New Year Reflections

April 2025 arrived windy and dusty, with clear skies. Norden Camp stood half assembled, like the bare willows along the floodplain on which it rests, both the land and the camp thawing, in preparation for summer. 2024 had been spent quietly but deliberately, refining designs, working through systems, strengthening relationships. Much of that work remained unseen. But now, as nature began to emerge from winter, through the softening of frozen ground and the push of new stems, Norden Camp, too, had to wake and move quickly to meet the narrow building season.

Norden Camp was founded in 2013. After ten years, we felt the need to sharpen our direction and to allow the camp to grow into a place where what is made by hand and what is shaped by nature exist in balance. Neither dominates; instead, they meet in a seamless exchange. We wanted the finished place to feel as much a part of this land as the willows along the floodplain, the rabbits that cut quiet paths through the grass, and the ruddy shelduck that returns each season. Nature remains raw but never overbearing, while the cabins offer shelter and warmth without severing the connection to what lies outside. As new approaches to construction, interiors, and service took shape, we came to understand that bringing an idea into lived form is never simple. It asks for endurance, trust, and countless decisions made with care.

By May, more than fifty people were on site, and the work slipped into a race alongside the land’s own unfolding. Carpenters and electricians, three kinds of stone masons, kitchen technicians, thangka painters, and dozens of local nomads worked shoulder to shoulder, stepping in wherever hands were needed. Roles loosened, effort flowed, and the site moved as one body toward a shared purpose. Lips were chapped. Faces burned under wind and sun. Days stretched long, as electrical systems, plumbing, stonework, interiors, and kitchens slowly took shape. The pace was demanding, yet steady, carried not by urgency alone, but by care, commitment, and shared resolve.

As we close the year and step into the next, we are aware that what now stands could only have come into being through many hands and shared belief. The work was shaped by conversations, drawings, decisions made on site, and long days carried through wind and sun.

Blake Civiello helped conceive the concept, give form to the ideas through architecture, and guide with a steady presence throughout the process. Ileana Liaskoviti held the balance between function and feeling while bringing the interiors to life. Sabrina Kraus guided the art direction with care and dedication, while Tian Yu navigated the countless practicalities of sourcing. Mike Madden opened our eyes to the life of plants, reminding us that growth is as much about observation as intention. Dorjee Rinchen recruited and held the service team together, guiding both people and momentum, and Siyuan Aw helped clear a path through the complexity of marketing so the work could find its place beyond the plateau. Thank you to Kweichee Lam for carrying our vision into words.

Alongside them, Lynus Lim and his team, Elise Gettliffe, and Narelle Dore gave time, thought, and collaboration in food, ceramics, and interior decorations. We are deeply grateful to Feng Chu Xuan and Hung Huang for believing in this project and supporting it wholeheartedly, and to HTSI, Konfekt, and Elle Décor, their writers and photographers, for carrying the story outward with care.

Each of these contributions became part of the place. Together, they helped shape something that feels inseparable from this plateau, this light, and the rhythms that continue to guide us.

With gratitude,

Yidam Kyap & Dechen Yeshi