About us
We, Marieke and Robin, moved from Belgium to rural Sweden in 2019 to take over Stilleben, a small hotel with 6 rooms and a restaurant. Based on our own values concerning hospitality, our ideas on the real purpose of holidays and our tireless search for good ingredients to use in our kitchen led to a transformation in the hotel.
Redefining accommodation
Think about your most joyful memories of your travels. What do they have in common? Often it will be a human aspect, not accommodation, activities or luxuries on their own. It will likely be a warm encounter with local people, a thoughtful gesture, the feeling of being welcome at a place, a sense of true tranquillity, shared with your family in a beautiful environment… belonging in the moment.
What is the role of accommodation in a holiday? Surely it can offer more than beds and food, right? When we looked to those thoughts, we involved our own experiences and values and developed the Stilleben experience: a real heart-warming approach, where people feel welcomed and at home.
Our kitchen
Pure food is something which is really dear to us. We took on the mission to serve pure food, food that is nourishing - not just feeding - our guests. We serve dishes that are home-cooked, without any processed or pre-made additives, real food that we are proud to serve. We make them with ingredients from local producers that are proud of their craft and their product. We share that pride with our guests and this resonates in the dishes.
Driven by purpose
We run our business, our hotel, by a set of values of which we do not deviate from so easily. For us, this is integrity and we wouldn't want to run our place without this important feat.
The hotel itself, with its fine rooms and tasteful decoration in the forests of country-side Sweden, is merely a vessel that supports how we want to welcome our guests. What really drives us, is how we can make our guests' stay - no matter how long - into an unforgettably heart warming and nourishing experience:
How we can have a relationship with our guests that feels genuine, real and honest.
How we can create an environment that allows us and our guests to share stories, talk about values and dreams, no matter their point of view.
How we can serve them dishes that are pure and healthy, made with the best ingredients we can find, based on the same values as how we cook in our own kitchen as a family.
How we can share what we have learned so far - both from our own journey and what we learned along the way from our guests - planting some seeds along the way so they can go home inspired and nourished.
Ikigai
How we think of running a business and what it means to ourselves, our guests and our environment is based on Ikigai, an ancient Japanese way of living. It is said, that when you find your Ikigai, you are in your best flow, delivering value for both yourself, other people and the world. This is important to us and it combines income and work with purpose and what drives you. It is a truly holistic approach.
