About us

We, Johan and Marcel, put our heart & soul in creating our Lådfabriken. After we bought the old fishbox factory, we designed, rebuilt and decorated it for 2 years. We welcomed our first guests in the summer of 2012.

Nowadays we run all practical matters of Lådfabriken ourselves. Johan’s primary focus is on aesthetics, garden and hospitality. Marcel focusses more on the kitchen, promotion and administration. Together we clean, wash, dish, hoover and make the beds.

Johan is Swedish and his family has lived in Lådfabriken’s village, Edshultshall, for generations. Marcel is Dutch and moved to Sweden from Amsterdam.

Lådfabriken is our boutique seaside stay—created by us, Johan & Marcel—where hospitality and creativity quietly intertwine. Through art, colours, and carefully chosen artefacts, we have shaped a place with its own rhythm and mood, where each room tells a story and every stay becomes part of something personal and thoughtfully composed.

What you experience here is very much a reflection of who we are.

We come from different creative worlds that meet at Lådfabriken. Marcel brings a background in international marketing and communication within live entertainment, with a long-standing love for the performing arts—ranging from theatre and circus to opera and dance. Alongside life at Lådfabriken, he continues his work through Westcoast Travel & Consulting.

Johan’s world is rooted in design—garments, fabrics, and everything that grows and blooms. With over 25 years of experience in product development within sports- and streetwear, his work has taken shape through brands such as Boomerang, Esprit, McGregor, Nike, Reebok and Adidas Originals. Today, he works also as a design and strategy consultant through BSKQV.

Together, we take care of everything ourselves. When you stay with us, you experience a personal way of hosting—it’s not just about booking a room, it’s about being here with us. We share a place we deeply love and do our utmost to let you feel that same connection to the nature and the surroundings.

Our philosophy is simple: to welcome you into a colourful, creative environment where you can feel at home. We cook with care, using high-quality, locally sourced ingredients, and invite you to slow down and enjoy the rhythm of the seaside. From June to September, our garden is in full bloom, adding yet another layer to the experience.

We also share our home with Agnes and Lucas, our two dogs who came to us from a shelter in Castellbisbal, near Barcelona.

Welcome to a unique part of Sweden—welcome to us, and welcome to Lådfabriken.

Fish boxes, fishing villages and a house by the sea

Along the coast of Bohuslän, fishing determined the rhythm of the days. Herring, cod, mackerel, oysters, crayfish and lobster travelled from the small harbours of western Sweden to markets and restaurants far beyond the Skagerrak. But before the catch could leave the coast, it first needed something practical: wooden boxes.

And so, scattered among fishing communities and harbours, small lådfabriker — fish box factories — became part of everyday life. They were modest workshops close to the water, where craftsmen produced wooden fish crates for the boats arriving with their catch.

Almost every village along the coast once depended on fishing. Mollösund, Gullholmen, Käringön, Fiskebäckskil, Hälleviksstrand, Smögen and Lysekil all carried traces of the same maritime economy. In Edshultshall on western Orust, one former fish box factory remained. Today it carries the name Lådfabriken once produced wooden fish boxes and small boats for the local fishing community. Positioned beside the Skagerrak, it remained part of Bohuslän’s working coastline for decades, until both the factory and the great herring periods slowly faded into history.

When Johan Buskqvist and Marcel van der Eng discovered the old building years later, they saw not only its rough industrial character but also the atmosphere that still lingered within its walls. A remarkable coincidence was that Johan came across the name of a distant relative in the factory’s deed of incorporation. Between 2009 and 2012, the former workshop was carefully transformed into the small boutique B&B.