Gyri S. Susrud

Culture is the bridge.Between people and between generations. Heritage is not nostalgia. It is raw material for what comes next.

Gyri S. Susrud is a Norwegian cultural historian, designer and speaker. She shows why culture gives people roots, meaning and belonging, how it helps people across countries understand each other, and how the stories of the past can shape the places, brands and ideas of the future.

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Gyri S. Susrud reading on the steps of a white wooden house

About.

Gyri S. Susrud is a founder, cultural entrepreneur, historian, designer and speaker based in Oslo. After completing her MA in London, she founded Gyri Design, a textile brand rooted in Norwegian heritage, hand-painted in watercolour and printed sustainably on linen.

Her designs have been placed with Clarence House in New York, showrooms in Madrid and The Lot in Nashville. Her textiles can be found everywhere from a boutique hotel in the Bahamas to the historic Hotel Union Øye in Norway.

As a speaker, Gyri has given keynotes at venues including Oslo Design Fair. She advises architects and hospitality projects on cultural-historical foundations, and helps international companies use cultural heritage as common ground.

She is the founder of Where Culture Meets, which hosts intimate cultural gatherings and journeys in Norway, and her first book is on its way. Across all of it runs the same conviction: culture gives people roots, meaning and the courage to create something new.

The heart of Gyri's work

Why culture matters.

Culture is how we know who we are, where we belong, and how we find our way to each other.

Belonging.

Culture tells people who they are and where they come from. In a restless, global world, that sense of roots is what makes people feel at home, in a place, a company or a community.

Meaning.

Objects, places and traditions carry the stories of the people before us. When those stories are told, a room becomes more than a room and a brand becomes more than a product.

Innovation.

Everything new is built from something old. Heritage is a library of tested ideas, forms and crafts, and the most original work often comes from those who know their roots best.

Culture in a global world

Cultural heritage is the language that crosses every border.

Every culture has its own way of greeting, eating together, making decisions, showing respect and building trust. When people from different countries meet at work, these traditions meet too. Most of them are never spoken aloud, yet they decide whether people feel understood or misunderstood.

Cultural heritage gives us a way in. A tapestry woven in a Norwegian valley, a family recipe, a building tradition or a local craft: everyone has something like it, and everyone recognises its value. Sharing where you come from, and meeting other people's roots with curiosity and respect, creates a common ground that no agenda or report can.

Gyri has built her work across Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and Asia. She has seen how culture, taken seriously, turns differences into connection.

Teams that understand each other

When colleagues know each other's cultural background, they read each other better, collaborate with more trust and solve problems together faster.

Brands that belong in new markets

A company that respects the heritage of the places it enters is welcomed rather than tolerated. Local culture becomes a door, not a barrier.

Leaders who build lasting relationships

Understanding culture helps leaders make decisions that respect the people they affect, and build partnerships that hold across borders and generations.

To understand each other, we first need to understand where we each come from.

Gyri believes cultural heritage is not something to protect behind glass, but something to build with.

Raised among rosemaling and hand-woven wall hangings in Telemark, she spent more than a decade turning Norwegian textile traditions into contemporary design through her brand Gyri Design, for interiors in Europe, the United States and Asia.

Through Where Culture Meets, she brings people together in places where history is still alive. And through her talks and consulting, she helps audiences, architects and companies put culture to work.

Those who work with Gyri come away seeing their roots differently: not as nostalgia, but as a source of belonging, meaning and new ideas.

Discover Gyri's work.

Four ways Gyri brings culture to life: out loud on stage, into the places we build, onto the page, and in shared experiences.

Speaking

Culture, told out loud.

Keynotes, lectures and workshops that show audiences why heritage matters, and how it connects people across borders.

  • Conferences and design fairs
  • Companies and universities
  • In Norwegian and English
Explore the talks
Consulting

Culture, built into place.

The real story of a place, farm or family becomes the foundation for architecture, interiors, brands and experiences.

  • Architecture, interiors and hotels
  • International companies
  • Farms and historic properties
How it works
Writing

Culture, put into words.

A new book on the way, essays on Substack and two podcast series about the people who carry culture forward.

  • Book, coming soon
  • Essays on Substack
  • Podcasts in development
Read more
Gatherings

Culture, shared in person.

Intimate cultural gatherings and journeys where people meet Norwegian heritage in the places it still lives.

  • The Gathering in Oslo
  • The Cultural Journey through Norway
  • Private experiences
Explore Where Culture Meets

Speaking

Every talk starts from one idea: people need to know where they come from to know where they are going. Gyri speaks at conferences, design fairs, universities, companies and private events, in Norwegian and English.

Previous stages include Oslo Design Fair. Speaker sheet available on request.

  • Roots are the futureWhy cultural heritage is the raw material of innovation, not a museum piece.
  • Building bridgesConnecting cultures, generations and disciplines, and what it takes to hold complexity without losing people.
  • Culture as common groundHow cultural heritage helps international teams, partners and customers understand and trust each other.
  • Whose story is it?What happens when a pattern travels across borders and centuries, and who gets to own a tradition.
  • WorkshopsHands-on sessions using storytelling, textiles and materials to anchor a creative vision in heritage.
Book Gyri to speak
Gyri on stage

Consulting

Gyri works with architects, interior designers, hotels and major projects that want the real story of a place as their foundation.

Selected projects include the historic Hotel Union Øye.

Light kitchen interior with sage cabinets, oak dining table and a patterned blue window blind

Cultural heritage is not nostalgia. It is raw material for what is yet to be created. Gyri builds the bridge between past and future, between roots and new thinking.

  • History mappingUncovering and researching the history of the place, farm or objects: who lived there, what happened, and which objects or traditions have a story worth bringing forward.
  • Concept developmentWeaving the historical narrative together with the client's own innovation into one coherent story that carries through brand, marketing and physical space.
  • Holistic guidanceMaking sure storytelling, interiors, textiles and architecture work together as one experience, in collaboration with interior designers and architects where technical drawings are needed.
  • Storytelling, marketing and experiencesPutting the story to work: in positioning and communication, in written text for websites, marketing and presentations, and in curated cultural-historical experiences like The Gathering, tailored to a farm or property as host or destination. Drawing on Gyri's own experience building Gyri Design and Where Culture Meets.
Start a project with Gyri

Writing

Book, coming soon

A new book

Gyri is writing a book about why cultural heritage matters, and why it is the deepest source of what is genuinely new. More soon.

Essays on Substack

Where Culture Meets

Regular essays on heritage, identity, design and building a life around culture.

Podcasts, in development

Two new series

Conversations with women who create from the inside out, and a detective story asking who owns a pattern.

Where Culture Meets

Gatherings where culture comes alive.

Where Culture Meets is Gyri's series of intimate cultural gatherings and journeys. Small groups meet Norwegian heritage not behind glass, but in a museum, an atelier, a stave church or on a farm, together with the people who keep the traditions alive.

Why gather?

Gyri S. Susrud preparing a candlelit table with a floral heritage tablecloth

Culture is not something you fully understand by reading about it. You understand it by tasting it, touching it, hearing it and sharing it with others. The stories in a woven tapestry, a folk song or a family recipe only come alive when people meet around them.

We spend more time on screens than together, and more time moving than belonging. Gatherings give people something increasingly rare: presence, real stories and conversations that last longer than the evening. Gyri started Where Culture Meets to create exactly that, a place where heritage is lived, not just remembered.

Heritage becomes living.

Traditions are experienced with all the senses, through craft, food, music and stories told in the places they belong.

Strangers become a community.

Small groups and shared experiences turn guests into a circle of people who return, and who bring others with them.

Cultures meet as equals.

International guests discover Norwegian heritage, and bring their own stories with them. Every gathering becomes a meeting of cultures.

Building bridges.

Every gathering is a bridge: between past and future, between Norway and the world, and between the people who gather.

At Where Culture Meets, cultural heritage is not something to admire from a distance. It is a source of inspiration and a starting point for innovation. A weaving technique can inspire a new textile, a folk melody a new song, an old building tradition a new way of living. Guests meet the tradition bearers who show how the old is carried forward into something new.

That is the heart of Gyri's work: using our cultural heritage to understand each other, to inspire new ideas, and to build what comes next.

Who it is for

  • Internationally minded people living in or visiting Norway, who are curious about the culture behind the country.
  • Newcomers to Norway who want to understand their new home, and meet people who share their curiosity.
  • Norwegians who want to rediscover their own roots in a new light.
  • Companies looking for meaningful experiences for teams, clients and international partners.
  • Private hosts marking a special occasion with something truly unforgettable.
In Oslo

The Gathering

An intimate cultural-historical evening for 15 to 25 guests, at places like Norsk Folkemuseum, an artist's atelier or a stave church.

  • Stories, craft and conversation
  • Food rooted in tradition
  • First Gathering: Norsk Folkemuseum, October 2026
Across Norway

The Cultural Journey

Two to four days through Norway's living heritage, for international guests who want to go deeper than the usual itinerary.

  • Valleys, farms and historic places
  • Meetings with craftspeople and tradition bearers
  • Small groups, curated by Gyri
Tailored

The Private Experience

A cultural experience designed around you, for companies, clients, partners or private celebrations.

  • For teams and international guests
  • At your venue or a place Gyri selects
  • Can be hosted on a farm or historic property

Join the guest list to hear about the next gatherings first.

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Also by Gyri

Gyri Design

Heritage textiles

Sustainable fabrics rooted in Norwegian textile tradition, hand-painted in watercolour and designed for contemporary interiors.

Each pattern starts with a story, reimagined for the way we live today. Culture you can live with, every day.

Visit Gyri Design
Showrooms

Clarence House, New York, and The Lot, Nashville

Hotels

From a boutique hotel in the Bahamas to the historic Hotel Union Øye in Norway

Patterns

Skybragd, Gustav, Sverresborg, Vest-Telemark and more

Available

To the trade, and on gyridesign.com

Get in touch.

If you believe culture matters, and want it to matter more in your event, project or business, send Gyri a short note.

  • Keynotes and lectures Conferences, universities, companies
  • Gatherings and private experiences Where Culture Meets
  • Consulting Architecture, interiors, hospitality
  • Press and collaborations Podcasts, media, partnerships
Email Gyri

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