A place to wind down

Edoardo Miola’s idea behind the Lantliv Lodge (Country Life Lodge) in Österjörn is that you should stay for a long time. At least long enough to wind down. Appreciate the moment. And, best of all, find inspiration. To create. Or to just be. There and then. That is his philosophy.

Edoardo is Italian but nowadays he can call himself a resident of Österjörn too. He is the proprietor of the Lantliv Lodge in Österjörn and his philosophy is a bit different.
— The idea is that you shouldn’t do anything at all here, he says, in all seriousness.
That doesn’t mean, however, that there’s nothing to do at Lantliv Lodge. In reality, there are lots of things to do, both nearby and in the region.
— But that doesn’t mean you have to try them all, he says with a smile.

Here and now

Edoardo wants to create an environment where people can breathe relax their shoulders and appreciate the moment.
— Sometimes it feels like we’re rushing through life. We tick boxes and plough on, hunting for the next big experience.

He is rather averse to that. The stress. The hunt.
– You should stay for a week at Lantliv Lodge. At least. Not to give you time to do everything there is to do. No, quite the contrary. I want the people who come here to feel those creative thoughts that are not normally given space, to give them room.

He lightly draws his hand along the northern wall of the house. His eyes wander across the building.
— You know, he says this house has stood in this place for hundreds of years. You need to respect that.

“You should stay for a week at Lantliv Lodge. At least. Not to give you time to do everything there is to do. No, quite the contrary. I want the people who come here to feel those creative thoughts that are not normally given space, to give them room.”

People and places

The building is spacious. Inside, the ceiling is high. Over three metres. That creates a unique atmosphere. It’s made for thinking. Big thoughts. The interiors are meticulously planned. The attention to detail is striking. Renovation has been careful, respectful of the origins of the building.
— Everything has a story, he says. A connection either to a person or a place.

The walls of the staircase leading up to the second floor are lined with black and white pictures from Hollywood. Film photography. Original pictures. Of course. The sofa on the upper floor is designed by Edoardo
himself. All the photographs on the walls is his own too.
— That’s Kubu Island in Botswana, he says and points to a picture hanging above a bedside in one of the rooms. The one with the bird wallpaper. The picture looks like it was taken right out of a Tim Burton production.

Architect and model builder

Edoardo is actually a photographer. He has been, on and off, for 40 years but he’s also an architect. Edoardo has devoted a large part of his life to building models. Skyscrapers in Dubai. Football stadiums in Portugal. Rims for Ferrari. Mostly boats though. Sailboats. Americas Cup. He ran the models through wind tunnels.
— It’s exciting, he smiles. Do you know that a model of a skyscraper sometimes needs 900 points of measurement to get a realistic picture of the actual thing?

A couple of carefully selected models are now found as interior decoration throughout the main building of the Lantliv Lodge, Herrgården.

A generous philosophy

Edoardo’s photographic work is all about touching minds. He generously shares his creations. No matter if it’s a Ugandan mountain gorilla, a snapshot of a smoking room in Saigon or a vast, barren Mongolian flatland in the light of dawn.

Today his Facebook account alone has more than 34,000 followers. His way of looking at photography is closely related to his sense of hospitality. His philosophy of life. It’s all about giving. About being generous.