Laila Tara H Launch Breakfast
We are so proud to introduce some new additions to the Hai family, in the form of our latest collaboration with our friend and wonderful artist, Laila Tara H.
To celebrate the capsule collection, Laila took over our London pop-up shop to host an intimate Persian breakfast alongside our founder Tessa Vermeulen - bringing with her platters of delicious fruits, salads and flatbreads for our guests to load up on.
Over copious amounts of delicious tea, Laila filled us in on what her favourite part of the design process was and the inspiration behind her artwork. You can read all about it below.
The Hai x Laila Tara H collection will launch on Monday 12th June.
What were your favourite parts of the collaborative process?
1. On one of our mid-collaboration meetings, I walked into the Hai studio flustered and mildly out of breath from being late. Took a few moments before I looked down to see an open suitcase and hundreds of embroideries sprawled out across the floor - you name it, it was there. On the table were piles and piles of thread catalogues. Felt like a bright-eyed child in a haberdashery shop. We kneeled down and salivated.
2. Sitting behind my computer in Tehran at the kitchen table, jet-lagged and full of bread and butter, making my 20th/30th/40th/50th idea for our design.
3. Tessa’s skirts and Hai's stylist Lara's layering. In fact, Tessa and Lara merged into a single cuddle on my sofa as we photographed the collection at home.
4. The warmth of being a peripheral part of a team.
5. Unlocking my phone to find a photo from Hai's designer Mathilde of the first embroidery sample.
6. Cleaning after breakfast and grabbing our scrunchie to pull back my hair.
What drew you to collaborate with Hai?
1. Have you seen the Hai trousers? Them. They got me involved emotionally.
2. Paintings are rigid things, they are objects of veneration that aren’t to be touched. You can gaze at them for long periods and then, inevitably, you’ll take a step left or right and get on with your day. Paintings, especially those that live under the protection of glass, are not allowed to age or crease or be taken with you on your errands or as a plus one to your parties. Clothes though. Clothes get tossed onto the backs of chairs, they crease and the colour shifts, they age with you and gain glory in their wrinkles. Clothes live.
What inspired your artwork that we used on the pieces?
The majority of the symbols are pulled from an exhibition I did at Public Gallery in May, 2022 titled Tangled Toes, Twisted Ears (with Anousha Payne). The works were an assessment of interpersonal dynamics, they chronicled the push and pull of the individual versus the duo, arched backs and controlling hands. But on silk, they’ve been liberated. They’re no longer in their weighted context in heavily laboured brushstrokes on paper. The hands caress now rather than loom and the arched backs aren’t avoiding anyones gaze, instead they’re leaning back towards the flowers and looking up towards the sun. Context context context. I suppose also perspective, perspective, perspective.
What were your favourite parts of the collaborative process?
1. On one of our mid-collaboration meetings, I walked into the Hai studio flustered and mildly out of breath from being late. Took a few moments before I looked down to see an open suitcase and hundreds of embroideries sprawled out across the floor - you name it, it was there. On the table were piles and piles of thread catalogues. Felt like a bright-eyed child in a haberdashery shop. We kneeled down and salivated.
2. Sitting behind my computer in Tehran at the kitchen table, jet-lagged and full of bread and butter, making my 20th/30th/40th/50th idea for our design.
3. Tessa’s skirts and Hai's stylist Lara's layering. In fact, Tessa and Lara merged into a single cuddle on my sofa as we photographed the collection at home.
4. The warmth of being a peripheral part of a team.
5. Unlocking my phone to find a photo from Hai's designer Mathilde of the first embroidery sample.
6. Cleaning after breakfast and grabbing our scrunchie to pull back my hair.
What drew you to collaborate with Hai?
1. Have you seen the Hai trousers? Them. They got me involved emotionally.
2. Paintings are rigid things, they are objects of veneration that aren’t to be touched. You can gaze at them for long periods and then, inevitably, you’ll take a step left or right and get on with your day. Paintings, especially those that live under the protection of glass, are not allowed to age or crease or be taken with you on your errands or as a plus one to your parties. Clothes though. Clothes get tossed onto the backs of chairs, they crease and the colour shifts, they age with you and gain glory in their wrinkles. Clothes live.
What inspired your artwork that we used on the pieces?
The majority of the symbols are pulled from an exhibition I did at Public Gallery in May, 2022 titled Tangled Toes, Twisted Ears (with Anousha Payne). The works were an assessment of interpersonal dynamics, they chronicled the push and pull of the individual versus the duo, arched backs and controlling hands. But on silk, they’ve been liberated. They’re no longer in their weighted context in heavily laboured brushstrokes on paper. The hands caress now rather than loom and the arched backs aren’t avoiding anyones gaze, instead they’re leaning back towards the flowers and looking up towards the sun. Context context context. I suppose also perspective, perspective, perspective.