Would you rather?
With Friggs’ Freya Hall
With Friggs’ Freya Hall
‘Would you rather’ is a game played all over the world by bored teenagers sitting at the back of the bus on their way to sports practice. But don’t let me scare you off with that anecdote, this game is great because the only limitation is your imagination. As a teen that meant forcing people to choose between two equally awful predicaments - but not here. Not on my watch! Here we ask the movers and shakers and the upcoming style makers the BIG interiors questions and get their opinions served up just how we like them: short, sweet, ice cold.
So let’s play…
Orna Handpainter
After a decade as a fashion buyer, Meg pivoted her career for a better work life balance and turned her hands to nail art, setting up as a nail tech business just in time for lockdown! Meg had to make a quick adjustment and established painting candles instead of nails. Orna Handpainter focuses on delicate intricate floral designs that allow customers to add a whimsical playful element to their solace shrunken homes.
Q & A fireround
Side tables: Vintage rattan OR iridescent plexiglass? Vintage rattan
Cottagecore or cluttercore? Clutter core - eeek a hard one to choose for me!
Fresh flowers or artisan-made paper flowers? Fresh but I really appreciate the talent of paper
Foam mirror OR punch needle wall hanging? Punch needle
Would you rather buy a candle that was handmade by a local small biz using non-eco materials OR a candle made by a fast-fashion company using eco- materials?
I would buy the candle from the small business rather than a sustainable one from a large business as the fast fashion business will most likely have more goods that aren’t sustainable and encourage mass consumption. The purchase from a small business could potentially help them establish more sustainable stock as it often takes time, money and resources to ensure your products are as sustainable as possible.
What helps me establish if I want to spend money with the business is seeing the hard work and passion behind the product. You can easily see when brands really care and love what they do and their customers, rather than whacking a label on a good item or drop-shipping. It drives me nuts when I see brands talk about their ‘eco’ products but don’t give you details and aren’t wholly transparent. Why and how is it eco? How?! I always look for the finer details and important information. If it’s the raw material or fabric, I want more detail! Is it still the most sustainable option? And has every decision been made about that product with sustainability as a priority? You can still produce an organic cotton t-shirt but fly it in to get a delivery date for a launch! Also do the workers get paid fairly through your supply chain?
I think as consumers we need to ask more questions about products to highlight where things can improve and all this information needs to be readily available for the consumer to make a choice.
Partygoods by Emma
Hey, I’m Emma and I run Partygoods by Emma. I collect and sell all things colourful, vintage, and fun! While I specialize in vintage party and holiday decorations from the 1920s-70’s, I couldn’t live without my vintage housewares (antique floral paintings, Italian tole mirrors, Turkish rugs, glassware, wallpaper... I could go on)
I was looking for a creative outlet at the beginning of COVID and finally forced myself to start a public Instagram account. Now I host Instagram sales every two weeks, where I sell all sorts of colorful vintage goodies that I pick up at flea markets, antique malls, and estate sales. I love the hunt and I love bringing my followers along for the ride.
Q & A fireround
Favourite occasion when it comes to decorating: birthdays or weddings?
Birthdays! Who could resist decorating with multicolored fringe party blowouts, jumbo confetti, and pretty birthday candles?
Flea market OR Facebook marketplace?
Flea markets! Such a large range of fun and (usually) affordable stuff all in one place.
Wallpaper or white walls?
White walls. My followers know that I love colorful wallpaper, but white walls really do act as the perfect canvas for vintage artwork, shadow boxes filled with oddities, and floating shelves.
If you had to decorate your home top to bottom in the style of one era: 60s OR 90s?
1960s for sure. I’ve always said I was born in the wrong era. Colorful furniture and floral wallpaper? I’ll take it all!
Would you rather host a big dinner, party at your place OR have a quiet weekend at home to pamper yourself?
Big dinner party. There’s nothing better than entertaining friends and family, especially for someone like me who LOVES to decorate and host. It’s an opportunity to break out the fancy vintage glasses, trays, and table linens. What could be better?
LauraLaura
Hey! So my brand, LauraLaura, is designed to be a fun way of playing with the process of looking at yourself. My mirrors create interesting reflections, making the viewer spend more time to pause and look at the reflection; whatever it may be! I design and cut stencils and then sandblast these marks and patterns on the mirrors surface to create frosted sections. I wanted to create functional art for the home that can be admired but also used.
Q & A fireround
Modern OR contemporary art? MODERN for sure
Side tables: Vintage rattan OR iridescent plexiglass? Iridescent plexiglass
Linen OR silk bed sheets? Linen
Salt and pepper shakers: Danish, minimalist stainless steel OR kitsch, ceramic fruit and veggies?
SO torn, had to go with danish, minimalist though
Would you rather be copied by artists who become more successful than you OR never be copied but receive little to no mainstream success?
I must say that without being able to be inspired by others, I would have struggled, but I also hate the amount of blatant copying in the creative world. The whole ‘it should be taken as a compliment’ is also so difficult as it depends how far it goes. If a person is inspired by someone else and says they have been influenced by the original, then I think that’s great but to exactly copy someone just takes the piss. It completely disregards all the time, work and genuine difficulties that come with the process of designing and making.
In the same breath, once you’ve been copied it can be a bit of a boost as it solidifies the fact that someone else sees something in your work that they think they can profit from. But to be copied and then they become more successful without getting any credit for your own design seems like blatant stealing.
In a way whilst writing this I’m learning more about my feelings towards this. It does satisfy the part of me that wants gratification, instantly validating that the idea is a good idea. But then I hate when people blatantly copy. It’s so heartbreaking to the person who put in all the effort and dedication for the round of applause to go to someone else.
Appreciation is amazing, inspiring other people is so lovely but appropriating someone else’s ideas as your own, na da. People whose instant reaction to seeing someone is to copy it, should spend some time exploring their own ideas and they might come up with someone amazing !! So I guess my answer after all of that is that I would rather never be copied and know that anyone who sees my work would know it was mine.