Sleep

It’s lost time when you’re asleep; time you can’t use. I sleep when I need to: six to seven hours a night. I’ve learned to fall asleep anywhere. Light is not a nuisance. We don’t cover our windows at home, so it’s always light when I wake up, except in winter. Invisible design in a bed is important; the materials that you choose to put next to your body. At Ikea, we test so there are no additives, no emissions. How does it smell? That’s important.

Eat

There’s no separate eating in our home: my wife, our son and two daughters get up and eat together. You can go back to bed, if needed. At breakfast we have tea. We are quite particular and drink Mariage Frères’ Thé Vert Au Tibet. We have sandwiches the Swedish way: butter, cheese and fresh vegetables. Lunch can be just a smoothie.Dinner is typically Swedish, like smoked fish. We have fika; a coffee with a snack, morning and afternoon. It’s considered impolite to offer coffee without anything to eat with it.

Work

Most of my job is meetings, 10 a day on a half-hour schedule; you can cope if you have a relaxed attitude. I don’t work as a designer myself; I lead other creatives. A lot of people want to present their ideas, but I’m not an intimidating guy. That comes across at the first handshake. I answer emails with one word, like Steve Jobs did. My work space looks like a dump. I find it difficult to sit at a clean desk. Blank space, blank head.

Family

There’s no work/life balance. I’m away 12 hours a day; I sit in the car for two and a half hours. Weekends are holy. We spend our money on trips rather than buy a lot of things. We’ve seen some life-changing things together; that’s bigger than giving your kids stuff. Of all the people I meet, my family still challenge me the most.

Fun

I’ll try any sports. I like all the ones where you can get hurt. I do karate with my son and motorcycle in the woods. I have a KTM 350; it’s a monster. I’ve broken both my collar bones on a road bike, and my ear almost fell off on a gravel road mountain biking. In my spare time I watch Netflix, read or cook. I go out with friends for a pint of craft beer. I walk through citiesto find ideas, but I’m not the kind of person who takes notes. The things you remember by heart are usually the good ones.

• Ikea’s Föremål collection launches on 7 September, ikea.co.uk