Issue 65

The 'Bespoke' Issue

With Guest Editor Yasmine Ghoniem, we are launched headfirst into the world of unique and eclectic design. From architecture to interiors, there is nothing that can’t be enlivened with bespoke interventions. Granted, a stunningly beautiful home can be made by simply shopping for the best, but when the artist’s hand is introduced, some pure magic is possible. Whether it is an artwork or a new upholstery, a built-in component or a mosaic inlay, these gestures, whether bold or subtle, are what make the home unique.

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A Product of

Decor Holly Cunneen

Milou Milou Prides Itself As A Socially Responsible Retailer

Custom design isn’t usually synonymous with waste reduction, but in the case of Milou Milou, it most certainly is.

In 2019 Sophie Gandar founded the linen bedding company Milou Milou with brand and web development by Rosaria Gandar. Milou Milou is not your standard bedding company, linen or otherwise. For one, the pieces are fully customisable, and secondly – seemingly incongruously – the company is zero waste committed to operating in a wholly socially and environmentally sustainable manner.

Pledging a professional commitment to environmental sustainability, customers are invited to design their own bedding from a range of flax linen fabrics either vibrantly colour blocked or classically striped. The pieces can be one or two-toned and come in both standard dimensions for pillowcases, sheets, duvet covers and separates, the dimensions can also be fully specified.

The material selection consists entirely of deadstock fabric which is a term used for discarded fabric (often due to oversupply or inability to sell) or offcuts, giving a second life to good quality linen that would otherwise be needlessly discarded.

Despite the intention that flax linen is a long lasting, hardwearing fabric and customisable designs aim to appeal to a consumer buying for the long term, linen easily breaks down (in as little as two weeks in some cases) and is a renewable resource that’s cultivation contributes to soil and quality.

Finally, they’ve tackled the issue of packing – a bugbear of many online retailers – through integration of compostable packaging only. Furthermore Milou Milou is supporting reforestation through partnership with Shopify X One Tree Planted: as a customer completes their purchase Milou Milou commit to donating $1 USD to quite literally plant one tree.

With the unwavering popularity of linen bedding (not to mention upholstery – will Gervansoni’s Ghost Sofa ever go out of vogue?) I doubt we need to cover the durability and thermo-regulating properties of linen. We all know its performance matches its looks. Now, via Milou Milou, custom bedding can be as good for you as it is the environment.

Milou Milou
miloumilou.com

Photography by Lille Thompson

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About the Author

Holly Cunneen

Holly Cunneen was the editor of Habitus and has spent her time in the media writing about architecture, design and our local industry. With a firm view that “design has a shared responsibility to the individual as much as it does the wider community,” her personal and professional trajectory sees her chart the interests, accomplishments, and emerging patterns of behaviour within the architecture and design community.

Milou Milou Prides Itself As A Socially Responsible Retailer

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