A design philosophy by Wes Paternotte

Zen stillness, Scandinavian soul, a way of living in nature.

Spaces with soul

Some spaces reach something in you the moment you walk in — long before you notice the finishes or work out why.

Clutter is a quiet tax on attention — a hundred small decisions your mind keeps making without you noticing: the stack of mail, the cord on the floor, the shelf that became a catch-all. A room edited down to what it needs asks nothing of you. Every object left has to earn its place, disappearing into function until you stop noticing it's there. What remains is room to think, to breathe, to simply be. Design, done well, is mostly subtraction.

I'm building a wellness resort on this principle, on the coast of northern Norway — where the nature is raw, untouched, and gives you an instant sense of peace the moment you arrive. Scandinavian design already understood half of this: space, restraint, material honesty. Zen philosophy understood the other half: presence, stillness, the discipline of enough.

Zendinavian is where they meet. What follows is the vision taking shape.

May you find the wind in your sails.

Interior view of a modern home with a large wooden sliding door, concrete walls, and a potted plant.
A minimalist hallway with a beige runner rug, wooden ceiling, and textured beige walls. There are black ceiling lights, a glass door on the left, and art on the right wall, leading to a closed wooden door at the end.
Modern kitchen with a large wooden island, open shelving with clay pots, and a floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking a garden.
Modern living room with large windows, wooden wall behind fireplace, beige sectional sofa, black coffee table, plant, and logs beside the fireplace.
Modern minimalist bedroom with a large window view of trees and mountains, a low wooden bed with beige bedding, a small bedside table with a lamp, a large plant, a desk with a red chair, and natural wooden and concrete interior design.
Modern kitchen with large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a misty mountain landscape with tall trees.
Modern house with large glass sliding doors, wooden exterior, surrounded by greenery and trees at sunset.
A traditional Japanese interior with a bonsai tree in a clay pot on a wooden platform, tea set, and a view of a bamboo garden outside large windows.
A modern house with a flat roof, large glass windows, and a combination of black, wood, and stone exterior walls, surrounded by trees and plants.
Minimalist interior with a large potted tree, a soft glowing floor lamp, and a small decorative light on a wooden platform near a textured ceiling and a large window with green plants outside.
Minimalist bathroom with a freestanding black stone bathtub, a large potted tree in a textured beige planter, and a textured beige rug on light wood flooring. The wall has a built-in shelf with bottles and soft ambient lighting.
Close-up of a table with layered wood patterns, a side view of a chair with fabric upholstery, and a backdrop of a neutral-colored background.
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A minimalist yoga studio with wooden floors, ceiling, and walls. Three black yoga mats with pillows are aligned on woven rugs, facing large sliding glass doors that open to a balcony with trees outside. Potted plants and candles decorate the space, c
Modern bathroom with wooden slat wall, freestanding stone bathtub, and a wooden countertop with a stone sink, decorated with a vase of cherry blossoms.

Stillness first. Everything else follows.

Modern house with large glass windows, surrounded by trees and greenery, with stone steps leading up to the entrance.
Modern kitchen with wooden cabinets, black faucet, green walls, black pendant lights, and decorative pottery and branches.
Living room with a green sofa, wooden coffee table, Japanese sliding shoji screen door, a large hanging paper lantern, and a painting of mountains and cherry blossoms on the wall.
A minimalist interior with a low wooden sofa adorned with neutral cushions, a rustic wood coffee table with a small plant, a large circular artwork on a muted green wall, and large windows with wooden frames showing autumn trees outside.
Living room with large windows showing trees outside, a white sofa with several beige and light grey pillows, a wooden coffee table with a black vase and dried flowers, a small round wooden stool, a textured beige rug, and green painted walls with mi

My Story

I've spent the last twenty-five years building spaces meant to slow people down — starting with Delight Studio in Amsterdam, which grew into the largest yoga school in the Netherlands, The House of Yoga, and The Inner Peace Conference, where wisdom teachers from around the world shared their practices for inner peace. Together with Kristin, the mother of our beautiful sons Maxwell and Christopher, I also founded the Arctic Yoga Conference, held for eight consecutive years in Northern Norway.

Somewhere in that work, I noticed that the spiritual practices from the East, Zen philosophy, and Scandinavian nature and wellness practices form a beautiful symbiosis.

This blog is where I keep working that idea out loud — the design choices, the wellness practices, the music, the philosophy behind all of it. This is not a finished thought. It's all coming alive in my new venture, Moonstone Retreat in Bodø, Norway. Stay tuned.

Various dark-colored ceramic bowls, plates, and a teapot arranged on a surface with Japanese text overlay and a logo indicating a gallery event from July 7 to July 16, 2017.
Several black and grey ceramic plates and bowls, with wooden chopsticks resting on one plate, arranged on a grey fabric surface.
A dark, moody still life scene featuring a ceramic vase with bare branches and small white flowers, set on a wooden table with several empty ceramic plates and bowls around it.

Inspired by nature

Stone, wood, linen, raw ceramics, Arctic light — I'm drawn to materials that don't perform, they just age honestly. The same goes for how I try to live: less staging, more presence. Living on the Norwegian coast has only sharpened that instinct. Nature here doesn't ask to be curated. It asks to be listened to.

A space earns its place in this landscape by disappearing into it a little — a window that frames the fjord instead of competing with it, a wall left rough because the stone quarried nearby was never meant to be smooth, light let in exactly as the season gives it, without correction. Nothing imported that doesn't belong to this coastline. Nothing indoors that forgets what's just outside the glass. This is Zendinavian: not nature as a view to admire, but nature as a material — pulled straight into the room, unedited.

A serene lake surrounded by dense evergreen trees, with mountains in the background, and mist or fog creating a peaceful, natural landscape.
Modern bathroom with a freestanding oval bathtub, a white towel hanging on the edge, a branch with no leaves behind the tub, a black faucet, a textured wall, wooden slat ceiling, and a small wooden stool.
Minimalist living room with neutral tones, a beige sofa with pillows, a wooden coffee table, a large vase with dried branches, a textured pouf, and hanging woven decor, illuminated by natural sunlight.
Minimalist Japanese-inspired interior with sliding shoji screens, tatami, and simple decor including a vase with branches, flat stones, and wooden trays.
Minimalist interior with beige wall, wooden door, wooden bench, basket with cloth, ceramic bowl, and dried plants in a vase, bathed in natural light.
Minimalist bedroom with neutral tones, large textured circular wall art, beige bed with white bedding, natural wood side tables, modern pendant lights, decorative branches with lamps, and large window with shoji screens allowing natural light.
Minimalist room with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, rocks and a pond outside, traditional Japanese cushions and a paper lantern lamp inside.
A minimalist interior with a large potted plant, a wall scroll with mountain landscape art, a small table with books and decorative objects, and a warm light lamp.

The practice

Some of the oldest wellness practices in the world are also the simplest: heat, cold, water, nature. Sauna, bathing, time outdoors — these are rituals I keep returning to, because they still work the way they always have. People have been doing this for thousands of years without needing to be told why.

The heat builds slowly until it's the only thing you're aware of. Then cold water, and the whole body wakes at once — breath caught, everything sharp and immediate. Then the quiet that follows, which is the real point. Somewhere in that sequence the mind stops narrating and simply arrives.

These practices ask nothing of you except presence. No goals. No optimization. Just heat, cold, breath, and the stillness on the other side. Add the Arctic to it — the long light, the silence, the raw edge of the coastline — and it stops being a routine. It becomes something closer to a philosophy you can feel in the body.

A minimalist Japanese-style meditation or yoga room with wooden walls, large windows looking out onto trees, and floor cushions arranged for sitting or meditation.
A modern steam room with wooden walls, ceiling, and bench, featuring a heater with stones on the left, steam filling the room, and warm lighting accents.
A person sitting in an indoor hot spring tub overlooking a lush forest and mountains.
A traditional Japanese steam room with wooden walls, ceiling, and floor, featuring a stone central heater emitting steam, surrounded by smooth rocks and wooden buckets.
Modern bathroom with a round stone bathtub on a pebble floor, next to a large open window showing a view of rocks, a tree, and greenery outside.
Indoor pool with stone edge and wooden deck leading to a cozy, modern living space with chairs, a table, and decorative plants.
Indoor pool area with a stone fireplace, potted plants, lounge chairs, and large glass windows showing an outdoor stone wall.
A modern bathroom featuring a freestanding stone bathtub with a towel draped over the side, a small wooden side table, a textured rug, and a minimalist design with light-colored walls, a slatted wood ceiling, and a branch decor.
Inside a wooden sauna with steam and rocks.
A hand pouring hot water from a teapot into three black tea cups on a textured cloth on a wooden surface.
Indoor smoke sauna with wooden walls and benches, a small fire burning among stones in the center, with steam rising.
A woman in a black dress sitting on the edge of a dark platform, with fog or smoke surrounding her, in a dimly lit room.
Minimalist bedroom scene with a lit paper lantern on top of stacked books next to a ceramic vase with dried flowers, a bowl, a mattress with a pillow, and a rolled-up mat, all near a shoji screen window.
A serene living room with minimalist wooden furniture, large windows with sheer curtains, and a view of autumn trees outside, featuring a low wooden table, cushions, and a vase with dried branches.
A minimalist Japanese-style room with a wooden platform, two small pottery vases, and a tray with a pitcher and cups set on a tray. Sunlight filters through a bamboo window, casting shadows on the wall.
Minimalist living room with warm lighting, a contemporary vase with branches, and a textured wall and floor.
Scenic landscape with tall mountains, dense pine trees, and a grassy field in the foreground under a clear sky.
A mountain landscape with a river running through lush green hills, snow-capped peaks in the background, and mist or clouds around the mountain tops.
Scenic view of a calm lake surrounded by lush pine trees and rolling mountains in the background, with a misty atmosphere.

Soundscapes

I was about ten years old when my mother introduced me to Brian Eno. I didn't have the words for it then, but something in that music rearranged how I listened to everything after. Ambient music has been part of my life ever since.

It's not background music to me. It's a way of enhancing an experience until it reaches somewhere quieter — somewhere closer to the soul. The same instinct shapes every room I design: nothing forcing itself on you, everything just present enough to hold you there. A slow, unfolding piece of ambient music does exactly what a well-designed space does — it doesn't demand your attention, it earns your presence.

This is the sound behind Zendinavian. This playlist is a curated list of my favorite pieces.

Moonstone Retreat

Experience the Zendinavian lifestyle in Arctic nature.

Everything you've seen here — the spaces, the materials, the sauna and cold water, the ambient sounds through a still room — is coming together on the edge of the Norwegian coast. Moonstone Retreat is where Zendinavian stops being a philosophy and becomes a place you can actually stand in.

A place with a soul.

Coming soon
View of a sunset over a mountainous landscape with water, seen from a patio with wooden lounge chairs, a hot tub, and a tree.

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A mountain valley with steep, brown, grassy slopes and mist-covered peaks in the background.
A mountainous landscape with a dirt trail, rocks, and low bushes in the foreground, tall trees on the hillside, and rugged mountain peaks in the background under a clear sky.
A minimalist room with a wooden chair, a traditional paper screen, and a textured wall, all illuminated by warm sunlight.
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