My company is…. L'aviva Home
I’m the… Founder/Owner
We make/design/create… We work with artisan groups around the globe 'cultivating' collections of luxe home wares (and we're starting to dabble in accessories, as well).
Here’s how this company came to be… L’aviva Home was originally meant to be a two-week long online trunk show, featuring favorite finds from my travels - many encountered during the time in which I worked as a creative director at Travel + Leisure magazine. And now, unbelievably, it's almost 5 years later. What we are doing and how we do it has evolved, but we're still working under the same basic premise - we're drawn to beautiful things, rooted in tradition, with great stories behind them.
My absolute favorite thing we sell right now is… I love, love, love our newest collection, our alpaca 'frazada' pillows. We've been sourcing the vintage frazadas from Bolivia for years. On my last trip there (the main mission of which was to spend time with the ladies who make our incredible hammocks in a tiny village just outside of the Amazon), we planted the seeds for this new collaboration with a group of weavers in the highlands. The pillows draw on tradition in a way that really exemplifies how we most like to work. The process of bringing this collection to be has been incredibly gratifying, and the pillows are striking + luxurious + make me really happy.
Bolivian Alpaca Frazada Pillows
Here’s a sneak peek of something we’re working on now…. This spring, we'll launch our Chiapas deck chairs. It's a true North American collaboration - a joint venture between us, the group of weavers we work with in Chiapas, and a small company in Canada which makes incredible wooden frames. And we're also playing around with ideas for a collection of indigo-dyed scarves made from fabric done by the artisan we work with in Burkina Faso.
NEW FOR SPRING 2013 | Chiapas Deck Chair | Indigo-Dyed Scarf
I’m most proud of…. In a global sense, it's the process of forming these artisan partnerships and effectively bridging cultures that I love most. I derive immense satisfaction from that part of it all. More specifically, I'd say it's the project we have going in Kyrgyzstan, working with groups of artisans there on the creation of our shyrdak felt rug collection. It's been a long journey (metaphorically, and literally) to get to where we are now with this collection, and we've built a really strong team during the course of it. I’m proud of the relationships we have forged and of how we are working together to keep the tradition vital and move it forward via the creation of really beautiful pieces.
Shyrdak Felt Rug + Pillow Collection | Available in Custom Color Combinations
I consistently read these for inspiration…. Essentially the first thing I read every morning, no matter where I am in the world, is Remodelista's daily newsletter. I love what Julie + her team have been doing there since the very beginning. I go through a ton of shelter mags, too. My favorites being the Frenchies (Cote Sud, Marie Claire Maison), The World of Interiors, and Australia's Vogue Living + Travel. And design books a-many - the latest to arrive here in the studio is Roman & William's new book, which I'm flipping through right now. And I'm just delving into Instagram - my attention span for social media can be super short, but Instagram really speaks to me. I love the idea of inspiration via eye candy snippets.
I would like to share the limelight with… I have a long-standing love affair with Casamidy. Jorge + Anne-Marie have phenomenal style, all around, as evidenced in the pieces they design for Casamidy, in their homes, and beyond. I admire hugely what they have built with their company - their ethos, their design sensibility... and they keep it evolving, it always feels dynamic. They really are, to my mind, inimitable. Many try, some quite shamelessly, but none come close to succeeding.
#sharethelimelight