If there’s one thing we’ve become obsessed with over the past four months – besides picnics and matching our face masks to our summer dresses – it’s interiors. We’ve spent more time than ever indoors, which means we’ve been casting a *rather* critical eye on the spaces we call home and investing in just as many cushions/prints/H&M Home storage baskets as we have bikinis. How can we make our at-home offices less dull? How can we inject a little more colour into our bedrooms? And why the hell have we still not watered that house plant?
In a bid to make our living spaces both inspiring and relaxing, we’ve been making a beeline for any Pinterest/chic AF home Instagram accounts that can serve up *all* the inspo. Plus, for the trending independent businesses that need our support more than ever.
It’s great timing, then, that Zoe Sugg – YouTube sensation and founder of the Zoella brand – has come up trumps and released an interiors collection with the Queen of backing independent businesses – Etsy. Not least because her Insta-feed is one of the aforementioned that we always head to for home update ideas. Yep: for the first time ever, Zoe has joined forces with Etsy to create a capsule home collection – a brand which prides itself on working with talented creative makers from all over the world. UK sellers are at the heart of this collection, and they all worked with Zoe to collaborate on colours and current trends to create a truly exciting, unique and beautifully curated collection. We’re obsessed with the results.
“I thought to myself when lockdown happened: I know that I’m going to be in this house every single day and I’m going to notice things that I’ve probably not noticed before. I’ve done a lot of organising and rearranging and going through a little to do list in my mind of sorting out dead house plants and all these little things that I’ve needed to do for so long,” Zoe explained when speaking of the inspiration behind her range. For her, the timing seemed perfect.
Of course, we’re not all in a position to undergo huge renovations – especially if we live in rented properties. Painting ceilings, knocking down walls and shoving nails into plaster just isn’t always an option. But Zoe is the queen of small and seasonal home updates which don’t break the bank – and her collection reflects that.
She said: “I think styling spaces up with cushions, throws and rugs – as many things that you can put down that are just as easy to take away again – is a great way to update your home without spending too much money but still with quite a lot of impact.
“I love changing up my spaces seasonally. When it starts to get into autumn and winter, I bring in more orange tones – I’ll take a cushion cover up and replace it with something new and then you feel like you have an entirely different space to play with. And it’s the same with prints and shelves – I love open shelving and being able to create a unique space to you or the room that you’re in with things like prints and candles and planters.”
These are exactly the kind pieces that you can shop in Zoe’s collection: prints, planters and cushion covers, to name a few. The collaboration involves nine UK sellers – Alphabet Bags, Atelier Stella Ceramics, Elley Home, Elizabeth Rachael, Megan Louise Ceramics, Oh, Laura, That Charming Shop, The Lovely Drawer and VENT for Change – with a range of 20 beautifully crafted items including cushions, prints, a tote bag, candles, cards, notebooks, plant pots, tea towels and a make-up bag.
“There has been so many more posts highlighting independent businesses and I love that – encouraging people to shop small and I think lockdown has really encouraged that as well because of the amount of businesses that have struggled. It has been so nice to showcase those brands and you see a lot more people doing it,” Zoe told us.
“I love Etsy as a place that showcases independent sellers and I think now more than ever, people are choosing to shop more locally and more independently. I love it for its variety, its uniqueness and there’s always something on Etsy that you wouldn’t find anywhere else and I really like that. I have a good combination of things from the high street but also independent sellers in my house and I think that being able to combine those is great.”
So, what’s Zoe’s favourite piece of the lot? “I love how you think that’s an easy question,” Zoe laughed.
“I love them all, but I think there are a couple that I’m instantly very drawn to – and can’t wait to put out in my home without the collection being spoiled! The Atelier Stella Ceramics planters, mainly. I already have quite a few of those in my home so it was amazing to be able to work with her, and the cushions as well are beautiful. I love the abstract prints and the colour combination. But altogether the sellers just did an incredible job, making their unique products look great with other sellers products. It’s a really nice mixture of male and female sellers from various different parts of the UK.”
