Anton Lauritsen
We asked some young people in Copenhagen to share their thoughts on life, creativity and sustainability.
Topic
Type
Article | 02:57 min read
Portrait of
Anton Lauritsen
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Still photography by
Frederik Kjeldgaard
Interviewed by
Adam Morris Philp
“In the city, I always feel like I should be doing something, but at the beach house it is perfectly OK just to breathe and be present.”
My name is Anton. I’m 26 years old and I am currently a student at the Danish School of Media in Journalism, majoring in photography.
What was your childhood like?
I grew up in a small town called Ganløse with my little brother and my mom. Only five thousand people live there. It was a typical suburban way of life. Growing up it was sometimes very boring. And when I lived there, I just wanted to get away. I wanted to move to the big city. But now that I live in the big city, I suddenly appreciate my childhood where I was close to nature. I now miss the silence and the quiet mornings.
It is really hard to find a truly quiet space in the city with cars and people everywhere. And in your apartment, there are people living next to you, above you, and beneath you. There’s just always some kind of noise here. It is not necessarily a bad thing all the time, but sometimes I really miss the truly silent moments.
What made you happy as a child?
I played music a lot. I started playing the guitar when I was 10 and I played in a band.
I would also skate a lot. And for such a small town, we actually had a thriving skateboarding community there. All the young guys rode skateboards and some got pretty good.
Do you have any special memories that have shaped you?
Unfortunately, most of the big things that have shaped me in both positive and negative ways are not good memories.
What is important for you?
For me, it is important to feel that I am moving forward. It is also important for me to feel free. I like to do my absolute best in everything I do. If it is making a cup of coffee, cooking dinner or taking photographs. I like to make progress in my life with the things I enjoy doing. As long as I’m evolving, I’m happy.
My family has a vacation house at a coastal town up north in Denmark. I can escape there when the city gets too hectic. It’s like a little cabin in the middle of the woods near the beach. The only thing you can hear is the sound of the waves and the birds in the morning. I’ve really come to enjoy the peace up there. There’s no internet and you spend your days doing nothing. Most of the time, I just sit in a lawn chair in the front of the house and just listen to the birds. When I’m in the city, I always feel like I should be doing something but at the beach house it is perfectly OK just to breathe and be present.
Do you have a goal for something you want to achieve in your life?
I think my greatest goal is something as basic as waking up in the morning and wanting to get out of bed. I think it is really simple. I’m not necessarily interested in making a lot of money. I’m not interested in being famous. I have grown up in a pretty conservative family. And I just see them go to work every day and none of them really seem that excited about it. I don’t want to live like that. I just want to be happy and not feel like my life is a boring routine.
What is sustainability for you?
To me, sustainability is just doing what you can, when you can. You don’t have to be an outspoken political activist with a megaphone in your hand. My roommate and I reuse our dishcloths, so we save a little bit of money and we are doing something good for the environment. It is nothing big, but every small thing counts. A lot of my clothes come from thrift stores. You can get some really cool clothes at thrift stores. You don’t need to go and buy some mass-produced clothes at the high-end stores. It makes me feel good and hopefully it all adds up to something bigger if we all do just a little bit.
What do you want to achieve in your life?
My mission in life is to be happy. It’s important for me to smile. And it’s important for me to have a reason to smile. Throughout my life I have come to learn that being happy is actually really hard for me. I think I have come a long way, but I still have a way to go to feel truly happy.
I enjoy being active. I enjoy riding my skateboard because you’re moving forward all the time. You’re always improving. It really resonates with the way I want to live my life. When you fall, you have to get up. And every time you get up, you have learned something, even though you got some bruises.
