I brought a tissue with me in case I started crying, but I didn’t at all. Me and director Per Simonsson agreed early on that he should try to create a “Life on Seacrow Island” [Swedish TV series – Vi på Saltkråkan] feeling, and by that I mean that you should feel sympathy and become friends with these five guys in the band, and you do.

If it has been emotional or nostalgic:

From the beginning I was not particularly positive that we should make a film at all. It’s actually about me growing up. It starts when I fill in the enlistment and ends in 1982 when “Sommartider” is released, so it’s not a tribute to Gyllene Tider’s 40-year journey, but it’s about growing up and starting a band in a small town and trying to get into Café Opera in wooden slippers.

It doesn’t feel like Per has any plans to settle down.

What does it mean? No, I think it’s super fun. I love working in the studio and playing. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t work. I’ve never really had a job, I’ve written music and played and that’s how it has worked.

To the question how he remembers the breakthrough of Gyllene Tider, Per replies:

It was super exciting, we were terrified. The first thing we did was “Måndagsbörsen” which was live TV and we were 20 years old. Everyone watched that show and you could notice it, because we broke through that night.

Aftonbladet asks Per how the celebrity life that came with it was.

What I liked was the romanticism of the pop world. I loved that everything was possible and allowed. Make-up on guys, high volume and the fuzz box at max. I have always loved it. Then there was also this idolatry and having fans. But in reality it was quite difficult. You could never be alone. People stole the laundry at my mother’s house in the garden. They stole number plates from my car, everything that was loose was stolen. We couldn’t go to a restaurant, so Anders and I moved to Los Angeles in the fall of 1981 for six weeks, because we couldn’t be at home. We escaped. On that trip we also ended up at Studio 54 in New York.

We could get in because Expressen’s Mats Olsson’s girlfriend was wearing a short-short leopard skirt, so she was let in. She said “I got these friends with me”. They looked at us and we got in, but we weren’t as tough as she was.

Anna and Hans are curious if it was deliberately provocative to stand out when Per wrote the lyrics of Flickorna på TV2.

Yes, I wanted the lyrics to stand out. All I wrote on the first record were quite odd lyrics, I wanted everything to be special like “(Dansar inte lika bra som) Sjömän” and “Ska vi älska, så ska vi älska till Buddy Holly”.

I was the weak link in Gyllene Tider. I was a pretty lousy guitarist and a half-arsed singer, but I wrote all the songs, while the others were fantastic musicians.

To the question if he really thinks he is a mediocre singer Per replies:

These days I sound pretty good, because now you can fix it on the computer. I belong to the category of singers who must have a certain type of material that I can handle. I’m no Tommy Körberg. I’ve always felt that my voice has limited my songwriting, that’s why I wanted to work with Marie. The idea of Roxette from my side was that I write the songs and Marie sings them. We all were surprised when we got our first hit, “The Look”, sung by me. Then the whole principle collapsed, but Marie recovered quite quickly.

The breakthrough with Roxette must have been absolutely amazing, Anna and Hans think.

Yes, it was crazy. We were lucky in a way, because I was 29 and Marie was 30 when we broke through. So we had quite a lot of experience, which was very nice. We had already made many mistakes here at home.

Per about his journey with Marie Fredriksson:

Oh my God. Our journey together began so early. Then she got sick in 2002 and was away for seven years. Then she appeared in 2009 when I did my first European tour and was in Amsterdam. I didn’t know she was coming, but she and her husband were. I asked her if we would do a song together, so she and I went on stage and did “Listen To Your Heart” acoustically. I’ve never seen so many people cry.

Per describes their relationship:

We were a bit like siblings. My relationship with Marie was similar to that with my sister and brother who have also sadly passed away.

When she eventually broke through with “Ännu doftar kärlek”, she was together with our producer Lasse Lindbom. When Marie then got an offer to make the first Roxette single “Neverending Love”, no one wanted it. The only one who really wanted to work with me was Marie herself. She told Lasse and the record company that “now I’m doing this with Per” and it became Sweden’s biggest hit in the summer of 1986.

Aftonbladet asks Per how it was when Marie passed away.

It was horrible of course, it became so concrete. But Marie got sick in 2002 and she passed away in 2019, that’s 17 years. I remember that after she got sick, we visited her in the hospital, but no one knew what it was about. She had her head shaved and had a bandage around her head. Then she came a few months later and sang a song called “På promenad genom stan”. She sounded just like usual, then she got sick again and had another operation. After that she lost half her sight, she couldn’t hear anything in one ear and it took away her short-term memory. So after that she went into this seven-year hiatus.

They toured again between 2010 and 2016, but then Marie quit.

When we were reunited, her doctor said she shouldn’t do it, but she wanted to. In 2016 we had a big tour booked and had sold 350,000 tickets. Then she called me out to Djursholm and explained that she couldn’t cope with it anymore. Then we had to cancel.

The reporters ask Per about Åsa. They read that they met at a nightclub in Halmstad.

Yes, it was a long time ago now, it was in October 1984. She had a guy with her who I thought was her boyfriend, but it turned out to be her brother.

It’s been 40 years. Anna and Hans are curious how they make love last that long.

We are quite similar, but also quite different. We are not in each other’s way. Åsa got a job within Roxette when we broke through, so she travelled with me during those hectic years, from 1988 to 1995, then we were never home. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was a smart decision.

Aftonbladet wants to know if Per has ever felt guilty towards his family.

Maybe not guilty, but I think I should have been more involved in my son’s schooling and attended parent-teacher meetings. But my life has never looked like that. I’ve always avoided that because if I go to a parent-teacher meeting, it’s all about me being there. It’s better and calmer for him if I stay away, but that’s my fate. It’s been an amazing journey, I’ve been doing this since I was 20 and now I’m 65. It’s amazing – and I’m not done yet.

 

Per Gessle about…

… a possible Gyllene Tider comeback

You should never say never. The former was the fourth comeback. [It was the fifth. Haha. /PP] But nothing is planned and I can’t see when it will happen. Now it’s Roxette that matters and we’ll see how long it lasts, maybe no one is interested in Roxette.

… how the hit song Joyride came about

My wife had left a note when she went out to town and she had written “Hej, din tok. Jag älskar dig”. I thought it was a nice phrase, so it became the chorus “Hello, you fool, I love you”. By the way, I wrote “Joyride” and “Spending My Time” the same afternoon.

… Pernilla Wahlgren turning down “Neverending Love”

When EMI wanted me to record it, I had to check it with Pernilla’s record company. It turned out that she had refused to record it, but they had given it to Niclas Wahlgren who had recorded it and was going to release it on his record. I said he wouldn’t get that, so there is a recording that never came out. Then we released it ourselves and it became our breakthrough song.

Photo by Andreas Bardell

Interview with Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand in Hallandsposten

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Jan-Owe Wikström from Hallandsposten interviewed Åsa and Per Gessle about Hotel Tylösand. The hotel was originally built by court photographer Johan Hallberg as Restaurant Tylösand in 1915 for 13,000 SEK. Until 1929 it could only be accessed by boat. Today it is one of Halmstad’s strongest brands and tourist magnets, but also – the hotel in the hearts of Per and Åsa Gessle.

The hotel has come a long way until it has transformed into an exclusive spa hotel.

Per notes that there is nothing worse than a hotel where you are greeted by an empty entrance or a deserted reception. He explains:

We want a wow feeling when you enter Hotel Tylösand. You can directly see the car hall, fantastic works of art and sculptures. And we’re going to build a bar in the reception where you can hang out a bit. Sometimes there will be a pianist, so that you automatically end up in a lively environment when you check in.
Because it’s just like with everything else, album sleeves, intros to songs – the first impression is the most important.

Åsa agrees:

The reception is important, the first contact. No matter how shabby hotels are, the reception almost always looks reasonably nice. We also have a nice reception, but it has been there for many years, so it’s time to rebuild, so that it blends in with the new “Front House”.

Åsa – spider in the web

The Front House is a new part of the hotel, with large brown-glazed terraces, the Ronnie Peterson conference room and the car hall with Per’s exclusive Ferrari collection. The rooms in Strandhuset and in Stora huset, the reconstruction of Solgården, Bettan’s Bar, Leif’s Bar & Grill and the new The Spa, but also details such as the small unique room signs, the wrought iron fence around the hotel, the color of the staff’s different clothes, the porcelain in the restaurants and of course – the green apples. Everything bears, in one way or another, Åsa Gessle’s signature. She says humbly:

I don’t think many people know what I do apart from the lamps I have designed. After all, I’m here on an almost daily basis and see things that are good and things that can and need to be improved.
I guess I’m a bit of a spider in the web, as far as aesthetics are concerned. Then when it comes to the actual design of, for example, a room, the architectural firm is responsible for the shell and I for the details, the choice of materials and the colors.

But despite all that, Åsa has no official title at the hotel.

No, not as far as I know. I’ll probably have to ask Jonas.

She laughs, referring to the new CEO Jonas Karlén, who a while ago replaced the long-standing CEO Elisabeth Haglund, who has now in turn replaced Björn Nordstrand as chairman of the board.

To have a significant role alongside Per is extra important for Åsa.

When you live next to a famous person, like Per, you easily become just his wife. But for me it goes without saying to have my own identity. It’s fundamental in my life. I started working more when our son Gabriel was ten years old and I felt that I could be away more than before. And Gabbe – who is just as motivated as his father – once said: “Mum, I don’t want to be known for being my father’s son, but I want to be known for having done something myself”. That’s exactly how I feel too.

At the same time, Per has become more actively involved in the hotel in recent years.

Yes, Åsa has always been involved, but in the last ten years I have taken up more and more space, had more and more ideas and opinions. We have had a strong and common line that our hotel should not only be a place where you sleep and eat, but also a place where you can be creative, socialize and have new experiences.
What makes Hotel Tylösand so special is the diversity. We have a huge art and photo gallery. We have a Spa with skin and hair care, various treatments, laser technology and a Spa shop. We have 230 rooms and suites, we have four restaurants, 32 conference rooms with room for up to 750 people at the same time. Then there is Solgården, the amphitheater, all the DJs and the Roxette and Gyllene Tider museum. Plus Northern Europe’s coolest car hall is now located in the hotel.

Jan-Owe asks if it’s only Northern Europe’s coolest car hall.

Okay then. The only one in the world I know. I think a hotel in Las Vegas had a Ferrari store once upon a time, but that hotel is torn down now.

Took over the run-down Reso hotel in 1995

But it wasn’t like that in 1995 when pop star Per Gessle and businessman Björn Nordstrand took over Hotel Tylösand. It was a run-down Reso hotel with simple rooms, a restaurant and Tylöhus that reeked of the old ’80s.

Åsa says:

We had travelled around the world and stayed in many nice hotels and seen many fun interior details. But when we took over the hotel… the old house was rotten. The rooms were spartan with small, small bathrooms with a small mirror and a shelf underneath with toilet paper rolls on them.
So the first thing I did was fix and place the toilet rolls where they belong, a little further down. And to introduce green apples in the hotel. Philipe Starck and his hotel had apples and in their receptions it was written “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I liked that. At first, people didn’t think I was smart. But I got through it. It’s only for Christmas that I give in, but then the apples have to be dark red, haha.

Hotel Tylösand 2023 and Hotel Tylösand 1995 have not much more in common than the name.

Åsa remembers:

No, we have added a lot during these 27 years. But we have also removed a lot. All the artificial plants that collected so much dust. And the entrance in lime green and pink, with tiles that looked more like a bathhouse entrance.
At Tylöhus there were mirrors on the ceiling. And the restaurant had pink carpet with seagulls in burgundy and burgundy velvet curtains. It was horrible.
But now we have a line, a common thread in all activities at the hotel and I think it creates a sense of calmness for the guest when there is completeness.

Craftsmanship in the blood

Jan-Owe doesn’t think that Åsa is a trained designer and has attended a lot of great courses.

No, no, I’m just like my husband is in music, self-taught. And we both take help when we need it. It is important to find the right people to collaborate with, preferably personalities who inspire and think a little differently. It is of course also important that the employees understand your vision, so that we pull in the same direction.
And there, Abelardo (Gonzalez), the architect who designed our house, has been a great inspiration and teacher. I rejected eleven kitchen suggestions from him when we built the villa before we agreed. He likes cold materials while I like warm, but eventually, there was a tension where he taught me to keep my eyes open and that nothing is impossible.

Although with a mother who was a seamstress, a great-grandfather who was a slipper maker and a grandfather who was a blacksmith, Åsa already had craftsmanship, creativity and a sense of color and form in her blood.

Well, I was always tinkering around my bed at home, making sure it was nice. After all, we were four children and we grew up with a single mother in very simple conditions, so if you wanted something, you had to be creative and fix it yourself, learn to do well with small tools.

Åsa, who eventually got to display a few stores in Trelleborg, has also brought that thinking to the hotel.

Creating environments doesn’t really have to cost a lot of money. I’m not a geek for branded furniture, but the important thing is that it should feel right. Then if I go to Myrorna and shop, it has no significance. It’s all about the feeling.

Åsa glances at one of the large Monstera plants and smiles:

SEK 299 at Blomsterlandet. So I took the shuttle service there.
In this environment, you also can’t have too expensive things, because they get broken, they are used a lot. There is a huge amount of wear and tear everywhere in a hotel. This is why function is important. And we buy large quantities.
I also don’t like to throw things away, so we reuse what we can.

Sketches by hand

There are also lots of Ferrari details on the shelf inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge.

Åsa says:

Apart from three books, everything is taken from our private collection. And we had the coasters for the conference table in the hotel’s hiding places. They were unused for some reason, but now they fulfill a function. Super stylish as well.

In the new part of the hotel, The Front House, there are several large sun terraces inspired by the Whitby Hotel in New York, the car hall and the Ronnie Peterson Lounge conference room are Åsa’s latest creations.

I wanted the Ronnie Lounge to be “masculine” and “with a motor feel”, but still with a lot of warmth. Stone is quite cold and cars are tough, so it automatically becomes masculine. And the big screen was really important. When you come from outside and look in, I think it’s beautiful and important that you see movement. Cars and life are always in motion.

The giant conference table inside the Ronnie Peterson Lounge is one of the things that Åsa has designed by hand.

Unlike the rest of the family, I don’t like computers but still sketch with pen and paper. I love to draw and then have it built. A bit like Per. He sits and tinkles on something and then, out of it, comes an idea that eventually becomes a finished text or song. For me, it’s the same when I sketch. I have everything in my head. I can see it in front of me, but cannot present it technically, like a construction drawing. Then it’s important to surround yourself with sensitive people who understand me, such as Östra’s Carpentry here in Halmstad when it comes to fine carpentry.

Inside and outside must meet

The large glass partitions also allow visitors outside to see in and those inside to see out.

It is important that the inside and the outside are connected and become a unit. The greenery outside plays a big role, how everything looks outside the hotel. Here we have boxwood, grass and ivy – not so much flowers, but more evergreen.
When I made a display apartment for HFAB (Halmstad’s real estate company) in 2007, that was also one of the basic ideas. And the person who eventually bought the apartment ended up keeping everything as it was presented. Including all furnishings. Then I felt that I had succeeded.

The end wall inside the Ronnie Peterson room is adorned with huge black and white photos from Peterson’s Formula 1 era. And the walls in the hall are made of granite.

I want a basic tone based on earth and nature and instead add the colors in the details. I basically have a rather sacral taste and am convinced that calm colors make people calm. And stone is very soothing. I designed the statues and the bench from scratch where visitors can sit and relax and look at the cars through the windows. It’s fantastic. A bit like in a museum.

The car hall top secret

Åsa reveals the fact that it would become a car hall was well hidden for a long time:

Yes, it was top secret. We designed it as a conference room, because even the builders wouldn’t know about it from the beginning. We didn’t want it to leak out.
Then it became a long process. I started building a fitting room in November 2019, which was ready in January 2020. But when we were about to put the shovel in the ground, the pandemic came and shut down Sweden in March 2020.

The inauguration of the new hotel part happened this spring, where there are now also guided tours of the car hall held by Dick Jönsson Wigroth, well-known in the motor business.

Per says:

I have known him for many years. When his name came up I thought I hope, hope, hope he wants to do that. Dick is both an aesthete and a technician and is cut and ready for the job.
And I have spoken to a lot of staff in connection with us building the new Front House. Both Åsa and I want it to feel special to work at the hotel and when many people said that they were proud to be part of this fantastic new building, then of course I’m proud that they are proud!

Today, Hotel Tylösand has 120 employees, which during the summer will multiply to over 400.

Per points out:

We are basically full over summer until August. December is also a party month when we serve over 9,000 Christmas dinners. But it’s not like that in January, February or in October or November. It is during those months that we have to be extra creative and invent things so that, above all, companies will come here. We want to keep our staff even when it’s not peak season.

Pay attention to the details

Even though Per, with the support of co-owner Björn Nordstrand, together with the CEO and the board is responsible for the big brushstrokes, he also, just like Åsa, pays attention to the details.

Yes, every time I’m at Hotel Tylösand I do some check-ups, I won’t say where. But I can, for example, go into a toilet and check that the toilet lid is attached, that there are towels and that it is generally fresh. If there is something crazy, I report it immediately and then it will be fixed right away.
Because it’s important that it’s clean and tidy everywhere. It’s invaluable that the staff learn how we think and that everyone helps to ensure that the guest has a maximum experience. If you pass a pillow that has been sucked down, you lift it up and puff at it. Not everyone sees that because not everyone cares. But exactly that is the key to people saying “I’ve never been to a hotel like that in Sweden!”. We hear that often.
Therefore, it’s also important to get involved for the entire Tylösand area, that it is neat on the beach, safe and inviting, that there are good rescue routes if something were to happen. Everything has to work, because the more we invest, the more people come here.

New projects underway

More to come. In December, the pool project will start when that part will be renovated.

Åsa says:

Then I would like to build a sun roof on top of the spa with a staircase up the side. But also extend the roof over Bettans so you can sit and enjoy and have a drink or coffee. In that case it would be called Bettan’s roof.
So I constantly have new projects and wishes. Then you can see if you get through with them. The board is tough, haha…

To own a hotel of 23,000 square meters is an ongoing process. Or as Per himself puts it:

It’s a bit like washing windows on a skyscraper. You will never be finished. Because when one thing is done, it’s always time for the next.

Photo of Åsa and Per by Linus Kamstedt Lindholm.

Part of Per Gessle’s unique collection of Ferraris to go on display at Hotel Tylösand

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On Monday, 1st May, The Front House opens at Hotel Tylösand, Halmstad, Sweden. The new hotel building is a real gem with 39 new rooms designed by Åsa Gessle, an exhibition hall with Per and Åsa Gessle’s unique collection of Ferrari cars and the top-equipped Ronnie Peterson conference room.

It is the architect firm Fredblad in Halmstad that has designed The Front House, whose whitewashed five-storey facade becomes a natural extension of the existing hotel building. All rooms and the conference room have been designed by Åsa Gessle with MTA Bygg & Anläggning as main contractor.

WARM BEACH COLORS

The 39 new double rooms in The Front House are in the warm and gentle colours you can see out among Tylösand’s beach, sand and dunes during the summer months.

GESSLE’S FERRARI COLLECTION

On the ground floor of The Front House, unique experiences are offered to anyone with the slightest interest in exclusive cars. Here there will be a permanent exhibition with parts of Per and Åsa Gessle’s unique car collection, in most cases Ferrari cars that are produced in extremely limited numbers.

Per says:

My interest in cars started when I was little and saw the pictures of John Lennon’s psychedelic painted Rolls-Royce. Talk about inspiration – you wanted one like that. But right then I had to settle for collecting Corgi Toys cars and building the Scalextric car track with my big brother Bengt.

It was the Ferrari Dino that got me sold on Ferrari cars. Tony Curtis drove a red Dino in “The Persuaders” and on the inner sleeve of George Harrison’s “Living In The Material World” album you see all the musicians having a picnic in his garden and in the background there is a brown Dino. It was something to fantasize about for a teenager in Vilshärad.

RONNIE PETERSON LOUNGE

The 60 square meter conference room in The Front House has been named the Ronnie Peterson Lounge and is decorated as a tribute to the legendary Swedish racing star. The venue is technically top-equipped and intended for groups of up to 20 people.

Hotel Tylösand CEO Elisabeth Haglund says:

Hotel Tylösand has long been one of Sweden’s most booked conference hotels and The Front House reinforces our offer in a very inspiring way. It gives us further opportunities to continue developing and offer our guests an even more distinctive and rewarding stay with us.

Press release in Swedish HERE.

Per Gessle – En vacker natt – interview in Expressen

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Anders Nunstedt posted a pic of himself and Per Gessle on Instagram yesterday and wrote he did an interview with Mr. G. Despite the title (”Per Gessle about life with his love, Åsa”), the article is more about Per’s new album, En vacker natt and the recording process. The interview was done at BMG’s office in Stockholm.

As Anders writes, Per Gessle travelled to Nashville and came home with 2 pop albums colored by sentimental American country and Swedish romance. The first album, En vacker natt is out on Friday (28 April), then comes a summer tour, En vacker kväll and in September the 2nd album, En vacker dag is released. Per describes it enthusiastically as a gigantic comeback, spiced with an extensive signing tour in the next few weeks.

About the project Per says:

There’s no need to stop just because you get older. These songs have taken 58 years to mature.

Regarding songwriting Mr. G tells Anders he tries to write fast when he gets started. The songs have been recorded in a studio in Nashville, the country metropolis, where Per and his gang rocked together with American studio musicians. This musical meeting gave the Swedish material a different touch and Per, at least partly, a new sound. Mr. G thinks it was much fun, because he had never met those people before and he noticed that they thought it was very strange music they did. But Per thought there was a sound in this project that those Nashville musicians have never played before. And then he became a little proud.

As Anders expresses himself, En vacker natt is not about a jet-set life. It’s down to earth from start to finish. Gessle has collected children’s laughter, birdsong, ocean waves and the sound of a train station. He sings about tussilagos on the single, Småstadsprat, the Winnerbäck duet and about daisies in the opening track Min plats.

Per says:

It’s my style when I’m writing texts. If I succeed, the lyrics mean something for the listener. To do that, I have to use symbols. If I write “ny tussilago vid den väg jag går, kommer varje vår” (new tussilago on the way I go, comes every spring), I say at the same time, “there will be new chances”, “next year comes a new journey”, “life goes on”. You can interpret this in so many different ways.

Anders asks Per if it often becomes sentimental. Per replies it does. Even if he always writes the same thing, he has tried to write from another angle now. For example, Några glas rosé is a pretty classic love text, but the angle is that he being older looks back on a young love. This way there is automatically a certain form of sentimentality. Mr. G says it’s a bit sad that time goes by. It might be scary and insanely strange, but you can also use it as an ingredient and an inspiration.

Anders asks Per if the lyrics of his love songs are about his wife, Åsa. Per is laughing and tells Mr. Nunstedt that if it’s love texts, Åsa thinks he wrote them about her, but if she doesn’t like the lyrics, she doesn’t take the song personal. Haha.

Anders says Per and Åsa have been married since almost 25 years and asks how they kept their love alive. Per says:

We’ve been together since 1984. It’s a long time. But Åsa and I have always belonged to each other in a certain way, ever since we first met. I can’t see my life without her at all.

We are very similar and very different. Åsa is a superstrong person, but at the same time she has chosen to be in a supporting role to me.

Per tells Åsa is from the travel industry and started working early with Roxette and their travels, and got a position in the whole organization. So it has never been the case that Per had been away for eight months and came home, but they basically shared everything. Mr. G says his wife has been amazing.

Thanks for the interview, Expressen! An album review by Anders Nunstedt (as usual) is probably out later this week. Let’s see how many Expressen bees Per’s new album gets!