Designing a life: Maja’s creative path back to Denmark

How an international interior designer rediscovered belonging, built a business and balanced motherhood in the country that once shaped her childhood.

Photographs: Maja de Silva / Assistant: Anna Korosadowicz

Text: Lyndsay Jensen

When Maja de Silva first stepped off the plane in Copenhagen eight years ago, the city greeted her with grey skies and the soft promise of rain. To many, that might sound dreary - but for Maja, it felt like homecoming. After all, she had once lived in Denmark as a child, and the memory of cosy homes, candle-lit windows, and evening bicycle rides had stayed with her. As she puts it: “It was my big dream to come back to Denmark.” What followed was a journey that intertwined love, loss, motherhood, and a creative rebirth - a story of resilience, adaptation, and redesigning not just interior spaces, but life itself.

From Boston to Copenhagen - A dream realised

“Maja relocated from Boston, USA, to Denmark when her then-husband accepted a position at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). She was drawn back not only by the immediate reason of family but by a deep-rooted longing for the country she had once known as a child. “I lived here when I was 9–11 years old,” she says, and that early experience planted the seeds of a future return.

She came in the autumn, in October - a fitting season. “I really loved it, loved absolutely everything,” she remembers. The wind on her face as she pedalled through Copenhagen’s streets, the smell of rain mingling with the earthy scent of damp pavements, the warm glow of candles in windows behind frosty glass - all nostalgia, all comfort. The Denmark she returned to was more than a location: it felt like coming home.

There was also a practical draw. With a master’s degree in interior architecture and prior professional experience in Switzerland, the U.S. and Poland, Maja had the skills and ambition. Her plan was not just to settle - but to build something of her own, a vision now visible in the carefully curated projects on her website, Maja Interiors.

Expectation vs Reality: Design, dreams - and the Danish Way

As she settled, Maja was struck by how Denmark’s famed appreciation for design didn’t always align with her expectations for a career in interior architecture. “It’s the country of hygge & design,” she reflects, “but not so much space/value for an interior architect like me here.”

Danish homeowners appeared comfortable setting up their spaces themselves - a minimalist shelf here, a throw pillow there - but rarely embracing a professional to overhaul or deeply curate a home. For someone trained in technical drawings, materials, furniture and spatial flow, this was a surprising cultural gap.

Rather than resign, Maja adapted. She turned toward an underserved niche: internationals. Many internationals come from cultures in which hiring an interior designer is standard practice, and Maja saw an opportunity. She began offering her services to them - to new arrivals, to families renting temporary homes, to people who appreciated her blend of professionalism, empathy and aesthetic sensibility. Recommendations grew naturally through satisfied clients.

In parallel, she kept a part-time job until her business took off. And because she still remembered the Danish language from childhood, learning to speak fluently again became a joyful challenge - one that bridged her past and present.

From city buzz to quiet green

Maja’s first years in Denmark were spent in Østerbro, where she soaked up the city’s creative energy: parks, intimate cafés, neighbourhood shops and easy networking opportunities. The city suited her - a place buzzing with inspiration.

Then came the pandemic, and with it, a shift. During lockdown, she found herself longing for more space, more quiet, more green. She eventually moved to Brønshøj, a peaceful area surrounded by parks, families and birdsong - yet still just a short train ride from the centre.

Here she found a slower rhythm that allowed her to breathe, create and parent more intentionally.

"Trust yourself, follow your intuition, find your own pace. You are the writer of your own destiny."

Designing a life - inside and out

Running her own creative studio - combining interior design and photography - Maja approaches her work and motherhood as an integrated whole. Her homes are not sterile showpieces; they’re soulful, lived-in, functional spaces that embrace beauty and well-being.

Her daily life mirrors that. She calls her career not “busy,” but “balanced.”

She often works from home, allowing her to blend client work with domestic life. Her weeks are carefully structured with meetings, concept development, sourcing trips, photoshoots and school runs. But there is also flexibility - an intentional openness. Some days unfold differently than planned, and she’s learned to be okay with that.

Breaks are essential. “As a creative, I need breaks, I need to slow down,” she says - so she walks, rides her bike, swims or sits in quiet. Inspiration, she knows, doesn’t come from constant motion but from space.

What Denmark gave - and what she still misses

Looking back, Maja appreciates the stability and support that Denmark offered her, especially through life’s harder chapters. “I appreciate the ease and help I got along my journey,” she says, acknowledging both personal and professional challenges she navigated here.

But coming from Poland - and having lived and worked abroad - she also recalls contexts where interior designers were more in demand, more valued.

Here in Denmark, with its strong DIY tendencies and minimalist cultural confidence, she sometimes misses that sense of being deeply needed in her field.

Yet this gap became the opening for something new. By focusing on internationals and on individuals who seek a more personalised, emotionally attuned interior style, she built a niche all her own - one defined by warmth, connection and trust.

Advice for creatives considering Denmark

For anyone dreaming of relocating to Denmark for creative work, Maja offers grounded advice:

• Study the market. Understand the realities of your creative niche here.

• Ask the hard questions. Can your passion support you? Are you motivated enough?

• Observe other creatives. What works for them? What doesn’t?

• Follow your intuition. Ultimately, the move has to feel right.

Her message empowers rather than romanticises: Denmark can be wonderful - but success requires awareness, adaptability and authentic self-belief.

“Inspiration doesn’t come from constant motion - it comes from space.”

Motherhood, creativity and freedom

Motherhood reshaped her professional life significantly. She prioritises time with her son - school, hobbies, friends - and is grateful for the shared custody that gives both structure and breathing room. Her friends, both in Denmark and abroad, have become her chosen family.

She has learned to carve out “her” time - not as self-indulgence, but as necessity. She wants her son to grow up with a mother who is present, fulfilled and balanced. And being self-employed gives her that freedom: the ability to choose, to shape, to design her life as she designs interiors - intentionally and with heart.

"Sometimes I have to turn jobs down because being with my children matters more. My work and my family both need calm energy from me."

Looking ahead - quiet dreams growing

Maja no longer believes in planning life years ahead. Instead, she stays open to what comes, growing her business at her own pace, and letting new dreams unfold privately until they’re ready to be shared.

Her purpose remains clear: to make people feel good in their spaces, to capture beauty through her lens, and to inspire others - especially women - to trust themselves and create lives that feel true.

Her story is a reminder that moving countries isn’t just a logistical challenge - it’s a chance to redesign your existence.

As she says: “Trust yourself, follow your intuition, find your own pace. You are the writer of your own destiny.”

Maja is an interior architect and photographer based in Copenhagen who runs her own studio offering interior design and styling services. She helps create personal, functional and cosy interiors tailored to your space and budget. If you'd like to contact her, have a look at her website.