Hi Haya and Isabella, welcome to the Lepelclub journal. We’re so happy to have you here with us! First thing’s first, can you tell us a little more about yourself?

Hi Lepelclub, my name is Haya. And I’m Isabella. 

Haya: Isabella and I are childhood friends and crossed over our time in New York together, I studied Strategic Design and Management at Parsons. 

Isabella: And I studied at GIA.

Haya: We met up a lot in London during covid, we were both in the process of applying for new jobs in the fashion industry. However, after a while we both decided to stop applying and to pursue creating our own brand.

The rise of small Instagram focused businesses was something that appealed to us both, the intimacy of communication, the sense of communication and the ease of transaction. 

Haya: If we were to describe ourselves in terms of our personal styles, I would probably say my style leans towards classic femininity, often featuring bright colours that reflect my mood.

Isabella: I would say my style is quite classic and minimalist. But our different styles are definitely reflected within the brand and within our products.

Haya: Yes, what really brought us together was our intuition about our individual senses of style. A friendship driven by conversations around fashion, art, architecture, fabrics and jewelry.

You’ve founded your own brand, Assieds-Toii. Can you tell us a little more about the brand?

Haya: Assieds-Toii is a fun twist on interiors. We wanted to form a bridge between the old and new worlds of interiors. We started by reupholstering vintage chairs and giving them new life with unique fashion focused touches. We still love to push our antique chairs offline and showcase them to interior designers, but our main focus are the Mushroom stools. We wanted to create an item that was a versatile piece that anyone could fit in their home. Many are upholstered with deadstock fabric. 

Isabella: Yes, we love deadstock! I think we have always worked by creating stools which are one-of-one, so every stool is unique, although of course with some of the simpler fabrics such as boucle, we produce more when we can. We don’t mass produce.

Haya: And I think that’s what makes our brand so special, is that every drop is oneof-one and we never really replicate the same print, if we have extra fabric leftover we make them into the mini mushrooms. 

Isabella: We also tap into different fields such as glassware! We recently created a glassware line which was made up of ash trays and vases which were all mushroom inspired which has been exciting for us! 

How did the inspiration for Assieds-Toii come about initially?

Haya: We started our journey with items of the home, that are central to living…chairs. The chair has become a central feature in many rooms, a statement piece but also one you use.

Isabella: We went to an antique fair and saw an abundance of chairs that needed a fresh start through restoration and upholstery. 

Haya: So, we found a gap in the market for fashion inspired products for the home.

Isabella: We can almost dress the chairs how we want it, as you would a fashion designer. So, we were choosing fabrics based on how we would choose an outfit.

Haya: We are heavily inspired by Etro prints, Pucci, and geometric shapes, with of course some much loved neutrals.

Here at Lepelclub, we love to relax either with a coffee or a cocktail. When you’re not working, how do you like to unwind?

Haya: Coffee in the morning is key! but to unwind I would say a fresh mint tea, a cuddle with my dog and Netflix.

Isabella: Grey’s Anatomy… I guess quite literally ‘Netflix’ and ‘chill’ as cliché as that sounds!

Assieds-Toii a play on the French for sit down. If you had the opportunity toask someone to take a seat, who would it be?

Haya: We would have loved to have Marilyn Monroe or Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin.

Isabella: Oh or Adele & Cher!

Haya: We love Adele & Cher, We would love for Adele to sing “I drink wine” whilst sitting on a mushroom.

Can you share the most valuable piece of advice that you've ever been given?

I suppose, just to trust your gut, I think for both of us that would be most valuable.

And finally, how are you planning to stir things up in the future?

Isabella: Ooohhh, I suppose we would like to be known as a brand which creates these staple pieces.

Haya: Almost like the Fendi Baguette of the home. We really want people to have at least one of our pieces in their home, whether its glassware or whether it’s the mushroom stool or a vintage chair.

Isabella: We only launched last year, and we definitely plan on expanding. We have a lot more products in the pipe line.

Haya: We are just excited to tap into different creative area’s which we never expected we would, and to expand our creative vision to produce different products for the home.